Anybody actually use stripper clips in the Mosin-Nagant rifle?

[Forrest]

Got this re-worked 91-30 a while back. It was just too pretty not to pass up. Did some initial work on the sights, milled .035 off the top of the rear sight and milled out the rear sight notch, and did a few things to improve the trigger pull. All with the thought that if strippers are not available, I wouldn't put much extra work into this piece.

The internet word is that genuine surplus stripper clips are not available. Got around that, and got some. Genuine, not current mfgr.

These are horrible. And I do know my way around stripper clips and how to load a bolt gun with them. It's pretty damn hard to get three rounds off of a stripper into the M-N mag, much less get all five into the mag. Any RKIs out there?

I'd appreciate any info. Otherwise this rifle is going down the road.

 

[MechAg94]

I don't know if the ones I have are original or not, but a 1/3 of them were weak and would only reliably hold 4. The problem with lining up the rings sucked though.

 

[SpookyPistolero]

I have exactly two that work. I've never found others that do.

 

[armoredman]

Trick is to use them right. Load them one base over the next, then hold up the bottom ones nose when you push them in. they are still not quite as easy as Springfield or Enfield strippers, but they can work. I have a roll out belt with 90 rounds on working strippers, though it took me a few years to locate that many!

 

[rockstar.esq]

armoredman's got it right, they just aren't that great to begin with but when they work they are sorta worth keeping. If it makes you feel any better at least they're cheap!

 

[cliffstanc]

I haven't used them, but I've heard good things about this guy's brass reproduction MN stripper clips. Supposedly they're based off the genuine MN design, not the not-quite-close-enough "rounder" (SVT?) design that many say won't feed well in the Mosins. This page illustrates the problem with some of the stripper clips currently on the market.

Try a few of the eBay ones and see what you think. Worst case you're out 7 bucks.

- Cliff

 

[Browns Fan]

My local gun shop has some Mosins that are what the tag says "unissued". The ones with a really good finish goes for $189. I am really tempted.

 

[Third_Rail]

Don't be - that's a terrible price. You can get "unissued" (actually rearsenalled) MNs for $70 or so, plus S&H, plus transfer. Look here.

Those clips looks shockingly like the Chinese clips that don't work too well... coincidence, or does he just mark up a bad item?

 

[armoredman]

Rearsenalled Mosins can still be had for under $100, grab one or two while you can. 20 years from now they will be $500, and people will be kicking themselves for ignoring them....kinda like some of us do over other gun deals of yore that seemed they'd never run out....

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I have never understood all of the whining about strippers for Mosin Nagants. I bought two boxes of what I think are either Polish or possibly new production strippers more than two years ago. I can get them to work nicely. When I place a loaded stripper in the slot in the receiver I reach around the rifle with my left hand and push the first cartridge into the magazine while using the top cartridge like a lever and press down on the the rest of them with my right hand. They all slide nicely into the magazine.

I think people have lost sight that nothing about the Mosin Nagant is elegant or smooth. The action itself is sticky and unfriendly on the best examples, why would the loading system be any different? Remember this was a mass produced Russian war rifle with roots in the 19th century. A Mauser or Enfield it is not.

 

[White Horseradish]

Remember this was a mass produced Russian war rifle with roots in the 19th century. A Mauser or Enfield it is not.

And I suppose Mauser and Enfield are 20th century handmade custom guns? Better brush up on that history...

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

No, but Russian standards are not British or German standards when it comes to machining, that is the point that I feel is lost on many when discussing the Mosin Nagant.

 

[Browns Fan]

Wow! OK, but, what do you mean by rearsenalled?

 

[Third_Rail]

It means basically like new, but not as it left the factory - it's been brought back to that condition years later. That's all.

 

[Koobuh]

The brass stripper clips made by uglycarfan on Ebay work adequately well. Again, technique is everything; make sure the rims are stacked correctly so they won't catch on eachother when you're loading from the magazine, use your forefinger to lift the bullet on the bottom round while simultaneously pushing the rear of the top round with your thumb. Try not to cut your thumb on the clip while doing this, as you likely haven't been working the fields for the greater good and thus developed fingers of iron.
Practice makes perfect with this, and you'll develop a way that works for you.

 

[Ash]

I think people have lost sight that nothing about the Mosin Nagant is elegant or smooth. The action itself is sticky and unfriendly on the best examples, why would the loading system be any different?

On the best examples, such as a Finnish 28/30, M27, M39, or Remington/Westinghouse M91's? Thou dost paint with too broad a brush.

Ash

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

Yes Ash, I do. The action is no different. And yes I have handled all of the examples you have mentioned.

 

[Ash]

Then you are mistaken about a sticky-unfriendly action on the Finnish weapons.

Ash

 

[Ash]

Indeed, the Russian standards, as applied to Remington and Westinghouse were very high.

Yet, to give a length of rope, what standards of machinging between, say, an M91 produced by Remington, and a Danzig-produced GEW 98 can you note? A few examples would be instructive.

Ash

 

[merk]

I bought about a bunch from jgsales and every one of them works. I think its all in the persons technique of pushing the rounds into the magazine than the clips themselves. It took me a while to get the hang of it.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

My point is very simple. The smoothest Mosin Nagant action is nowhere as near as smooth as the smoothest Mauser. That is all I am saying.

 

[Ash]

Okay, I'll grant you that. But, the quality of machining on many Mosins is equally as good as Mausers. I'd take a Finnish M39 over a Yugo m48 any day, and I have both. I have a bnz 42 K98k Mauser, and the machine work on my M28 is better.

Now, take the best Mauser and it will be smoother than the best Mosin, that I agree.

Ash

 

[bowfin]

I have a NIB Polish M44 that has a fit and finish that rivals any of my three Swedish Mausers.

I can't put it next to my Russian M44 and convince myself that they are the same rifle...from the same planet.

 

[GarandOwner]

As to your subject question: I do not use stripper clips on my 91/30 rifle. But then I dont mind feeding them 1 by 1 into the internal mag. Recently I also drilled and tapped my reciver and added a WWII PU scope and mount. None of the gunsmiths around here would do it for me, so $6 at Home Depot later, I did it myself. Heres a picture of it if anyone cares to look. (Note the burlap wrap around barrel and scope......cheesy? Of course, but im a big WWII buff so I dont care )

 

[Cpl Punishment]

First of all, only clips marked with the arrow-in-triangle Ishevsk arsenal mark are genuine for the Mosin.

Second, the best way I found to strip them into the rifle is to push back on the rounds (kind of tipping the clip back towards the buttstock) and they slide right in.

Third, unless your interrupter is broken, it doesn't matter if the rims overlap or not, as the top round is separated from the ones below.

Fourth, the machining might not be as pretty as other rifles (and there's plenty Mausers and Enfields that are really rough in the machining department -- yes, worse than Mosins), but the fact that Nazis picked up Mosins in favor to their Mausers during the winter campaign because they were more reliable than the Mauser, says something. They do what they do extremely well, and often better than other so-called superior rifles.

And Yes, I do own Enfields, Mausers, etc, and like them all, but just get a little peeved with the Mosin's undeserved reputation as a cheap POS.