My first rifle! 1936 Mosin Nagant

[disturbed86]

First, unless you count BB guns I wanted something fairly cheap to buy and shoot (and didn't want a .22), so I decided to jump right into the .30 cal pool, took the plunge and bought a Mosin-Nagant.

I researched them a little before I bought, and read like a madman after I bought. For those interested in this kind of thing: it's a 1936 Izhevsk, round receiver. All serial numbers are original (or at least arsenal refinished), stamped, and all match. It's been recrowned, from what I can tell, but not counter-bored. The rifling looks pretty good to my mostly untrained eye. The bayonet does not match (or even fit, but that's what dremels are for...), but that's because the shop just grabs an accessory bag out of a small collection to go with the rifle.

I picked the one I did because round receiver was a good $30 cheaper than hex, and the rifle was a nice dark color (it's slightly reddish now with a good wipe down, but I don't know how much of the color now is wood and how much is cosmoline that has yet to sweat out ). A refinish might be in order sometime down the line. The shellac flakes off rather easily in places, leaving a rather plain wood color.

I took it to the range on Friday. It kicks like a mule (my shoulder's still sore), but after I figured out where to aim at 50 yards (I need to take binoculars or something next time) it shoots at least Minute-of-Zombie-dog fired from a seated position. It's fun as hell to shoot, and I'm itching to go again. Anyway, without further ado: pics!

With 1911:

With stuff:

It's hard to take good pictures of the rifle. It's pretty big, so they either have to be from way back, or cut bits off.

And Minute of Zombie Dog, like I said:


It's hard to take good pictures of the rifle. It's pretty big, so they either have to be from way back, or cut bits off.

There were some misses, too. I think it's pretty good for a 76 year old rifle, plus keep in mind that this was my first time shooting this rifle (let alone at 50 yards with iron sights), and I couldn't always tell where I was hitting to adjust.

Questions, comments, and criticisms welcome.

[Tonimus]

You'll get the hang of it. It's difficult rifle to master due to the trigger pull and steel butt plate. Invest in a pad, go slow, watch your breathing, pay attention to the trigger. You'll tighten your groups way up. That rifle is plenty capable. Good luck!

[disturbed86]

Originally Posted by Tonimus

You'll get the hang of it. It's difficult rifle to master due to the trigger pull and steel butt plate. Invest in a pad, go slow, watch your breathing, pay attention to the trigger. You'll tighten your groups way up. That rifle is plenty capable. Good luck!

I think calling what the Mosin has "trigger pull" might be a little generous . A pad is definitely at the top of my purchase list. Funny thing about the recoil though...each shot didn't hurt, but the cumulative effort of 40 back to back added up.

I will certainly take your advice on the next range trip. Admittedly my breathing was the last thing on my mind.

[La Grenouille]

1. Its cheap
2. Fireball/noise =
3. Some people are masochists


I have a '29 hex and ya, its a pain to photograph because it's so frickin' big!

[disturbed86]

Originally Posted by FN in MT

Other than how cheap they are..I can NOT get the appeal to these things. They kick like hell. LOUSY triggers. Ugly as sin. Zero History to ME as an American.

Whats the appeal?

What grenouille said.

How cheap they are pretty much IS the appeal. By far the cheapest way to shoot a high powered rifle. The recoil is kinda part of the appeal to me too.

As far as history: I may be young and it wasn't my best subject, but weren't we in WWII too? On the same side? Also I believe Remington made them for a while.

Honestly, I would much rather have a Springfield 1903 or a Garand or an M1 carbine or something, but they're much harder to find and just cost too dang much. Find me a piece of American firearms history for $100 and 18 cents/round and I'll buy one of those too.

[FN in MT]

Other than how cheap they are..I can NOT get the appeal to these things. They kick like hell. LOUSY triggers. Ugly as sin. Zero History to ME as an American.

Whats the appeal?

[Tufelhunden]

I don't mind Mosins if the darn barrel is machined in the correct diameter. They were all over the place when they made them. Take a round and put the bullet end in the muzzle and see if it rattles around. If it does, your accuracy is gone. Looks like you have decent accuracy, but 50 yards isn't really much of a test for a rifle unless your groups are really tight...

[Tonimus]

Originally Posted by Tufelhunden

I don't mind Mosins if the darn barrel is machined in the correct diameter. They were all over the place when they made them. Take a round and put the bullet end in the muzzle and see if it rattles around. If it does, your accuracy is gone. Looks like you have decent accuracy, but 50 yards isn't really much of a test for a rifle unless your groups are really tight...

Some of these were counter-bored. This isn't an accurate test. You can slug the bore like any other gun, but why?

As far as appeal goes, who wouldn't want a decent shooter and 440 rounds of ammo for less than $200? They're fun, and an important part of history. These guns helped stave off the Nazi invasion. These guns were also remarkably well built and designed to handle all sorts of adverse conditions.

