Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine

[Watch Ryder]

Well, I've had this footage in the dusty depth of my hard-drive for too long, time to get it out there:

I bought the M44 back in 2014, paid about $200 ish at a LGS. The barrel is good, hardly any issues. No accessories though. Functional bayonet (although it strikes me as odd why it isn't more pointed). Made in 1945.

It's mostly an opportunity purchase, a case of 'get them while they are still affordable'

Here it is being test-fired on the private range:



I didn't extend the bayonet which I am now almost sure was throwing the rounds off to the left slightly.

As far as practicality, the carbine scores more plus points for being portable, at the expense of some accuracy.

[Rick]

That's a really difficult posture to judge the accuracy of the weapon over that distance. A bench rest would have been more informative, I think, just to take the shooter out of the equation.

[natertot]

Mosins are a great value for as a truck/car gun, first rifle, or "just to have one" because they are inexpensive and you cannot break them. The biggest drawback to the Mosin is their weight. They are heavy! As far as accuracy goes, they were not designed to be precision rifles. They were a simple design that was cheap to manufacture and a person with no gun experience could learn to hit man sized targets at a distance with very little training.

I agree with Rick, take it to the bench to take out the shooter equation. The worse rifle I have is a Chinese that has heavy pitting in the barrel and a few spots where rifling is almost gone. It still shoots 3" groups at 100yds and I never miss a 12" target at 200yds from the standing position.

[hunter63]

Picked one up a while back....
Front sight was actually off the punch mark so it shot to the left as well.

I centered it at the center mark with a punch and hammer....shoots just fine now.

Heard about the "shoots to the left thing" on the interwebs....so still am wondering if true or a myth.

Shoot it a dusk.....SMOKE and FIRE balls......Outstanding.

[kyratshooter]

I have a good one and a bad one.

The bad one will put all its shots in that white paper at twice your range.

[crashdive123]

I've got the M44 and the Hex Barrel. Love em both.

[Ralph Rotten]

Have bought 3 Mosins over the years, paid less than $150 for all of them together.
Such a crude little weapon, but the price was right. Besides, the top 10 snipers of all time shot Mosins.

[Hummer70]

Those above that recommended testing from a bench with bags is the best way to evaluate basic accuracy capability. Next would be prone sling supported. A good prone shooter can almost duplicate bench testing.

[Williepete]

I bought one around 2007 I think, got all the accs with 300 or 330 rounds of ammo for $133.00. Had a blast shooting it, until I gave it to my Grand son, who is into the war rifles thing. It was the carbine and it did kick.

Bill

[Rick]

Mosin is Russian for "kicks like mule". I think Nagant is Russian for "Q@#! that hurt," but don't quote me on that last part.

[kyratshooter]

Think about it now.

There were Russian female snipers whose preferred weapon was the MN.

And the average American man whines and hands the MN back with tears in his eyes.

Makes you wonder about our men, and their women, and who would have won a "cold war" non-nuclear conflict?

[Rick]

Have you seen those women? Yeah, they are tougher than all of us put together. They could have pulled the plow and let the mule walk behind. I read that one of those gals took out three Germans while changing the track on a T34. At the same time! At least I think I read that. They were some tough gals.

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[kyratshooter]

Your stereotypes are showing Rick.

http://www.businessinsider.com/lyudm...-female-sniper


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LeqNBtP4rU...rmed+kills.png

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/smar...nfirmed-kills/

[InfantryAmerican]

I like my Mosin. I got mine from an uncle who replaced the stock with a Cherrywood one he created himself.

Is it accurate? Accurate enough for what it costs. I mean, in 2012 I saw these selling for $80 a piece up north. If you were really struggling to hit the target at that distance, I would wonder if it's perhaps fault of the shooter or if the barrel is pitted.

[Rick]

I gotta start putting Bazinga's on the end of my jokes. But I thought the pic of the guy would suffice.

