Your mosin m44 experience

Well, I have a 1944 and a 1946. Bought them because my brother has a 91/30 that I liked but liked the shorter M44. The kick is stout, but an amazing experience. A short story:

My brother and I took the Russians out to the range [first time with my 1944 M44]. He shot 5 rounds out of his 91/30 and I was a few feet back at the 5 o'clock position. After he was done, I readied mine to shot. I started firing it and noticed the larger fireball that came out of the end ot he barrel. Fired another. Looked back to see what my brother thought [who WAS standing about the same place as I was before I started]. He was back on the bench well behind me. I figured his back was hurting, so he had to sit down. After I was done, I wanted to see if he wanted to shoot it, and he agreed to. I stood at the same "few feet, 5 o'clock" position. When my brother fired my M44, I realized why he sat on the bench. I . . . . I think I even SAW the pressure wave as it hit me. Needless to say, anytime I take it out to the range, the lanes near me have people coming over to see what the crap is being shot in my lane.

I put a limbsaver on my good one [the 1946]. Cuts down on the thump from the metal butt plate.

If you get one, you will get another one. THey are addicting. THe ammo is just powerful and affordable vs the new reality today. Besides you can hunt with hogs and deer with it.

I have a 1944 russian. Good accuracy at 100yards. Havent pushed it further than that though. Got it in excellent condition for $199

I have a 1944 matching (except mag which is force matched). I was really surprised how accurate it was at 100 yards (furthest i can shoot at my range). Mine was perfectly zeroed out of the box. Recoil is noticeable but manageable. I've been shooting the new production TulaAmmo through it and after a box of 20 rounds I need a break and after another box I'm done for the day. I suppose a recoil pad would help. The steel butt plate doesn't do your shoulder any favors.

That rifle is a steal for anything $350 or under IMHO.

And yeah, you can't have just 1....

Mine is a 1944 IZZY with the bored crown & shoots quite well at 100 - 200 yards with 182gr. Brown Bear, haven't tried it any further.

My buddy has one that he just got a few months back, think it's a 1946 IZZY with excellent crown but he's having good luck with the Spam Can 147gr. surpluss, not match accuracy but holding his own at 100 yards.

My M44 is a 1944 Izhevsk. I removed the bayonet as soon as I bought it and before I sighted it in. It is counter bored. I shoot non-corrosive ammo only. It has been tested / plinked with Tula , Wolf, Silver Bear and Brown Bear 150 gr. FMJ, ; Barnaul 185 gr. FMJ and Privi Partizan 150 gr. SP . I have harvested 3 whitetail deer with it and the Privi 150 gr. SP. Three shots, three deer. Two dropped in their tracks and the third went about 7 yards. Mine is very accurate at the ranges I need it to be. While I slightly prefer my Mosin 91/30 for both plinking and hunting, the M44 does both well too. I do have a rubber slip on recoil pad on it mainly for added stock length and I like them when hunting especially if the ground is wet / has snow. An M44 kicks no worse for me than any other centerfire rifle cartridge with similar ballistics.

My 1946 will only see non-corrosive in it. Nice shiney bore. The 1944 has a dull and rather pit-ish looking bore. I'll run anything through it.

Mine is a 1954 Romanian.

Serious thumper on both ends, and a HUGE fireball with 'heavy ball' ammo. Bayonet folded vs. extended does make a difference in horizontal POI, about 3" @ 100Yds.

Shot my cousins 1944 M44 at a 12 inch steel plate at 100 yards, nailed it every time. Awesome gun to shoot. I almost like it better than my 91/30

I've got three of them. 1 is an Izhevsk 1944, and the other two are Hungarian, 1952 and 1953 respectively. The Izh shoots pretty well at 100 yards. The 1952 Hun has a scary looking bore and is counterbored, but shoots really well with handloads. It seems to like heavier bullets, 174-203 grain. The other Hun looks unfired, but I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Hopefully this weekend. Most of soviet refurbs that I have seen are good shooters and accurate enough. You won't be popping prairie-dogs at 500 yards with them, but hitting a milk jug at 100 yards, or even 200, is definitely doable.

Recoil can be pretty stout with them. I have a couple of slip-on recoil pads that bounce around betwixt my mosins. Without it, I can handle about 15 rounds of surplus with them before my shoulder cries for mercy. With, I can shoot for quite a while.

The 1952 is my backup hunting gun/truck gun since it shoots well enough that I trust it, and it doesn't mind being bounced around behind the seat.

Matt

Fun and surprisingly accurate for the short rifle it is

My 1952 Polish is factory fresh. It's my favorite. I did put a rubber butt-pad that increased the LOP and saved my shoulder. Fireballs!!

