Here's some factual info about the Mosin-Nagant.
The Mosin-Nagant started out as a 4.5' long bolt action rifle in 7.62x54R. This was the M1891. The cartridge and action never changed.
The Mosin-Nagant's most numerous variant is the 4' long M1891/30, or 91/30. Earlier examples of this rifle have hexagonal receivers. This was changed in the early 1940's in order to speed up production and save materials for the sake of bulk numbers for fighting World War 2. The sights were changed to have their measurements done in Meters instead of Arshins. 1 Arshin= .75M. The front sight was also improved and protected.
The next most common version is the M44 carbine. This was made by cutting a good 10 inches off a 91/30, making this a 30" gun; the exact same length as an M16. The M44 comes with an attached spike bayonet on its side colloquially dubbed a "pig sticker". The M44 is a lighter, shorter weapon that still uses the same cartridge. It is famous for producing one hell of a bang and a fireball.
The Mosin-Nagant is not a superbly accurate weapon right out of the box. The 91/30, being the gun that won WW2, was battle zeroed with a bayonet attached for a distance of 300M. Often, these guns will hit high, though services exist to recalibrate these guns and enterprising individuals can file down the front sight post. With a good bore, good ammunition, and a scope, the 91/30 can be a 1 MOA weapon. However, getting 2 MOA is considered normal. These weapons are accurate enough to engage men out to a few hundred meters and they were built with the accuracy to put a round onto a man's general area instead of into a tiny spot on a piece of paper.
The Mosin-Nagant is legendarily reliable, capable of taking pretty much whatever abuse and neglect you can throw at it. If you want one to stop working, you're going to want some Thermite. The Mosin-Nagant you can buy in the USA has normally spent quite a few decades in storage full of Cosmoline. Cosmoline is a great preservative for a gun in long term storage, but it makes the bolt and such sticky. In order to get rid of Cosmoline, disassemble the gun, put all the parts in paint thinner, and give them a good scrubbing. If the bolt is still sticky, then give all the internals a good scrubbing through and through with windex and motor oil.
The Mosin-Nagant fires a 7.62X54R round. The round is a bit bigger than the 7.62x51NATO, but in terms of terminal performance, a 91/30 will give better performance with it than you would get out of an FN FAL due to the increased barrel length. The Mosin-Nagant can take any game on the North American continent.
The Mosin-Nagant is lastly, cheap. The last time I looked at a gun show, there was a guy sitting in the middle of a group of four tables surrounded by all these different 91/30's, and any one them would have gone for $110. You can find cheaper, but $100 is a fair normal price and don't worry yourself over $20 or so in price; it's not the end of the world if you can't get a perfect quality Mosin-Nagant for less than it costs to buy a pack of gum. Note that if you pay above $150 for a Mosin-Nagant and you don't get a nice one with some accessories and ammunition, then you got ripped off. The 91/30 is the cheapest version; M44's and other versions can cost up to $300, but it can vary wildly. The gun is cheap to shoot also; even a college student like myself who works only part time or less can afford to buy and shoot this rifle a good amount. Do be aware of the cheap corrosive ammunition. After firing it, no matter how little, give it a good cleaning with Windex in order to prevent the corrosive salts from eating away at the bore, chamber, and action.
Now for the opinion part of my ess- I mean post.
Don't lighted this gun because its weight makes the recoil more manageable. It is definitely a gun for men and it's the Comrade's Comrade. It's a long heavy gun and it's not one much for customization or tweaking. Scopes are a pain to get and mount. You can spot a Nagant sniper because it will have a belt bolt handle. These are the ones which can get the supreme accuracy. Don't try to sporterize these either, as nobody is making more of them, and the price, as with all milsurp rifles, will go up eventually. Leaving the original wood and stock will preserve the collector and historical value. The rifle doesn't tend to respond to perfectly to accurizing tricks and unless you purchase one designated a sniper rifle, then it is likely to be a waste of time unless you get lucky. I've always wanted to get my hands on a Mosin, but for some reason or another I never did. Either was starting out and wanted to get an AK, or I was looking to get something a tad friendlier for HD work, or I wanted a battle rifle, or I wanted a gun just like in Call of Duty, or I wanted something American, or I wanted to try a small carbine. One of these days,I will take a 91/30 home with me. The triggers on the $100 Mosins tend towards being more crappy than anything else. The trigger can jiggle a lot left to right, and there may not be a lot of resistance until you're just about to shoot. Then the trigger can feel a bit gritty, so work on that trigger. The action can definitely need a good bit of strength to operate after you've chambered and fired the first round. The bolt handle is normally straight and it short by necessity. If the gun has a malfunction while the bolt is shut, you're going to need either a pair of Russian Призывники (Prizyvniki, or Conscripts), or Saxton Hale. The safety is not at all user friendly. The safety is a knob on the back of the bolt. In order to actuate the safety, you pretty much need to put all your strength into pulling back the knob and rotating it. I suspect that the safety was secretly intended to be some sort of mechanical shibboleth for finding all the weak Capitalist pigs, being the people who couldn't actuate it. The gun's cheap, nasty, charming, reliable, powerful, ugly, and elegant.
