mosin nagants for mall ninjas?

[tahunua001]

hello all.
over the course of the spring I have been trying to turn a mosin nagant into a modern hunting rifle. about $400 in and I now have an ugly, heavy, long, inaccurate, and hard to cycle excuse for a thumbhole, sporter rifle.

ok lesson learned, or has it?

ran into the centered balanced systems bullpup kits for them. kinda spendy to dress up a 150 dollar rifle but an interesting concept given some members plans to manufacture modern tactical style stocks.

I am usually against bullpup conversion kits because they all have horrible triggers, move the muzzle blast 12 inches closer to the shooters face and tend to eject brass into a left handed shooters face but for a bolt action with a 31 inch barrel and an already horrible trigger, all of these problems are either negated or already present in the current design so I am actually interested in trying one out.

anyone ever used one of these?

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

Looks like you might have a bit of trouble working the bolt. I would pass on it and keep it stock. Looks better anyway.

 

[rcmodel]

How do you feel about laying your face on a 100 year old rifle receiver when a 48,000 PSI explosion goes off inside it every shot??

A case failure could ruin your good looks!

rc

 

[fireman 9731]

I agree, I don't want my face any closer to the reciever than it needs to be.

But I have never seen a Mosin Nagant let loose yet.... Has anybody?

 

[fatcat4620]

That stock is something else. Not even sure at to say. Did look like the receiver was enclosed so it would give you a little protection if she let go.

 

[tahunua001]

I don't know. I've never heard of a KaBoom with mosin nagants. I hear about them all the time with early springfields yet I shoot mine all the time despite the internet's pleas.

there have been conversions for an M14/M1A for years and they are quite popular. the 54R has similar ballistics but with a barrel that is several inches longer it is much easier to deal iwth the muzzle blast. the frame is aluminum so that would add a lot more protection from casing failures than an unmodified rifle wood.

 

[firesky101]

For your stated purposes the money would be better spent on cutting the barrel down, doing some trigger work, and putting some decent sights on it. Some handloading would help too, and maybe bed the stock. They can be accurate and handy, but that CBS stock is not IMO the way to do it.

 

[geo57]

I have $ 60 in my MN M44 and $ 60 in both of my MN 91/30's. All are bone stock with the exception of the bayonet being removed from the M44. The deer that have been harvested with them over the years never knew they weren't modern hunting rifles.

 

[dirtyjim]

But I have never seen a Mosin Nagant let loose yet.... Has anybody?

there are pic's of one that split the receiver in half. search mosin kaboom on google and you should be able to find it. it was one of the hex actions and it had developed a crack at the inner c-ring and split. it looked like the crack had been there for a long time and when it finally let go the guy shooting it didn't even notice till he tried to chamber another round.

the russians actually built a couple versions of the bullpup mosin sniper rifles.
they were considered to a myth until a russian sniper was killed in the falklands with a ots-48k

 

[headoftheholler]

hello all.
over the course of the spring I have been trying to turn a mosin nagant into a modern hunting rifle. about $400 in and I now have an ugly, heavy, long, inaccurate, and hard to cycle excuse for a thumbhole, sporter rifle.

ok lesson learned, or has it?

ran into the centered balanced systems bullpup kits for them. kinda spendy to dress up a 150 dollar rifle but an interesting concept given some members plans to manufacture modern tactical style stocks.

I am usually against bullpup conversion kits because they all have horrible triggers, move the muzzle blast 12 inches closer to the shooters face and tend to eject brass into a left handed shooters face but for a bolt action with a 31 inch barrel and an already horrible trigger, all of these problems are either negated or already present in the current design so I am actually interested in trying one out.

anyone ever used one of these?