1954 Romanian. $50. Kept it a while, got to be less fun to take a 2x4 whack to the shoulder every time I shot it, sold it for $100 and bought a K31 for $80.

Don't really miss it, but I think about getting a 91/30 or M39 Finn. Usually, when I seriously start thinking about that, I take the money I would have spent and buy ammo for the K31.

If you like the M44, it's a great, functional rifle, and cheap to shoot, but they don't suit everybody.

Always bring along your flat head screwdriver . Those two action screws will loosen up after every so hundred rounds fired. Just one caveat, dont overtighten or you bugger it up.

I've had two, a 1943 (yes, there are a few of those) and a post-war 1945. Both were Izhevsk arsenal rifles. The 1943 had a sticky bolt that was very hard to operate. The 1945 did just fine. With both, though, I found that the bayonet made the rifle too nose-heavy and, when folded, the bayonet made it uncomfortable to grip the forestock. After selling both, I bought a matching 1944 M38, which is exactly like an M44, but without the folding bayonet. Unlike many M38s out there, mine is matching and is NOT counterbored. I really like it. With a small Limbsaver, the length is perfect and the recoil is no worse than any centerfire hunting rifle. My M38 also has the distinction of being the only Mosin-Nagant I've owned (including M44s, 91/30s, and Finn M39s) that shoots to point of aim.

I've got one from Poland or Czeckoslovakia or one of the other iron curtain satellites stamped "10" in a circle that was made in 1953. The same year as me...

It's noisy and kicks like a mule. But a slip on recoil pad can deal with the recoil easily enough.

It's as accurate with millsurp ammo as my long barrel Mosins. Which is to say that it's bad. But I have not shot any match like reloads through it yet. Just got the bits together and need to make some to try out.

All in all I'd say that the rifle itself will be fine. The thing looks like new. But using the poor consistency milsurp ammo in it pretty much hamstrings the gun so the groups are poor. Like 8'ish inches at 100 sort of poor. But this is certainly the ammo's fault. I don't doubt that with some decent reloads that me and my old guy vision will have little trouble getting things down to around 3 inchs at 100. And even then it'll likely be my eyes struggling with the military plain style iron sights that are the limiting factor at that point.

Should you get one? If you like the historical aspect and get a lot of smiles from this sort of shooting with plain iron sights I'd say yes. And when shot around dusk the big BOOM! and huge muzzle flash ball will bring folks from all over the range to watch, point and laugh...

If a VC woman can slung it on their backs while working the humid rice paddies of Nam and can shoot at passing Hueys with no problem, then it must be something to pay attention to.
Dont uderestimate the power of the M 44. Many helos went down in the war bec a lucky shot to its hydraulics will cause it to go belly up.

minutemen1776 said:

My M38 also has the distinction of being the only Mosin-Nagant I've owned (including M44s, 91/30s, and Finn M39s) that shoots to point of aim.

Click to expand...

All that means is that you're aiming wrong with the rest of 'em.

Got a 1944 last month and now it sets next to my 1939 k98. LOVE shooting it and ammo is plentiful. You can really feel that 7.62x54 blast with a barrel so short. Get one while they're still cheap. There was a time not long ago when you could pick up unsporterized k98's for a hundred bucks...

Both my Chinese T53 and Russian M44 are literally a blast, and both shot point of aim from the get-go at 100yds without any adjustments or bayonets extended Both feel like they are a part of me. Love em!!

I've owned several Soviets and a Pole. I intend to get another Pole. Some observations:

--They are usually calibrated for light ball, and tend to shoot high.

--The bayonet in/out is often irrelevant because they were never properly sighted in. The approach I take is to shoot a selection of ammo and then sight in with a brass tap to the POI for whatever it likes best. So if it prefers surplus Polish 54R, I sight in for that with the bayonet folded. If the thing is just shooting way high, Mojo is a quick way to resolve that.

--The weight is fairly substantial. It's not really a carbine variation, but was intended to replace the M-91 rifle. So it weighs a good pound or pound and a half more than the M38.

--Recoil is really not bad. I think a lot of the reports of big punches come from people not holding it well or just thinking it hits hard because it makes so much noise. By physics it should not be kicking any more than a 91/30.

--The bayonet is fun, and when the zombies come you will be standing on a pile, M44 upraised in gory triumph! ;-) Seriously, it is pretty silly to have it on there but it gives the thing character.

Overall it's a fine Mosin and the Poles in particular rank as some of the very best of all Mosins. It didn't serve long with the Soviets since the SKS replaced it as the main line rifle pretty quickly, but it did see a lot of action among Soviet allies.