Introduction to the Mosin-Nagant
The Mosin-Nagant is a Russian bolt-action rifle originally fielded to the Tsar's troops in 1891. The rifle was updated in 1930 to become the M1891/30, which is the "garden variety" Mosin-Nagant stacked in greasy piles at gunshows. These greasy piles exist because the M1891/30 (commonly called the 91/30) was the Soviet's go-to infantry rifle for most of the Second World War, and millions upon millions of them were produced. Note, however, that the Mosin-Nagant was not intended to be a cheap, "good-enough" rifle issued to untrained peasants from the Caucuses; it was intended to be a modern (at the time), competitive rifle for the post-World War I Soviet military. However, World War II saw desperation in the face of the Nazi invasion and widespread use of the "human wave" tactic (watch the first few minutes of 'Enemy at the Gates'). For those reasons, a "good enough" rifle was exactly what was needed, and what was delivered. Mid-war 91/30s can be rough, with ample tooling marks, mismatched parts, and generally lackluster fit and finish. The versions you see today have been arsenaled (refurbished) post-war so they're actually in better shape than than they were originally, but that's still not saying much. So why should you buy a Mosin-Nagant, then? Simple! They’re rugged, accurate rifles that can be every bit as precise and consistent as other rifles of a similar vintage. The rough, sloppy mid-war 91/30 is what the Mosin-Nagant became, but it's not what it was intended to be and it's definitely not what it's limited to.
The fact is, however, that Mosin-Nagants have a bad reputation, mostly driven by their cheap price and rough appearance. You may hear a lot of “minute-of-barn” jokes circulating around this old Russian rifle; many folks will sneer and some actually get angry at the idea that the Mosin-Nagant action can be as good as modern Mauser-based bolt action designs. To be fair, this is technically correct; the Mosin's receiver is open at the rear, reducing rigidity, and most Mosins have a round, cheaply-machined receiver that loses rigidity over the orginal, expensive to machine half-hexagon shape. The Mosin action is also prone to sticking due to the design of the extractor and looseness in the bolt raceway, so while some Mosins can and do have slick, fast actions, the majority of them are old and dirty with sticky actions that must be banged around to work quickly.
However, the Mosin-Nagant’s action is surprisingly rugged and clever, with a truly immense third locking lug for safety, a floating bolt head to maximize ease of maintenance and accuracy with minimal production cost, and an achingly simple trigger pack/bolt stop that can be tuned for accuracy by anyone with a file. The Mosin also largely eschews the use of hardened steel compared to competing rifles. Hardened Mauser bolt faces may shatter under heavy loads, whereas those who have tried to blow up a Mosin action find that although headspace may stretch and slow leaks may begin, the gun won't fail. Mosins are built tough, and although they may lack the ultimate edge in accuracy and action strength, their potential accuracy is still well above the capabilities most shooters. If you treat the Mosin like any other long-range build and match it up with a finely-made barrel, a thick stock, and a good scope, Mosins have repeatedly been shown to yield ~0.75 MOA even in their native 7.62x54R. Still doubtful? Read on.
The reason for the Mosin-Nagant’s poor reputation is fairly simple. Thousands of gun owners have a $80 91/30 with a beat-up stock, a sticky bolt, and a crusty bore that can barely keep bullets on the paper at 100 yards. But before you make any decisions about the Mosin-Nagant, you have to understand that poor, worn-out, $80 rifle’s history. If you took a $1500 hunting rifle that runs .75 MOA effortlessly, then put it through World War II in Soviet general infantry issue, shooting corrosive ammo and going through multiple owners who all thought the cleaning rod was a back scratcher, then had it arsenaled by an underpaid factory worker alongside 30 million other rifles just like it before being put into storage for 80 years and then shipped off in a leaky barge to an American distributor to sit in a pile of other mistreated rifles before finally chancing to be picked up and taken to the range, you can bet that fine, snappy $1500 rifle wouldn’t be able to stay on paper either (and the Mosin-Nagant definitely didn't cost the Soviet government $1500, even adjusting for inflation).
The truth is the Mosin-Nagant is a damn fine rifle, just as accurate as its contemporary Mausers, Enfields, and Springfields, and for proof, you need look no further than a history book. A compelling argument can be made for the Mosin-Nagant being the deadliest precision rifle of the past century. Simo Häyhä, the most lethal sniper to ever have lived, used a Mosin-Nagant to kill more than 500 enemy soldiers in less than 100 days, some at ranges well over 400 yards. Other legendary shooters who trusted the Mosin-Nagant include Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who removed more than 300 Nazis from service over her career and became the deadliest female sniper in history, and of course Vassiliy Zaitseev and Ivan Sidorenko, each with kill counts of several hundred. The ruggedness and accuracy of the Mosin-Nagant is even respected in modern military armories, as the Finnish military trains their snipers with the TKIV 85 sniper rifle, a modernized Mosin-Nagant. TKIV 85s are actually built on original Soviet receivers, making them the oldest firearms in active military service today. Russia still produces the OTs-48 and OTs-48k sniper rifles for their security and special police forces, both of which are simply Mosin-Nagant actions with modern optics, barrels, and stocks. Finally, you might be surprised to know you can still buy a new-production, original-spec Mauser rifle from Mauser themselves, because the design is still so good that some hunters and sportsmen don't see a need for modern variants. You'll be even more surprised to find that the same is true of the Mosin-Nagant, with several companies producing Mosin-Nagants in various degrees of originality over the years, such as Molot's KO-91/30. These rifles are not often seen in the USA, principally because few are willing to pay new-rifle price for what is wrongly perceived in America as a bad rifle design, but they do appear from time to time in small batches, and are common sights in Europe and Australia.