First things first. Why/How in Gods name are you $400 in this?
I'm $250 in mine (old pic, now has mount and scope)

Secondly, why would you go 400 bucks in on a rifle that wasn't accurate to begin with?
I love nothing else more than (properly) sporterizing old war horses. My very first absolute rule before I even start is to start with an already accurate rifle. If you don't, whats the point?
You said its heavy. You didn't research that laminated stocks are heavier than composite or walnut?
You said its too long. A piece of angle iron and a hacksaw will fix that, you can legally go to 16 inches. Add a few bucks for your gunsmith for a nice target crown and you are good to go.
Since you are already $400 in it, forget about sinking even more into another stock.
Is your barrel floated? What shape is your crown? Rifling, is it sharp and well defined? What are you using for ammo? Surplus is notorious for not being inconsistant in powder charge/bullet/ect. Get a box of good PPU ammo.
Did you thouroughly clean it? I think with some help on here (search for the accurizing Mosin thread) and some elbow grease/new ideas you will be good to go.

 

[One_Jackal]

Friends of mine have WWI Mausers that shoot a modern .308 cartridge. I never see cartridges for the mosin loaded with a hunting bullet, they all are FMJ. I prefer hunting weapons I can get ammo for at Walmart. Flying with ammo complicates things at the airport. Who hasn't driven 200 miles to a wonderful hunt, only to discover you left your ammo in the gun safe.

 

[meanmrmustard]

Friends of mine have WWI Mausers that shoot a modern .308 cartridge. I never see cartridges for the mosin loaded with a hunting bullet, they all are FMJ. I prefer hunting weapons I can get ammo for at Walmart. Flying with ammo complicates things at the airport. Who hasn't driven 200 miles to a wonderful hunt, only to discover you left your ammo in the gun safe.

Some of us aren't that lucky!

 

[headoftheholler]

Friends of mine have WWI Mausers that shoot a modern .308 cartridge. I never see cartridges for the mosin loaded with a hunting bullet, they all are FMJ. I prefer hunting weapons I can get ammo for at Walmart. Flying with ammo complicates things at the airport. Who hasn't driven 200 miles to a wonderful hunt, only to discover you left your ammo in the gun safe.

I live in BumF#@ Kentucky and our local hole in the wall carries 4 different 7.62x54 soft point hunting choices.

 

[tahunua001]

this was just a project to see if it was really possible to do a home gunsmithing project 91/30. so for my criteria it all:
1. has to be done in your garage so gunsmithing is out.
2. has a $400 limit, after that you may as well have gone to wally world.
3. can't look completely bubba'd.

so first choice was rifle. I bought two mosin nagants for 125 each. I kept the nicer of the two stock since it may eventually have value and decided to chop the not so nice one.

then stock. I got the boyds thumbhole stock but fitting wasn't as seamless as I planned and I ended up scratching it quite a bit on the bottom.

I did not want to take a hacksaw to the barrel because that would go against Item #3 so I left it long and not so pretty.

the tool marks are so atrocious that I did not want to go through the trouble of having it reblued.

I went with the ATI scope mount and bent bolt kits which was a horrible horrible idea but by the time I figured that out i had already chopped off the straight bolt and was committed.

at this point I have a total of 275 dollars invested
added a bushnell for about $150 so yes, over 400 and I still failed a lot of my original criteria but I am not about to invest any more time and money, I'll just hang onto it until I can find someone who is willing to buy it for anything about a 50% loss and get rid of the POS.
my reason for choosing an inferior rifle was because I am a big fan of milsurps and I do not like the idea of chopping up good examples that one day would be fine pieces of history. and yes, I cleaned it, only a moron would try shooting a weapon that slips out of their hands from all the cosmoline on/in/around it. this was far from a proper sporterizing and it failed miserably. however this discussion was set up more to talk about the bullpup conversions for them rather and to see if it would function better than a lot of the poor mans conversion options.

 

[firesky101]

If you chop the barrel to the length of a M38 it wont look too bad IMO, plus you will get a more modern rifle look by losing the front sight. That being said it is your rifle, if you don't think it will look good that is your choice. I would feel that the rifle already looked bubba'd the second you chopped the bolt handle off, so might as well just keep going.

