Hunting with a Mosin Nagant

[Harley Man]

After watching the Movie "Enemy at the Gates" I felt the need to purchase a M-38 Mosin Nagant 7.62 x 54, and then installed a PU scope on it. The gun has a rich history of war time usage through out many years. My question... has anybody out there ever hunted game with the Mosin Nagant, and if so what type game would you use 7.62 x 54 rounds on.

 

[TIMC]

They work well on pigs and if they work on pigs they will take down anything else here in Texas.
91/30 sniper

 

[Harley Man]

Nice Hog....where in Texas was it shot?

 

[TIMC]

Attascosa county

 

[Mp7]

..

beautyful rifle,
handsome hog,
lovely hunter.



i like.

 

[Harley Man]

Lord I hope MP7 is a female! I know we are getting off track for this Thread....This will be my last commet!

 

[mbt2001]

The 7.62x54 is a terrific round. It is capable of the same range of game and in the same class as the .30-06 and .303 British. Deer, hogs, black bear, elk and possibly larger game would fall to this war proven round.

The number one thing here, is to remember to clean the gun ASAP after shooing surplus, as it is corrosive. Make sure you pattern your surplus ammo to make sure it shoots well out of the gun. If you use modern rounds, you most likely will not have to worry about the above to the same degree.

 

[Harley Man]

The one problem I have with 7.62x54 is finding range rounds.... Here in the Fort Worth Texas area if they can pick up your round by the tip with a magnet your can't shoot it at the range. Anybody have a contact of 7.62x54 range rounds.

Proud Viet Nam Vet

 

[MCgunner]

Do they even have a safety? I failed to find it on my buddies, but we were just shooting at sticks in a pond with it. Pretty accurate, easy on the shoulder, sorta neat. His was a short barreled one, whatever model that one is, refinished. I mean, I'll stick with my hunting rifles, but it can be done. I'd want a safety on the gun, though. Racking the bolt before a shot makes too much noise. I guess you could just leave the bolt handle out of battery, sorta a half butt way of doing things.

 

[rcmodel]

If you use modern rounds, you most likely will not have to worry about the above to the same degree.

If you are going to hunt with it, I would certainly hope you use modern rounds. Modern soft-point hunting rounds to be exact.

FMJ surplus ammo is not suitable for hunting use at all if clean humain kills are desired.

rc

 

[mbt2001]

FMJ surplus ammo is not suitable for hunting use at all if clean humain kills are desired.

I disagree with that statement... For instance, when hunting hogs a popular hand load / factory load is to use HARDCAST bullets that do not expand...

In any event, I have used FMJ's successfully time and again. I usually take relatively close range neck shots on hogs and deer where expansion isn't as crucial. Never have had a problem.

Supposing it is a legal in your state that is...

 

[Harley Man]

Do they even have a safety?
Yes they do have a safety...have to admit it is not the most user frendly safety I've seen. Basically the firing pin bolt is pulled back and turned to the left when the gun is on safety. To remove the safety pull the bolt back and to the right and ease forward to fire. It hasen't happen to me but I would bet if you let that bolt slip out of your grip during this process you had better have the business end pointing in a safe position.

 

[NCsmitty]

Here's a pic of a modified Mosin safety along the lines of the Swiss K-31. Gives you a finger ring to grasp to engage and disengage the safety a little easier. It's from Steve wagner's site on Mosin mods.

NCsmitty

 

[rcmodel]

I disagree with that statement... I usually take relatively close range neck shots on hogs and deer where expansion isn't as crucial.

Well, in that case a .22 Mag would do as well.

The fact remains however, that a lot of the folks here asking if they can hunt with a Mossy are probably not experianced hunters, or as good a hunter as you. If they were, they wouldn't have to ask if a Mossy can be used to hunt anything!

Shooting pin-holes in deer at 150 yards with FMJ surplus ammo is not sporting, and will not fill the freezer with meat very often unless you just get lucky!

BTDT: about 50 years ago with coyotes and a surplus 03 Springfield shooting FMJ. They won't reliably & quickly kill a coyote every time, and they sure won't a deer either.

rc

 

[WardenWolf]

The Mosin safety is so difficult to operate that it might as well not even have one. I rank it up there with the Arisaka safety. Bolt-back safeties just are not a good way of doing things. My opinion: leave it out of battery until you're ready.

