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Mosin-Nagant M-38 First Impressions

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Zeke Menuar

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Got to shoot my Mosin-Nagant M-38 today.( Thanks Santa, aka my wife) It is a Big 5 special.
Looks like it has a M-44 stock on it. There is a bayonet cutout on the right side. The stock has a lot of varnish on it. 1944 manufacture date. All numbers match. The refinishing job is pretty good. It is attractive in a Russian utliltarian functional kind of way. The bore is a little suspect. There is some peppering in it and there was a few gallons of blue that came out of it during cleaning. It has been counterbored. I cleaned the heck out of it. I have seen guns with nasty looking bores shoot good. I hope this is one of them. Used Wolf 148gr FMJ and 200gr sp to test the carbine out.
I don't have high expectaions of pinpoint accuracy from this carbine. I seriously doubt that it can even come close to shooting bugholes like my 270 does. I was hoping for "Minute-of-Popcan" or something similar.
After loading it up and trying to chamber a round, the cartridge nosedived back into the magazine. This went on for several rounds and got very bothersome. I thought it would be the perfect time to use my degree from the "Primitive Pete School of Gunsmithing". I foolishly left most of my gun tools at home. I did have my gunsmithing screwdrivers and an ordinary pair of pliers. I tweaked the springs and follower while I was sighting the gun in and finally got it to feed properly.
The action on this gun is rather clunky and not near as well engineered as the Mauser and Remingtons I am used to. Not a bad thing, just different. I can't imagine having to work this action in a hurry. The cock-on-opening takes much more effort to work the action. Takes a bit of getting used to. The safety is pretty sturdy even if it is a pain to use. I might do some research to see if the action can be slicked up.
I went out about 60 paces and went at it.
For the first few rounds it shot low. Really low. Couldn't get an idea of where it was shooting. After seating the rear sight into the 100m slot things got much better. Now it was shooting high. Just perfect for blasting evil capitalist imperialist pop-cans. I set up a paper plate and managed some 2-3" groups offhand with the 148gr ammo(offhand includes using the supplied sling to help with accuracy). Got one group at 1.5" resting off the car. It doesn't seem to like the 200gr ammo much. I can hit the pop-can but it doesn't group as well as the lighter ammo. I figure that at 100yds, 3-5" is what it would shoot. Maybe a little tighter with handloads. I didn't mention the military(two-stage?) trigger because even with the generous take-up, it was about 5-6 lbs with a pretty good letoff.
This M38 should make a pretty good "bumming-around-rifle" as well as a testbed for "Stock Refinishing 101".
For $79.95 these guns are a heckuva deal. Santa may I have another?


ZM
 
Nice review.

You really have to manhandle the action on Mosins. I can work mine pretty quickly, but it's not a elegant action, you really have to slam it up, back and slam it home again. I don't think "slicking it up" is going to help much.

On the upside, this isn't a rifle one can break easily.

Next, try the M38's longer brother, the 91/30 rifle. Those are lots of fun too.
 
you really have to slam it up, back and slam it home again
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After the REALLY big boom you get when you shoot a short Mosin, it somehow seems appropriate to have a bolt with the feel of the breech end of a crew-served artillery piece . . .
 
I've been fixing and shooting a M1897 Winchester and putting a lot of 3" Magnum slugs through my Mossberg 500(back off guys, I am only putting the magnum loads through the Mossy, not the M97)My shoulder is completely numb and incapable of feeing pain or recoil.

All kidding aside the blast and recoil was less than I expected.

I am currently working the bore with JB's bore paste to help reduce the copper racing stripes. I will probably work the locking lugs with JB's to see if that helps smooth the action out.

Saturday's project is completing the C&R application and sending it in to Big Brother, continuing my inevitable decent down the slippery slope.


ZM
 
Saturday's project is completing the C&R application and sending it in to Big Brother, continuing my inevitable decent down the slippery slope.
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Don't forget the citizenship form (like I did)! I have a feeling that's what's got mine held up...
 
Saturday's project is completing the C&R application and sending it in to Big Brother, continuing my inevitable decent down the slippery slope.
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Piece of advice: Buy a HUGE gun safe now while you still have credit left on your credit card. ;)
 
Citizenship Form? Can you be more specific?
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*rummages about and finds it under the K31 bolt he was cleaning* It's a small, simple form in which you basically affirm that you are, in fact, a US citizen (or not, I suppose!). It looks like the form is ATF 5330.20. You might try searching the forums here for a reference to it--I didn't get it from the ATF's site, but rather from somewhere else after someone mentioned it here.
 
<Cliff Claven voice>Actually, the Mauser action and all rifles that copy it cock on opening. The Enfield cocks on closing, though. </Cliff Claven voice>
I wonder if part of the problem of stiff opening on these might be due to an overenthusiastic main spring?
 
I wonder if part of the problem of stiff opening on these might be due to an overenthusiastic main spring?
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I think it's more due to rough machining. Also, take a close look at the chambers of these rifles.

These things were built as tools of war by very Spartan like people.
 
I like the balance of the M-38 better than the M-44, but unfortunately most all the M-38's saw the rough end of WWII. Many were counterbored and are not all that accurate. I'm on a quest to find a pristine M-38 but so far I've been coming up short.
 
i saw a few pretty m38s at the gunshow today
obviously rearsenaled but nice....i dont know if they were couterbored
should think to check next time
BSR
 
i saw a few pretty m38s at the gunshow today
obviously rearsenaled but nice....
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Nothing wrong with rearsenaled rifles, particularly if you're looking more for a shooter than a collectors piece. The non-rearsenalled are of course more collectable--simply because they're more rare. The rearsenalled rifles are still historic and folkloric, and shoot just as well or better than the as-issued variety.
 
If the crown is not where it usually is, but is instead about an inch down the bore, and the end of the barrel is quite wide and smooth--it's been counterbored. It's a way of sqeezing more life out of overused barrels. When the lands are worn off at the end, they simply drill out the bore an inch or so, until they hit fresher lands.
 
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