Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Experts, please tell me what to look for in a Mosin-Nagant?

Cabela's is going to sell "excellent" Mosin-Nagants for $99.99, so if I go over to the LaVista Store, what do I look for?

I've owned 2 Mosin-Nagants before, but they were a 1917 made by Remington with U.S. Army markings and a 1939 Finnish made by Sako. Both of those rifles were OK, but not "excellent".

Jeff

I'd look for a good bore and matching numbers if the components are indeed numbered. One might have to actually do some instore cleaning to assess bore condtion. I've been amazed at the appearance of barrels that folks often shelve, and passed on a few opportunities that may have been just fine if they had just been given a cleaning.

I view them as butt ugly, but would maybe use one as a behind the seat truck gun.

I'm trying to pick a winner for my Norwegian bachelor farmer friend. He doesn't want to spend a whole day making a 400 mile round trip to Omaha if I can accomplish this with a 15 mile RT.

Jeff

Hot babes in the camping area??... Seriously, placing the word 'excellent' and 'Mosin-Nagant' in the same sentence is an oxymoron.. Cabela's is hoping their name and marketing division can sell a few of these things.. Keep in mind, they're still making a profit.. So what really IS the value of these rifles??

And 'OK' is good for a M.N...

JMHO..

At reloading time try a box of Hornady .312" 174 gr RN. They work great in my Mosin-Nagants.

Well, this has been posted before, but it may be new to some so here it is...

The AK - AR - Moisin Nagant comparison page

The page

My favourite comparison:

AK: You buy cheap ammo by the case.

AR: You lovingly reload precision crafted rounds one by one.

Moisin Nagant: You dig your ammo out of a farmer's field in Ukraine and it works just fine.

John

1. I'm married, so looking at hot babes is just an exercise in frustration.

2. The Cabela's ad in the sports section of today's Omaha World-Herald, page 3C, claims that they are going to sell "excellent" M-Ns for $99.99 and "very good" K-31s for $269.99 during this 3-day sale.

3. I have enough stuff going on to keep me busy and surely don't have enough time to dick around with a 7.62x54R, unless it was a minty Remington/Westinghouse piece on the Czar's last contract or, better yet, a Winchester 1895 from the Czar's other last contract.

Jeff

I'll tell ya what to look for.....

Don't look for one.

awesome comparison page, thanks for the link!

I wouldn't turn up my nose at a Mosin Nagant. I had one here for a few days that belonged to my neighbors and it was pretty fun to shoot. Didn't like the weird safety, but I definitely added a Mosin to my list of things I need to buy one of these days, if for no other reason than its place in history.

check out this forum:
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewforum.php?f=28&sid=5d9970d750a0510871e1300b10a82377

Well, not looking would be an option, except that the Norwegian bachelor for whom I am looking owns farms that cover about 1,300 acres. There are a large number of mule and whitetail deer living on the farms and he limits hunting access to himself, a couple of relative, a couple of neighbors, and me.

So you see, not looking that this selection of excellent M-Ns is not really a viable option if I want to retain both my good guy status and my access privilages on that prime hunting ground.

Jeff

Hell at that price buy three and part 'em out till ya get a good one .

AIM is very hard to beat for surplus. Excellent customer service and return policy.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=F3MOSIN9130

Most of the rifles the major players are selling now were reconditioned by the Ruskies after WWII and are in excellent shape. The corrosive ammo of the day didn't do much for the bores but there are examples of excellent bores out there. All things considered, lousy sights, 12# trigger, surplus ammo, and war time production work, a dark bore is not the end of the world...we're not talking bench rest here.

Here's the forum that obsesses over things Moisin Nagant:

http://forums.gunboards.com/

Rare and collectable examples can be found at a premium thru Dennis at Empire Arms:

http://empirearms.com/

Since he lets you hunt I'd be looking for more than that rifle, unless it's some Norwegian connection, it that case give him a Remington and a plate of Lutefisk.

Unless he is dead set on a MN for some reason I would look for a Yugo M24/47, 48, or 48a or a VZ 24. They are a heck of a lot better and more user friendly rifle than any MN. The K31s are excellent too but of course ammo availability and cost is the kicker on them-plus they have gotten pricier than they were at one time. Otherwise just evaluate the MN like you would any other used rifle purchase-bore condition, muzzle condition, bolt face evaluation, extractor evaluation, safety(if you can operate it) evaluation, trigger function, etc etc etc PH

I think that I do my part, but he wants 1 of these $100 rifles and I'd like to pick a winner. Heck, whenever I go out there, I usually spend half a day picking up a few things for him.

Jeff

ive got an MN parts gun, missing a follower and an ejector, so its a single shot.....it still out shoots my Yugo 48A Mauser.....they are neat guns and well worth $100 to mess around with....

Well, they ended up being pretty nice guns, so I bought 2 of them for him to play with.

Jeff

US troops used the M-N during the White War days of '18-'19, up around Murmansk and Archangel, fighting the Bolshies along the railway there. They were issued the Remington MNs, to keep the supply lines simple. Canadians and British also fought there, AFTER the November Armistice.

Interesting story there, if you care to read about it. The book is "The Ignorant Armies" I can't find my copy right now, but it was a Bantam War book, paperback. Amazon may have some.

Now that you got 2 of 'em you can check out 7.62x54r.net for tons of information on them. They have just about anytyhing you'd want to know about a Mosin. Some Mosin's are pretty good shooters from what I've seen. Never owned one but I know a couple owners and I've fired some enough to think of them as a viable option for the stuff you mentioned.