The fact is, however, that Mosin-Nagants have a bad reputation, mostly driven by their cheap price and rough appearance. You may hear a lot of “minute-of-barn” jokes circulating around this old Russian rifle; many folks will sneer and some actually get angry at the idea that the Mosin-Nagant action can be as good as modern Mauser-based bolt action designs. To be fair, this is technically correct; the Mosin's receiver is open at the rear, reducing rigidity, and most Mosins have a round, cheaply-machined receiver that loses rigidity over the orginal, expensive to machine half-hexagon shape. The Mosin action is also prone to sticking due to the design of the extractor and looseness in the bolt raceway, so while some Mosins can and do have slick, fast actions, the majority of them are old and dirty with sticky actions that must be banged around to work quickly.
However, the Mosin-Nagant’s action is surprisingly rugged and clever, with a truly immense third locking lug for safety, a floating bolt head to maximize ease of maintenance and accuracy with minimal production cost, and an achingly simple trigger pack/bolt stop that can be tuned for accuracy by anyone with a file. The Mosin also largely eschews the use of hardened steel compared to competing rifles. Hardened Mauser bolt faces may shatter under heavy loads, whereas those who have tried to blow up a Mosin action find that although headspace may stretch and slow leaks may begin, the gun won't fail. Mosins are built tough, and although they may lack the ultimate edge in accuracy and action strength, their potential accuracy is still well above the capabilities most shooters. If you treat the Mosin like any other long-range build and match it up with a finely-made barrel, a thick stock, and a good scope, Mosins have repeatedly been shown to yield ~0.75 MOA even in their native 7.62x54R. Still doubtful? Read on.
The reason for the Mosin-Nagant’s poor reputation is fairly simple. Thousands of gun owners have a $80 91/30 with a beat-up stock, a sticky bolt, and a crusty bore that can barely keep bullets on the paper at 100 yards. But before you make any decisions about the Mosin-Nagant, you have to understand that poor, worn-out, $80 rifle’s history. If you took a $1500 hunting rifle that runs .75 MOA effortlessly, then put it through World War II in Soviet general infantry issue, shooting corrosive ammo and going through multiple owners who all thought the cleaning rod was a back scratcher, then had it arsenaled by an underpaid factory worker alongside 30 million other rifles just like it before being put into storage for 80 years and then shipped off in a leaky barge to an American distributor to sit in a pile of other mistreated rifles before finally chancing to be picked up and taken to the range, you can bet that fine, snappy $1500 rifle wouldn’t be able to stay on paper either (and the Mosin-Nagant definitely didn't cost the Soviet government $1500, even adjusting for inflation).
The truth is the Mosin-Nagant is a damn fine rifle, just as accurate as its contemporary Mausers, Enfields, and Springfields, and for proof, you need look no further than a history book. A compelling argument can be made for the Mosin-Nagant being the deadliest precision rifle of the past century. Simo Häyhä, the most lethal sniper to ever have lived, used a Mosin-Nagant to kill more than 500 enemy soldiers in less than 100 days, some at ranges well over 400 yards. Other legendary shooters who trusted the Mosin-Nagant include Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who removed more than 300 Nazis from service over her career and became the deadliest female sniper in history, and of course Vassiliy Zaitseev and Ivan Sidorenko, each with kill counts of several hundred. The ruggedness and accuracy of the Mosin-Nagant is even respected in modern military armories, as the Finnish military trains their snipers with the TKIV 85 sniper rifle, a modernized Mosin-Nagant. TKIV 85s are actually built on original Soviet receivers, making them the oldest firearms in active military service today. Russia still produces the OTs-48 and OTs-48k sniper rifles for their security and special police forces, both of which are simply Mosin-Nagant actions with modern optics, barrels, and stocks. Finally, you might be surprised to know you can still buy a new-production, original-spec Mauser rifle from Mauser themselves, because the design is still so good that some hunters and sportsmen don't see a need for modern variants. You'll be even more surprised to find that the same is true of the Mosin-Nagant, with several companies producing Mosin-Nagants in various degrees of originality over the years, such as Molot's KO-91/30. These rifles are not often seen in the USA, principally because few are willing to pay new-rifle price for what is wrongly perceived in America as a bad rifle design, but they do appear from time to time in small batches, and are common sights in Europe and Australia.