FYI, you can put a Finnish Mosin trigger in it to greatly improve trigger pull.

[Don'tkillbill]

I have to say Mosin's are kinda of cool in the cruel to your shoulder way. As for history well they made lots of history.You got a pre war so that should be a plus. I would love to get a hex receiver or a Finnish captured Mosin. Just keep shooting it as long as its fun.

[disturbed86]

Honestly I like the look of the hex better too. But like you said, I got a pre-war round one so it doesn't have the rough look or tool marks of the wartime round receivers.

But when $30 buys 80 extra rounds of ammo, I can't bring myself to pay the extra for looks and no real improvement in function. I'm a shooter, not a collector (...yet )

[clegg]

The next step is to get that stock off and refinish it and she will be looking mighty fine. If that's your style.

[disturbed86]

Originally Posted by clegg

The next step is to get that stock off and refinish it and she will be looking mighty fine. If that's your style.

Originally Posted by disturbed86

A refinish might be in order sometime down the line. The shellac flakes off rather easily in places, leaving a rather plain wood color.

Eventually. Thing is I'm not sure I'm confident enough to do the refinishing part myself, and it's not much of a cheap rifle anymore if I pay someone to do it.

[mark olindale]

Enjoy your rifle.

Everybody should own a Mosin!

[Oldrice]

Originally Posted by FN in MT

Other than how cheap they are..I can NOT get the appeal to these things. They kick like hell. LOUSY triggers. Ugly as sin. Zero History to ME as an American.

Whats the appeal?

Valid points.

Originally Posted by disturbed86

I think calling what the Mosin has "trigger pull" might be a little generous .

That's funny.

I've had a love affair of sorts with the Mosin-Nagant rifle over the last couple of years... a good friend of mine has an original sniper version and the trigger (and scope) are both excellent. Cycling the bolt in and out of battery is like pushing a mule up a ladder and the frigging thing does kick, but I was seriously impressed by that rifle's accuracy and began tinkering with some of the $99.00 versions to see if I could do anything with the miserable triggers that they all seemed to have.

Doing a trigger job on one of those rifles is so easy it's not even funny. I've done five of them so far and have been able to seriously improve each one; virtually no creep on each one and pull between (roughly) eight ounces on one of them and three-four pounds on the other four - and that's what the guys who owned them wanted. Even the light, eight ounce trigger passed a severe "bump test" too.

I'll be happy to go into detail on how to do it if any of you want me to, but there are a couple of decent YouTube videos that outline the details, but it's basically a thin shim under the sear screw/bolt(to eliminate the creep) and some light/moderate polishing of the sear and trigger cam lobe to lighten up the pull.

If you can get one with a good bore, you can create one heck of a good triggered, inexpensive, accurate shooter with very little effort.

What's not to like about that... other than a need for a recoil pad or shoulder surgery. LOL

[La Grenouille]

Originally Posted by Oldrice

What's not to like about that... other than a need for a recoil pad or shoulder surgery. LOL

Cosmoline

[disturbed86]

Originally Posted by la grenouille

cosmoline

+100000000

[jupiter7]

Love Mosins. But my 1895 Finn is a game changer. I wear out the 100 and 150 yard 8" plates at the range. Shot it in a few high power matches before I started shooting AR's and service rifle matches. The guy who got me started shooting high power still shoots a Finn 90% of the time.

[SRJim]

For $30, if the rifles were close in condition, I would have jumped on a hex receiver. But for a $100 gun, they're not bad.

BTW, $80 can get you 440 rds of surplus ammo. Or < $15 a box of 20 for new manufacture SP ammo.

That said, I've yet to shoot mine, but I hope to soon. I'm just buying for the heck of it right now.

[IronFilex]

US Historey? Some made by Remington. Westinghouse made some. There was a bunch that were issued to soldiers for US field trials.

"the Russian government ordered 1.5 million M1891 infantry rifles from Remington Arms and another 1.8 million from New England Westinghouse in the United States. Remington produced 750,000 rifles before production was halted by the 1917 October Revolution"

"The remaining 280,000 rifles were purchased by the United States Army. American and British expeditionary forces of the North Russia Campaign were armed with these rifles and sent to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in the late summer of 1918 to prevent the large quantities of munitions delivered for Czarist forces from being captured by the Central Powers. Remaining rifles were used for the training of U.S. Army troops. Some were used to equip U.S. National Guard, SATC, and ROTC units. Designated "U.S. Rifle, 7.62mm, Model of 1916", these are among the rarest of American service arms. In 1917"

Sounds like it has "US History"

They've been around since what 1895 +/-. Its the oldest cartridge still in use by a modern military.

Does everything have to be used from an "american History" point of view?