 

[interlock]

fmj on game....... no thanks

"In any event, I have used FMJ's successfully time and again. I usually take relatively close range neck shots on hogs and deer where expansion isn't as crucial. Never have had a problem. "


I have to take exception to this aswell. in order to be as humane as possible we should be using and recomending the use of soft pointed or expanding ammunition.

fmj ammunition is not suitable for hunting. Yes it has been used and animals killed with it. But why use it if it is not as good and the chances of wounding are increased? I don't want to sound all Zen, but we owe it to the animal to kill them as well as we can.

interlock

 

[MCgunner]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rcmodel
FMJ surplus ammo is not suitable for hunting use at all if clean humain kills are desired.
I disagree with that statement... For instance, when hunting hogs a popular hand load / factory load is to use HARDCAST bullets that do not expand...

Hard cast lead bullets used for hunting are pre-expanded, as in .44 cal or .357 in the least. Also, they have a wide, flat point which helps energy transfer. A non-expanding spitzer bullet will zip right on through doing little tissue damage and transferring little energy. Of course, a CNS hit wouldn't matter. Cutting the aorta wouldn't matter, but a lung shot, you'd better be ready to track the animal.

Thanks for the explanation of the safety. No wonder I couldn't figure it out, LOL. It'd work for stand hunting, but would be mighty slow for still hunting.

 

[St.Pete7]

Central Florida has a bunch of hot-spots for Hogs where the brush, trees, and muck are so thick that most, if not all of the shots are taken at relatively close range. I've used a Mossy and its 7.62X54 in FMJ works fine in these conditions.
I would take exception to "rcmodel"s remark that "a 22 Mag would do as well" in those conditions, it don't!
Folks inquiring about hunting with any firearm must understand: a .30-.30 or .308 equipped with the proper load and all the accessories in the world can, and in many cases do, cause the same degree of unintended suffering to the animal in untrained hands. If someone doesn't understand which rifle and bullet design is sufficient for the game they're after, they need to go out with a guide... AND-Please, Email me too so I'm not in the same neck of the woods!
Thanks
St.Pete7

 

[Clipper]

The safety I use is to keep my finger off the dam trigger until I want to shoot.

 

[bpl]

Why use FMJ, even if legal, when we know that expanding ammo just plain kills quicker and better? In PA, where I live, its not even legal to use FMJ - and they have that regulation for a reason! FMJ and hardcast, bye the way, are not even close to the same thing. Hardcast are generally large caliber bullets with a blunt tip that do significant damage. FMJ are pointy spitzer-type bullets which zip through flesh leaving comparatively little damage unless they hit bone or a major artery or nerve. FMJ are used by the military to comply with international rules of war precisely because they are much more likely to wound than kill!

Soft point ammo is fairly inexpensive - just buy some an use it!

 

[Deer Hunter]

precisely because they are much more likely to wound than kill!

It was at that very moment that you lost all credibility in this thread.

As for FMJ use in hunting applications...

Some FMJs do quite a number. Czech Silvertip out of an M44.

 

[bpl]

Oh really? So why have modern militaries had to resort to using techniques to destabilize bullets, make them tumble, make dum-dum tips, etc. but still make them appear to be still plain FMJ? How about the obvious...they are trying to make them kill better!!

 

[Deer Hunter]

You sound as thought you were from the camp that believes that 40 years ago, the US military docterine for small-arms combat switched from "shoot to kill" to "shoot to wound and have his comrades carry the wounded soldier away". Perhaps I misread your statement, or you should be more clear. However, in either case, the fragmentatino qualities that you describe were a serendipidous event.

 

[bpl]

I'm just trying to make the point that you are more likely to make a quick, "humane" kill with expanding ammunition rather than FMJ. And, you're less likely to have to track an animal.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

Animals act alot differently when shot or in pain than people do.

When a person is shot they normally don't run in any direction as fast as possible. If a person would be hit in the toe or pinky finger I'm sure they'd drop to the ground in pain, try to figure out what happened, address the wound, and depending on the circumstance return fire.

The hog or deer will run as fast as he can until he can't run anymore when shot without having a clue whats going on. If FMJ takes longer to kill, the animal can get a lot farther before he ends up dying. If you shot a deer through both lungs with FMJ hes going to die, but it's quite a waste to lose any animal when it could have been prevented spending a couple bucks more on some soft points.

Mosin soft points can be bought on the internet if a local store doesn't have them, and they're probably cheaper than most common calibers people hunt with. I dropped a deer this yr using 180 grn wolf gold soft points. I could have tried FMJ, but I could have also got a hefty fine and not had any deer in the freezer this year.