[kyratshooter]

It was expected, look at where we are. You don't post something about a Russian woman here without expecting a Cossack to show up sooner or latter.

Now they are trying to sell me a Ukrainian mail order wife in the heading banner.

I fished a picture out of the files. A target I shot with the MN I reworked a couple of years back. I cleaned the trigger up, free floated the barrel and scoped it. Group is from 100 yards with Bulgarian surplus 147gn fmj.

This is the same MN I set Winnie behind and she shot a little over 2" group, which I thought was exceptional for a polite little British lady. I am sure that if they had put British women on the front lines we could have ended the war a year sooner.

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[tundrabadger]

It was expected, look at where we are. You don't post something about a Russian woman here without expecting a Cossack to show up sooner or latter.

Now they are trying to sell me a Ukrainian mail order wife in the heading banner.

I fished a picture out of the files. A target I shot with the MN I reworked a couple of years back. I cleaned the trigger up, free floated the barrel and scoped it. Group is from 100 yards with Bulgarian surplus 147gn fmj.

This is the same MN I set Winnie behind and she shot a little over 2" group, which I thought was exceptional for a polite little British lady. I am sure that if they had put British women on the front lines we could have ended the war a year sooner.

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Really? I've been getting evangelical religous education and cloud services for days. Which is a step up from that resort in algonquin park from a few weeks back...I still get banner ads for that popping up occasionally.

[hunter63]

My best shooting MN is a M38 Carbine.....like the M44 but no attached bayonet.
Bore had been counter bored about 1-1/2 down the muzzle.....I assume the steel cleaning rod had wiped off the rifling on the end.

Did the "slug the bore" trick, and came out .307 to .314 kinda egg shaped.....but does hold about an inch at 100 yds. "off the bench" open factory sights.

Now thinking about that.....and trying to get an accurate measurement.......what do you measure, indentions of the rifling?, the biggest dia?....BYW rifling is not directly across from the other side......so bottom of groove is not 90 degrees from the other side.

Would not the slug follow the rifling so would turn with it the full length?

Heard so much about "slug the bore and get the proper bullets for reloading...."on the interwebs.
So after trying this....have come to these conclusions.

1) The oddest "slug" seems to shoot the best out my 5 different rifles......M38, M44, Round 91/30, Hex 91/30, Bubba Hex Remington.
2) Still not sure what the actual "Bore" is....

3) Most likely not gonna reload for this (do have dies) as surplus brass is Berdan primed (PITA), bullets are hard to come by, say nothing of matching every size for .308 (Lyman manual) to .314 .....Bullets are expensive these days....
Yeah, you can pour them, still need molds and have the problem on fast lead bullets....so paper wrap, gas checks are in order.

4) These rifles have been around for up to 99 years (oldest one I have is 1917 Remington Hex)....and still shoot with any old ammo made in 100 countries by.. God know who, with God knows quality control, from God know materials.

5) Up to a year or so ago....ammo was $80 bucks for 440 rounds, and yeah they kick, (oops sorry, "have significant recoil") and most normal people are not gonna shoot it all up in a outing.

6) Most likely not gonna hunt with one....(I could, but I'm gonna leave that to the person with no option, or just wants to)
Then I would need soft nose ammo, ....instead of FMJ, milsup....as I'm not in the "shoot all the way through, so you have 2 holes bleeding for tracking" school of thought. (another pet peeve).

So, there you have it.....
Rifles that were hacked out of a railroad rail, with an ax smoothed out on a rock, burned into a 2 X 4" by millions of Babushkas for 100 years, still only cost $150 bucks and a "Hoot to Shoot"
Kinda a Bic Rifle.

[kyratshooter]

For me they lost their charm when the price topped $100.

Then the ammo went from $89 a 440 round can to $150.

I was spoiled. I want the ability to equip my fire team with a rifle and 400 rounds each for $1,000!

But then I remember not being able to give MN rifles away at $25 each back in the '90s.