Mosin to 308 convert

$300 to $500 for a custom barrel maker to contour, thread and chamber is WAYYYY to much to put into a $100 surplus rifle in my opinion, but its your rifle and your money so if it trips your trigger go for it!!!

Plus the Russian is a rimmed round so I bet the extractor wouldn't work with the .308.

Even if you don't have it locally, 7.62x54R is cheap via mail order.

Why are you worried about 7.62x54R ammo availability? Go out and stockpile 5000 rounds of surplus...it will run you all of $600. And if your shoulder can stand to shoot all that up, Wolf and Barnhaul will be making the stuff for decades given that there are several million MN's that have entered this country.

Plus, you are not gaining anything by going to a "modern" 308...which is really just giving you the ballistics of a early 1900's .30-06. Which happens to be just slightly newer than the 7.62 Russian round...that still is in service with major powers around the world.

Even if you don't buy surplus....

Silver Bear 204 grain SP, 100 rounds for 34 dollars at Ammo To Go.

the ammo is a bit of a concern

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Kind of like everyone else, this statement struck me as odd. 7.62x54 is abundant, both in mil-surp and new factory loads.

it can be done & it has, but at this time with plenty of ammo availible i don't see much point in doing it.mosins also do not like to feed anything thats not based on the 7.62x54r so you would also have a single shot. in the past several compaines sold mosins that were converted to 30-06 with surplus springfield barrels, it was done in the 20's then again in the 60's or 70's.
i'm actualy planning to build 3 custom mosin nagants, two will be in 6.5x54r russian match & one will in the standard 7.62x54r but with a fast twist .308dia barrel. i know i'll be putting $700 or $800+ into $100 rifles but i don't plan on selling them

Keep the Mosin for what it is. Nothing in the realm of "sporterizing" is economically effective anymore, the day is past. Besides, if you want a mil surp .308, there are even bolt action Spanish 93s rechambered for it for cheap, or used to be, not sure of availability now days. Or, if you just wanna buy ammo at Walmart, a Marlin 336 ain't expensive.

The Finns have rebarreled the MN to just about every caliber under the sun.

A few quality .30/06 conversions were made here in the states after WW1, but there were many more Half S'ed conversions not safe to shoot.
The good conversions required setting back the original barrel a bit and cutting a new chamber.

If you can find a Gunsmith that would do that for a reasonable price you'd have a classic American sporting round though unless you started with one of the Finnish replacement .309 or .310 barrels accuracy would be iffy or you'd be stuck using .312 bullets designed for the .303.

Nothing wrong with the 7.62X54, its a fine cartridge and not that hard to reload if you use the afore mentioned .312 bullets.

I've used the Hornady 150 gr and Winchester 760 powder with some success.

For the money, just go buy a Savage 110 package gun complete with scope for $350 or so. It will have MOA accuracy and you'll be ahead money.

Then save the Mosin for a fun beater gun.

I was curious to know if there was a "Plug-n-Play" way to convert a WWII surplus rifle to modern 308 and it sounds like the answer is - not cheaply, and prolly not worth the effort.

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The M1 Garand is readily convertable to a .308 and even performs better than being in 30-06. Once again, not a cheap solution.

You can still find Spanish FR-8 rifles in 7.62 NATO for around $200, but it will take a bit of searching.

They do make chamber adapters or barrel inserts that will allow you to convert a certain caliber to another caliber etc try these guys: http://www.mcace.com/

"...would require so much effort that it is not practical..." Yep. Think in terms of a custom barrel and serious modifications to the bolt and mag to convert an odd shaped rimmed cartridge rifle to a rimless. $$$$$
"...chamber adapters or barrel inserts..." The 7.62 x 54R isn't there and it uses a .311" bullet. So does the 7.62 x 39. Mace's adaptor for the 7.62 x 39 to .308/.30-06 won't shoot worth beans. Waste of money.

Here's my two cents.... I accurized my Mosin. I essentially took a nice $79 91/30 and spent $400 into it. Its worth about $150 now. You can imagine how moronic I feel. BUT my specific purpose to was have a stealthy rifle at the competition shoot. Looks like a nice $100 gun... shoots 1/2 MOA at 400 yards. The 7.62x54r is and will be readily available until we both die or they start making direct energy weapons.

I really woulden't worry about it.
-bix

It could probably be done. The extractor punches out, and there are places that will make custom barrels. The hardest part would be finding a gunsmith who knows how to rebarrel a Mosin. They are not the easiest guns to rebarrel. Hell, take your Mosin apart and really look at where the barrel meets the receiver; you'll see what I mean.

The question is are you willing to spend that much time, effort and money? If so, by all means go for it.

I accurized my Mosin. I essentially took a nice $79 91/30 and spent $400 into it.

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Whoa, what the heck did you do to it? I accurized mine for less than 30 bucks and it has the ability to shoot about .5-1 MOA at a hundred yards--not as accurate as yours but I think it's reasonably accurate.

New barrel, alot of the innards are machined from a hogout. Rebed everything and test, test, test until you have reasonably reliable system. Like I said... stealthy. Stealthy and cheap aren't two words that are usually associated. But I did it to shut up alot of the rifle snobs at the shoots.
good luck
-bix

id imagine that the bolt face would be the biggest problem.

I think the solution here is just buy another rifle in 308. It would be cheaper in the short and long run. You can not have enough rifles you know. Ishapore are still around in 7.62x51 I am not sure what they are going for in you area.

I'd try a quick search on this. I seem to recall some interesting discussion of Mosin caliber conversions and and some of the neat things the Finns have done with the rifle, complete with a lot of illustrative pics.

That was a tangent off the original topic of the thread, though. If memory serves me correctly, the thread OP wanted to know about the possibility of converting his Mosin to take NVD mags.

Ah, here it is, think:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=317801&highlight=mag-fed+mosin

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I'm minimally knowledgeable about rifles, but I found the discussion there very interesting. Hope its related enough to help you out. If not, its still a good read.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/copy_of_7_62x54R.html


I wish I could get 7.62x51 for those prices.
IMO, if shooting is what you want to do with them just buy some corrosive stuff and shoot the crap out of it. Clean with windex and life is good.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/c..._7_62x54R.html


I wish I could get 7.62x51 for those prices.
IMO, if shooting is what you want to do with them just buy some corrosive stuff and shoot the crap out of it. Clean with windex and life is good.
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im assuming thats corrosive for that price, as its from the 40's and dosent say that it isint. anyone know????

i remember about 1 1/2 yr ago i bought non reloadable non corrosive brass cans for less than that... those were the days!!!

Look for a converted Ishapore if you want a surplus gun in .308