Which Nagant?

[Starpower]

A couple of Dept buddies and I are working on a Mosin Nagant deal for three M44 carbines for a good price, from GunsAmerica. One is Polish, Bulgarian, and Romanian, all are in NRA good condition, and everything but the magazine butt plate is supposed to match. The question is, is there a difference? One friend wants good wood to keep natural, I prefer a plastic Monte Carlo with a bolt/scope conversion. Other than furniture, does it really matter who gets which?

 

[Okiecruffler]

The polish are often said to be the best of the lot accuracy wise, but my best is a Hungarian (your Bulgarian is probably a Hungarian) that will shoot around 1.75 inch groups with just about any ammo I choose. One word of caution, I haven't heard a single good word about those bolt conversions.

 

[Starpower]

Which Nagant

Thank you. What's up with the bolt conversions? I understand that a short bolt that sticks straight out will not accomodate a scope because the bolt sticks straight up in the uncocked position, and a bent downward cant is necessary to be able to operate the bolt with a scope attached. I have the instructions and understand that the old bolt has to be cut off and drilled out for a new mounting lever to be screwed on. If you haven't heard anything good, please share some of the bad things you've heard. After looking back at the ad, you are right, it is Hungarian/Polish/Romanian.
The main reason we are going with these Nagants is because I am new to refinishing/gunsmithing, and this is a cheap article to practice on without fear of messing up a more expensive model. I would probably try to re-sell it after working it over for while, provided I don't get it totally FUBAR'd.

 

[Bill Hook]

There's a guy around on gunboards, parallax, known as Boltman who sells replacement bent bolts for M-Ns, allowing you to retain originality.

TAPCO is selling M-N combos of replacement parts for $9.99! These include a spare bolt body. Buy at least 2.

 

[Okiecruffler]

Everyone I know who has tried the bolt conversion has had trouble with it working itself loose. While hardly a magnum rifle, the M44 has a not totally undeserved reputation for recoil. I have seen some bolts that were done correctly, being weilded, that weren't pretty but worked well. I went in another direction and put a B-Square scout mount on mine with a LER scope. I really liked the set up, but I've gone back to all original. Alot of people report bad experiences with the bsquare mounts as well, but I've used them on several rifles with good results. If you're interested in a scout mount there's a guy named Darrel on the Paralax board, http://pub113.ezboard.com/bparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums, who makes probably the best scout mount available. Just do yourself a favor and don't tell anyone over there that you are sporterizing a mosin.

On a rather sad note, I ran into a sporterized 1918 mosin 91-30 today. It had the cheap bolt conversion, sure enough it was loose and the bolt that holds it together was stripped. But even worse, the barrel had been butchered back to about 20 inches by some chimp with a hacksaw.

 

[Bill Hook]

If you do sporterize, you might consider saving as many original parts off the gun as possible, along with the stock and selling them to collectors. They won't be making more anytime soon and others would be thankful, plus the operation would help pay for itself.

 

[Starpower]

Thanks to both Bill and Okie C. I feel better informed from which to base my next set of decisions. Thats why I really like this forum a lot more than some of the others.

 

[Bill Hook]

http://www.gunboards.com/sites/boltman/

$47 with your bolt, $55 with his. I doubt Tuco would support crap.

"These are the best quality bolts on the market for the Mosin Nagant rifles. No one makes these any better than Jim and the prices can not be beat. The workmanship is simply magnificent and these are the only bolts that I have seen on the market worthy of compare to the original Mosin Nagant sniper bolts" - Tuco Of Gunboards.Com - Mosin-Nagant Dot Net

 

[Cosmoline]

The M-48 originals have their problems, but the conversions I've seen with the scope mounts and plastic stocks are terrible. They pretty much ruin the carbines. If you want a lighter Mosin carbine without the bayonet, just get an M-38.

Also, putting a standard scope on an M-48 is fairly pointless. They're not sniper material. As extremely powerful and inexpensive carbines, though, they're tough to beat.

If you get a chance, make sure to avoid the counterbored or rearsenaled ones. They seem to be a lot less accurate.

 

[Okiecruffler]

The accuracy issue was why I put mine back to original. The mosin sights are really pretty good for military stock. I could shoot 1.75 inches with a scope, or I could shoot 1.75inches with irons. Which has more bragging rights.

Good prices on those bent bolts from boltman, too bad the site is screwy. That would be the way to go if you really want a normal scope mount. Pay a few bucks extra and get a good solid mount.