Question for Mosin Nagant users

[Kdogg2077]

I have just decided to buy a Mosin Nagant. I have used my friend's rifle to target shoot before but this will be my first rifle. I decided on a Mosin Nagant 90/31 because I don't want to pay alot for my first rifle and, being a history buff, I appreciate their past.

That said I have two choices where to get one. My local Dunhams has a couple on sale for $109, including one with a hex reciever that if I remember is from the 30's.

My other option is to order one from J&G sales. I have read that you can pay extra and they will hand pick one for you, inlcluding hand picking an "ex sniper" mosin nagant if you request one. I though this might get me a better, more accurate gun, which would be nice because I eventually intend to put a scope on it and go after some deer (I live in western Pa about 2 hours from Pittsburgh).


That said, does anyone have any advice on which is the way to go? Price isn't an issue as I think it will all be even when all the numbers are added up. I have read a lot of good comments about J&G sales but I would only bother with them if I could get an ex sniper, or should I just make my best guess from the ones at Dunhams and not have to worry about ordering online?

Any advice appreciated.

[R5CYA]

you need a c&r license for interstate sales do you have one? if not, you'll have to pay a dealer's transfer fee on top of the original price.
i just ordered a pe ex-sniper from j&g two weeks ago. it was the last ex-sniper they had at the time. seems to be a pretty nice rifle. cost was $103 to my door. they did say they had a shipment of about 5,000 91/30's just in, that needed to be gone through. i'm sure by now they've sorted through enough to have a few pu snipers for sale.
the guy i talked to while ordering was a really nice guy and took the time to find the rifle and look it over for me to give his opinion. there wasn't any surprises when it got to my house. i'll be ordering from them again soon.
p.s. not all ex-snipers are great shooters. some are ex for a reason. one thing to remember also is it can be very hard sometimes to get the welded bolts out of those guns. you could have more trouble thank you think doing it. i got my pe planning on re-installing a pe mount, but haven't got to it yet. seems to me the easiest way to put a scope on a mosin besides a scout mount would be to find a good shooting rifle and get the mount and drill though virgin steel. i'm not a big fan of the pu style scopes. if i ever do a pu style mount, i'm gonna get the one with 1" rings to make scope choices better.

[texnmidwest]

Most of the rifles I have found at Duhnam's are pretty good rifles. They put them on sale pretty often so you can get one on sale for around 70 bucks. When they hand pick one for you it costs you 20 or so bucks and the things add up when you think about shipping fees and transfers. For a first Mosin I wouldn't hesitate to go to a duhnam's and find a suitable rifle with a good bore and matching numbers. If you are not confident about judging a bore and do not know anyone that can go with you that knows how to judge bores I would suggest going to a good gun shop that carries used guns and ask the guy if he could show you how to judge a bore. What you want to look for is rifling that is well defined and crisp on the edges. The mosin barrels are so full of cosmolene that it will be hard to tell if there is pitting or frosting until you bring it home. But even with pitts and frost if the rifling is strong it may be a good shooter.

So, go to Duhnams when they have them on sale, find one that looks good to you, bolt operates smoothly, matching numbers and just seems to be at home in your hands, bring it home, clean it up and post pics for us to drool over!

[Kdogg2077]

Ok then I think I will give Dunhams a try again. There are two near my house and I only looked at one so far. I hope they go on sale cause 70 bucs sounds nice.


How should I look at the bore in the store? I mean should I try to look down the barrel and see if it looks messed up? Am I looking for clean lines that aren't damaged? It there some tool that could help me look?

I found a mount called a PSOP mount and 4x scope that will fit onto the Mosin, I also have an article where a guy already put this kind of scope on so it should work. I'll have a gunsmith do it when I have more cash on hand.

[marion57]

Originally Posted by Kdogg2077

Ok then I think I will give Dunhams a try again. There are two near my house and I only looked at one so far. I hope they go on sale cause 70 bucs sounds nice.


How should I look at the bore in the store? I mean should I try to look down the barrel and see if it looks messed up? Am I looking for clean lines that aren't damaged? It there some tool that could help me look?

I found a mount called a PSOP mount and 4x scope that will fit onto the Mosin, I also have an article where a guy already put this kind of scope on so it should work. I'll have a gunsmith do it when I have more cash on hand.

Your looking for nice sharp looking rifling and yes buy a bore light so you can see all the bore better
Dont know if this will help but take a look at the first 4 pic's on this site
picture of good rifling on a rifle - Google Image Search

[Niko911]

The hex receivers are more rare, id buy that one but from the 30s id make sure the bore and rifling is all good. You can get them off of classicarms.us or aimsurplus.com i beleive for around 70-80 bucks

[SwedeSteve]

Great advice guys !! Couldn't think of anything to add except WELCOME to G&G Kdogg !!

[Geo M44]

Welcome to G&G MN forum. These old Ruskies are a blast to shoot and collect.

