My tale of two mosins M44's

[1911crazy]

I picked up a brand new russian M44 laminated stock 1944 in '80 and just took the stock/reciever apart lastnite and found out its a brand new gun not a rearsenaled the reciever is dated underneath near the rear screw. I picked up lastyear a half sporterized russian M44 I thought. I bought it to hunt with and found out it was a "91" they cut the barrel 6 1/4" and did a recrown, bent the bolt and added a new modern front site. I noticed this because it still had the orginal long rear site and the new M44 has a shorter range rear site.  Too bad "BUBBA" cut a perfect hex reciever "91" 1931 mosin it wasn't a butcher job it had to be done by a gunsmith the recrown is perfect.  I looked the gun over when i bought it and never thought is was cut.  You just never know.                                     BigBill

I think the short M44 Mosin is the best tree stand gun ever made.

[Bigdog]

I recently sprung for one of the "Unissued" M44's, and got a '46 Tula.  It's just about the most perfect Mosin carbine I've seen - excellent blueing and the wood has only a couple handling dings.

I got a Chinese T53 a while back, that was Bubba'd.  He did a passable job, shortening the barrel to remove the bayonet lug then reinstalling the front sight.  The barreled action was reblued, though the triggerguard/magazine was not.  The stock was shortened - too bad as it was a nice piece of wood, good color and figure.  The T53 shoots well, so I guess Bubba had a good brush gun for awhile.  I'm hoping to restore it to it's military trim soon.  Gotta get another M44 as a donor first.

[1911crazy]

I'm thinkin about changing the barrel with one of my other mosin's because of the hex reciever and restoring it back to orginal condition.
                                                                     BigBill

[prairiedog555]

I was thinking of getting a mod 44 and shortening the barrell to 18.5.  I hunt out of a ground blind and like a short barrell. 
do they shoot pretty good, never handled one.
also, can the bolt be bent, or do you need to cut it off

thanks

[jack19512]

I was thinking of getting a mod 44 and shortening the barrell to 18.5.  I hunt out of a ground blind and like a short barrell. 
do they shoot pretty good, never handled one.
also, can the bolt be bent, or do you need to cut it off

thanks

I like the M38 better myself.


Do they shoot good?  This one does.

[TribReady]

They're all great woods guns.  I use a Hungarian M44, removed the bayo and resighted. Shoots awesome.
I have a 91/59 that I haven't even shot yet--supposed to be very accurate.
I'm pretty happy with the accuracy of all my Mosins, but I do like the shorter carbines for actual hunting. You really don't need to cut down the barrel anymore, they're small enough, and the muzzle blast will just be more pronounced with an even shorter barrel.
find an M38 without the bayo lug and you're really set, otherwise, just remove and resight by adjusting the front sight.
Great, fast handling rifles........just be sure to master the safety.  It's very fast and easy once you get it down

[prairiedog555]

So in your opinion the M38 is superior to M44?

I read that getting a M38 is a crapshoot, sometimes really worn, with bad barrells

[jack19512]

So in your opinion the M38 is superior to M44?

I read that getting a M38 is a crapshoot, sometimes really worn, with bad barrells

The m44 and the M38 if I am not mistaken are basically the same rifles, the M44 just has the bayonet which isn't a big deal.  Might actually come in handy if you were to be attacked by a herd of out of control deer and you were to run out of ammo fighting them off.   

I have a M44 and a M38, haven't shot the M44 much, I have shot the M38 a lot.  I haven't heard anything about the M38 and barrel thing.

[jgalar]

The 44 was made with a short barrel, the 38 was once a 91/30 and was cut down.

[EastKY_DO]

The M38 preceded the M44.  The Russians decided that the lack of a bayonet was a deficiency so they developed the M44 to correct the situation.  Some years after the Great Patriotic War (WWII) the Russians sent some of the long M91/30's to the arsenals for modifications into the M91/59's.  They can be distinguished by the longer rifle sight that have the long range (beyond 1000 meters) ground off of the sight tangent.  The M38's share the short carbine sight with the M44's.

later . . .
Doc