All that being said, the Mosin-Nagant admittedly faces some serious hurdles at the modern shooting range. The garden variety 91/30 is a relic of the battles fought in the first world war, and it shows. The barrel is too long, from a time when iron sights were the norm and a long sight radius was considered crucial to accuracy. The barrel is also too thin, because it had to be light so soldiers could march with it, and it was assumed that combat was composed of careful, trench-to-trench shots that made heat dissipation irrelevant. The sights are adjustable out to a rather optimistic 2,000 meters, because volley fire was still considered a viable tactic at that time. The bolt handle is straight, because scopes were so uncommon that no one considered that you might want one. The stock is a somewhat archaic straight-grip stock that is fast to the shoulder but lacks any sort of pistol grip or semi-pistol grip to aid in control. Capping the buttstock is a steel buttplate that’s great for bashing in enemy skulls, but rather painful during extended shooting sessions at the range. The trigger is numb and stiff, designed to “surprise” the shooter so that stressed soldiers wouldn’t flinch against the recoil, and the trigger pull is equal to the weight of the rifle itself at around 7-8 pounds, a design feature intended to prevent the rifle from accidentally discharging if dropped from a height. Almost all of these features are common to the Mosin-Nagant's contemporary Enfields, Springfields, and Mausers, but many shooters have never so much as held any of those guns because they are much less common and thus more expensive. As a result, it common for shooters to heap disdain on the Mosin-Nagant's design "flaws" when in reality, most shooters are just unfamiliar with military rifle design in the early decades of the 1900s.
All totaled, the 91/30's design and features are great for popping enemies of the motherland in the adjacent trench, but somewhat inept at cutting out the x-ring at the local range, and that's not even counting the whole "WWII Soviet general infantry issue" thing. Still, the Mosin-Nagant is a hell of a lot of gun for not much cash, and if you've got a good bore you make tin cans dance at 200 yards with only a few tweaks. If you want to go big with a fancy stock, a custom barrel and trigger, and nice glass on top, rest assured that the Mosin-Nagant's rugged design and intrinsic accuracy will not dissapoint.
All totaled, the 91/30's design and features are great for popping enemies of the motherland in the adjacent trench, but somewhat inept at cutting out the x-ring at the local range, and that's not even counting the whole "WWII Soviet general infantry issue" thing. Still, the Mosin-Nagant is a hell of a lot of gun for not much cash, and if you've got a good bore you make tin cans dance at 200 yards with only a few tweaks. If you want to go big with a fancy stock, a custom barrel and trigger, and nice glass on top, rest assured that the Mosin-Nagant's rugged design and intrinsic accuracy will not dissapoint.
Why it's good
Prices have risen steadily over the past few years, but the Mosin-Nagant is arguably the most gun-per-dollar of any firearm available for sale in the USA. It's powerful, accurate with only minor tweaking, and ammunition for it is cheap as pig's ears. It's also historical in a neat way, a relic of bygone times that actually saw real combat.
There's little need to upgrade the Mosin, but if you so desire there is a huge aftermarket industry supplyig everything from stocks to triggers to barrels and more.
Go buy two of them. Today.
Why it's bad
Mosins are heavy, long, loud, and often dirty. If you want real accuracy, that barrel has GOT to go, and that is a very expensive proposition. If the price of Mosins ever goes up enough, I'll write more in this section, but for now, stop looking for problems. It's one of the cheapest rifles money can buy. Expect what you pay for, and just watch as it spits fire and splits eardrums.
Prices have risen steadily over the past few years, but the Mosin-Nagant is arguably the most gun-per-dollar of any firearm available for sale in the USA. It's powerful, accurate with only minor tweaking, and ammunition for it is cheap as pig's ears. It's also historical in a neat way, a relic of bygone times that actually saw real combat.
There's little need to upgrade the Mosin, but if you so desire there is a huge aftermarket industry supplyig everything from stocks to triggers to barrels and more.
Go buy two of them. Today.
Why it's bad
Mosins are heavy, long, loud, and often dirty. If you want real accuracy, that barrel has GOT to go, and that is a very expensive proposition. If the price of Mosins ever goes up enough, I'll write more in this section, but for now, stop looking for problems. It's one of the cheapest rifles money can buy. Expect what you pay for, and just watch as it spits fire and splits eardrums.
Looking to purchase a Mosin-Nagant for yourself, or just confused by terms like "hex receiver" and "laminated stock"? Check out this buying guide.
Check out the Tech Articles for Mosin-Nagant tips, tricks, and troubleshooting.
If you're looking to build or upgrade, the Upgrade Options section is a great place to start planning your build project.
Check out the Tech Articles for Mosin-Nagant tips, tricks, and troubleshooting.
If you're looking to build or upgrade, the Upgrade Options section is a great place to start planning your build project.
|
|