[Kdogg2077]

I'd really appreciate that. I wanna get the best scope I can get. I would like to stick to a Russian military style scope though, it just seems more authentic. I would get a PU replica scope but they are $200+ and only have 3.5 magnification.

[Kdogg2077]

Thats odd, I think a post dissappeared.

[R5CYA]

lol! sorry. i re-thought it and deleted it. i'll post up some pics and info on posp mounts later today.

[NRAJOE]

My 91/30...all stamped matching (even bayo)

[SwedeSteve]

Kdogg- I think you would like a PE scope mount with 1 inch rings. It mounts in the traditional position, but allows you to use your iron sights. You would need a bent bolt, and would not be able to use stripper clips. Look here:

Russian PU/PE mounts & scopes

[Kdogg2077]

I would think about a PE scope but they seem pretty pricey. $300 bucs plus gunsmithing. I guess it depends on the money I have on hand when I decide to add a scope.

Anyone see the youtube video of a guy hitting a target at 1000 yards with a scoped mosin nagant? pretty impressive.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by Niko911

The hex receivers are more rare. I'd buy that one, but from the '30s, I'd make sure the bore and rifling is all good. You can get them off of classicarms.us or aimsurplus.com, I believe, for around $70 - 80 bucks.

What Niko said; but remember, an internet-orderd rifle will ahve shipping and FFL transfer fee costs. You have to add those in, too.

If you don't have a bore light, bring a penlight, remove the bolt and insert the penlight in its place. You'll have enough light to examine the rifling. Even under the cosmoline, the lands should still look sharp, not rounded.

When you get to the point of removing the cosmoline from your rifle, read the sticky at the top of this forum. Lots of hints there to tell you how to do it with as little pain as possible.

Something else you want to look for is whether your rifle has been counterbored. That what the Soviets did when they had a rifle that had bad rifling at the muzzle. They would put the barrel into a lathe, then drill it out until they got to sound rifling. Much quicker and cheaper than cutting the barrel and recrowning it; plus, you would be sure the bayonet still fit and you didn't have to reposition the front sight.

Counterboring isn't necessarily a bad thing, provided it does not go too deep. I feel that for the M44 and the M38, about one inch is the limit; for 91/30s, maybe an inch and a half. Much more than that, and the accuracy starts falling off. My M38 is counterbored 1 inch and he shoots just fine. However, awhile back one of the members here reported he'd been sold a M44 counterbored 7 1/2 inches, or almost half the barrel length. He didn't have a rifle, he had scrap metal. So be sure and check for counterboring, and how much there is, when you eyeball the rifling.

Let us know which one you get. I think you ought to get the hex receiver Mosin, myself.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by Kdogg2077

I'd really appreciate that. I wanna get the best scope I can get. I would like to stick to a Russian military style scope though; it just seems more authentic. I would get a PU replica scope, but they are $200-plus and only have 3.5 magnification.

It's your call, of course, but if I were you, kdog, I'd contact jmeck, one of our members, and ask him when he'll have more of his jmeck scope mounts for sale. That will give you a much wider choice of scopes, and the option of either a conventional scope arrangement with a bent bolt required, or a scout scope arrangement if you leave your bolt unaltered.

Jeff has invented a see-through Mosin Nagant scope mount that requires no machining to mount on your rifle. Somewhere on this forum I have a thread talking about it. Mounting the jmeck scope mount is not hard to do. The hardest part is removing three hundredths (0.03) of an inch of wood between the forward end of the magazine cut-out and the hole for the forward mounting lug, and even that's easy if you use a dremel tool with a wire brush.

My buddy Louis the Mosin Kahuna and I devised an "extender" to use with the jmeck scope mount that lets you use extended eye relief scopes of more than 2-power that have longer eyepieces. You can get the parts to build it from a hardware store for less than $10, and the work takes maybe an hour and a half with a file, a hacksaw and a drill press. I'll be posting a how-to article on it as soon as I get some photos taken.

Unless you're determined to have an exact replica of a World War II Soviet sniper-model Mosin, that's the route I'd take. But if what you want is a scope mount to put a good scope in, the jmeck scope mount is a much better choice, and you don't have to fiddle with the rear sight at all.

[Kdogg2077]

I was just at Dunhams and I was ready to buy the Mosin Nagant with the Hex reciever(1934). It was 120$ and regular round recievers were 80$ but I was going to spend the extra money to get the one I wanted. But I got there at five till 5pm and guess what, Dunhams doesn't sell guns after 5 and there was not time to finished the deal, so I have to drive back tommorrow.

I got a good look at the bore and seem to be in good shape, a good tight swirl.

Should I spend the 120 for the Hex reciever or go with the cheaper round reciever for 80 bucs?

[marion57]

Spend the 120 you wont reget it !!The older ones were much better machined

[TheWanderingMind]

+1, Marion! The rounded receivers, etc., were because they were simplifying the process to not need as much machining.

That's why I love my 1891. Hope I can get it back from my dead friend's nephew...

[SwedeSteve]

The hex is also a little easier to munt a scope on as well.