THE MOSIN NAGANT CHRONICLES OR POSSIBLY FOLLIES

I want to blog a bit about the Mosin rifles I have. I have one the is the Model 91/30 with the 28" barrel configuration and one that is a Model1938 carbine with an 18" barrel. I think the 91/30 was made around 1917 or so. I looked up some internet information regarding design and stamps and serial numbers and so on. 

The M1938 carbine will remain mostly unaltered. It is in excellent condition. I was so impressed by a recent drop in trigger module, and they swear it IS actually a drop in trigger replacement, for the Mosin (in a post over at All Outdoors where a guy spends a grand to get a pretty rocking Mosin) that I'd like to have the trigger addition. 

I'm lucky. Both of my guns, which cost a combined total of less than $200, are in great shape. The trigger on the 91/30 is fair, but it's the one I'd like to replace first. The bonus about this replacement trigger I read about is that it has a nice safety built in, so you don't have to use the cumbersome safety of the Mosin.

For all the Mosin or Russian gun haters out there, I have more expensive, more attractive and very nice rifles that rival every aspect of the Mosin but one: incredibly cheap ammo, that happens to be a highly effective large feral hog round. Cheap ammo means lots of practice at long range predatory hog shooting. 

The M1938 is a solid gun. It's iron sights are highly accurate, and for what it is, i.e. a five round mag carbine powerhouse, it's a great gun. Visually, to some extent, the Mosin Nagant carbines with their shorter barrels reminds me of the more expensive H-K hunting rifles of the 1980's. 

 I like having iron sights on a carbine. I'd like to have it machined to accept a shoot through mount for a scope, where I could still use the stock sights. A

The trigger on my M1938 compares with any fine rifle I've shot. A great trigger. I don't want to replace it, but I'm just going to have to add the above-mentioned trigger module that includes a built in safety, just to avoid the onerous safety on the Mosin. I just don't have complete confidence in it, and it's just not conducive for me to use. Some like it, others don't. I'm in the latter.

 Likewise, I've been using a slip on recoil pad, but would like to fit a Pachmayr pad to it and cover the small stock with a big cheekrest in a leather cover. I really do like the fit and feel of the regular stock on this gun, and with a substantial recoil pad the LOP is just right for me. The grooves in the forestock are in just the right places for my fingers for shooting the carbine, or so I have found.

As far as the 91/30 goes, I'd like to put a modern, lighter weight stock with a bi-pod for the long and heavy barrel. Something with a nice adjustable, padded cheekrest. As did the author in the All Outdoors post, I'd like to get the bolt modified for scope use and have the receiver milled for a shoot through scope mount, because even though the trigger is not near as nice on this gun as on the M1938, it does shoot well and is quite accurate.

El Fisho Jr. hit a knot in a recently downed tree on the Brazos River shoreline a few years ago, and dang if that hit didn't put a substantial crack in that still green and hard tree. I've seen the damage the round can do with a large feral hog, and it's a good round for them. Some of my friends with farms who suffer damage yearly from these hungry and overpopulated hogs like their Mosins for the power and the cheap ammo.

So I want to get the 91/30 milled for a scope and I want to use a shoot through mount so that the stock sights can be used alternatively. I've had this type mount on my first deer gun, a Marlin 30-30, and have always used the shoot through when possible.

Of course, the 91/30 will need a mounted folding bi-pod. It's a big and heavy gun.

Anyone the least bit knowledgeable about Mosin rifles and carbines know that the bolt must be altered so that a conventionally positioned scope can be mounted. There's companies that will take your bolt and rework it to a bend 
bolt handle to accomodate a scope.

For those not wanting to go to that trouble, there is some sort of scout scope type mount that replaces the rear sight mount on the gun, thus removing the rear sight. I have been really impressed with the stock sights of these guns. 

Both of these guns have proven their reliability over time. The Glock did it in relatively few years, but guns like the Mosin rifles and AK-47's and Smith and Wesson and Colt revolvers and the 1911, to name a few, are still shooting many decades after they were made.

The spare parts, of course, are good to keep around, properly labeled and stored away with proper procedures like greasing or oiling if necessary.

So I'll update you on just how far I get with either one. I've got a rubber bolt on replacement pad for the M1938, that's frankly not much improvement over the metal butt end of the stock gun and I've been using a slip on recoil pad from a junior sized .410 shotgun. The pad fits well but the rubber sleeve is too big for the odd shaped Mosin stock and it's not a big problem as it stays put but I'd like to trim the rubber sleeve down or cover it in a leather cover. 

The recoil pad issue is the main improvement needed for the M1938, because frankly everything else is working excellently.

These days, for a hundred dollar gun, more or less since the carbines do sell for a bit more most places, it's a great gun. Also considering you can buy 440 rounds for a $100 and get some change back. It's a great camp gun to have handy to deal with a surprise crazy hog or rabid skunk or bobcat who doesn't want to stay away from you as most normal wild animals do. My M1938 is handy enough and light enough and certainly accurate enough to take out any poisonous snake that won't leave you alone, although some kind of shotgun is always the preferred weapon for me with large, fast moving, poisonous snakes.

Again I'll state that I'm not a hunter, but I do fish a lot in wild places that feature critters that are sometimes sick or aggressive and in those cases, when it's me or the critter, and I'll do everything I can to avoid an encounter, but if unavoidable in a fishing camp a good 12 gauge shotgun with buckshot and a large caliber rifle are two good things to have handy for wild surprises. 

The Mosin Nagant rifle and carbines remind of an earlier times, when these were state of the art weapons. Later, as they were replaced by the SKS and the AK-47 and the Dragonov and the PSL rifles, as I understand it they made their way to countless third world nations and rebels and just everywhere. I think I saw a Mosin in the hands of a rebel in one of the numerous African uprisings and unrest on a web photo.

Certainly, you see PSL and AK-47's of many variants in the various mid-east wars going on. I noted some of the Kurdish fighters had PSL rifles, and remembered how much I like it's stock design. The PSL is no Dragonov, but it's a great rifle, shooting the same cartridge used by the Mosin-Nagant.

So I'll update if and when I get around to working on the Mosin rifle and carbine. I do think I'll take the M1938 out shooting tomorrow.