 

[Windy Wilson]

You're not completely out of luck, you could polish the surface and get most of the tool marks off, then blue it. I don't recall exactly what to do, but there is something you can do to the bolt so you can cycle the thing without hitting it with a two by four. Check the crown; that is the biggest factor affecting the accuracy. Since these rifles were made by comrades who were willing to cuto corners and leave the exterior tool marks on, to me the crown is suspect until verified good. I am hesitant to shorten the barrel, as that increases the blast. There are enough M44's out there.

It doesn't sound too bubba'd to me yet. It's not like it will be a great collectible in 30 years, is it?

 

[headoftheholler]

this was just a project to see if it was really possible to do a home gunsmithing project 91/30. so for my criteria it all:
1. has to be done in your garage so gunsmithing is out.
2. has a $400 limit, after that you may as well have gone to wally world.
3. can't look completely bubba'd.

so first choice was rifle. I bought two mosin nagants for 125 each. I kept the nicer of the two stock since it may eventually have value and decided to chop the not so nice one.

then stock. I got the boyds thumbhole stock but fitting wasn't as seamless as I planned and I ended up scratching it quite a bit on the bottom.

I did not want to take a hacksaw to the barrel because that would go against Item #3 so I left it long and not so pretty.

the tool marks are so atrocious that I did not want to go through the trouble of having it reblued.

I went with the ATI scope mount and bent bolt kits which was a horrible horrible idea but by the time I figured that out i had already chopped off the straight bolt and was committed.

at this point I have a total of 275 dollars invested
added a bushnell for about $150 so yes, over 400 and I still failed a lot of my original criteria but I am not about to invest any more time and money, I'll just hang onto it until I can find someone who is willing to buy it for anything about a 50% loss and get rid of the POS.
my reason for choosing an inferior rifle was because I am a big fan of milsurps and I do not like the idea of chopping up good examples that one day would be fine pieces of history. and yes, I cleaned it, only a moron would try shooting a weapon that slips out of their hands from all the cosmoline on/in/around it. this was far from a proper sporterizing and it failed miserably. however this discussion was set up more to talk about the bullpup conversions for them rather and to see if it would function better than a lot of the poor mans conversion options.

Only a moron would buy the ATI bolt conversion without prior research.
Good luck with off loading it.

 

[PRM]

I bought mine because it was a cheap solid built rifle. Several years ago a friend acquired five of them in a deal and offered me one for what he had in it ($60). I jumped, sight unseen. Next day he brought me what looked like a brand new unissued M44 carbine. I refinished the stock and wound up with a super nice looking rifle at a bargain price.

It a great shooter, and is capable of more accuracy with open sights than I am of shooting it. Never claimed to be a "sniper" or even approximate those skill sets. However, most deer and other large game are taken where I live at 50 yards of less - so I don't have to be. I figure the distance I will be shooting it, it will do just fine.

As far as appearance, I like the military style.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

I just can't wait to get my project Mosin under-way (still have to buy the rifle, and then get a AK-74 styled Muzzle-brake that will thread on in proper bore diameter).

I'll be doing this to a 91/30, will keep the original barrel if it shoots well enough, if not, I might just go and have a new one made to match factory specs, only using a .308" bore so I can use effective reloads for it. I'll even have the sights put back on. Reason being, this:

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

^^ Lol, didn't say I was doing it for cheap, it's just something I would like in a rifle ha.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

you know those ridiculous old chevy caprice's with lift kits and humongous rims and metal flake paint etc etc?

that sketch is that vehicle in gun form

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Bash if you must, sir. More power to ya. I don't agree with the lifted caprice on 25+" rims, but if that's the way they want their car, more power to them.

 

[headoftheholler]

I just can't wait to get my project Mosin under-way (still have to buy the rifle, and then get a AK-74 styled Muzzle-brake that will thread on in proper bore diameter).

I'll be doing this to a 91/30, will keep the original barrel if it shoots well enough, if not, I might just go and have a new one made to match factory specs, only using a .308" bore so I can use effective reloads for it. I'll even have the sights put back on. Reason being, this:

I would be interested in the 10 round mag and your ideas on it.
As for the stock design, not my cup o' tea, I'm more traditional but if
it will breathe new life into an old war horse, go for it.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

knock yourself out, brah