[b]Mosin Nagant M38[/b] information please.

[Rusty R.]

Is the Mosin Nagant M38 a good all around plinking rifle? Do they get good groups shooting WOLF ammunition? Any other information would be appericated :-) Thanks

[ajj]

"All around?" The big recommendation for these rifles as plinkers is cheap ammunition (and a cheap rifle.) Some of them shoot cast bullet handloads very well. The sights are better than the 98 mauser but considerably worse than the No. 4 Enfield, my favorite military plinker. Is the 38 the short one? If so, you'll get a lot of muzzle blast which will be wearing over time and make the recoil seem worse. My Moisins are all long barrels and they are definitely more fun to shoot than the short blasters, at least in long sessions. The 54R cartridge is certainly powerful. The recoil isn't dangerous or anything but for an afternoon of plinking the Swede, for instance, is much more pleasant. Too bad we can't get 6.5x55 ammo for 8 cents a round. You can't even handload for that.

[S.S.]

I have one of the most "Pristine Condition"
M38s I have ever seen,
But I had to set the rear sight to the
700 meter setting just to hit a sheet
of paper at about 70 yards!  I also
have a Chinese (Type 55 I think)
that will shoot Ok till the barrel heats up
a little, Then you don't really know
where the next round may go!  My experience
has not been very positive with the
short Nagants! The ammo I used may be to blame,
I was using the 200 grain soft points, and
they may be too long & heavy for the rifling to stabilize.
I simply havn't got around to taking them back to the
bench with lighter bullets.

[Longcruise]

Rusty, I think the main thing with the Mosin's is the condition of the bore.  There are lots of them out there that are shot out or corroded beyond being usefull shooters.

OTOH, I got an m38 from Aztec in december and requested a good bore.  I was told all of their mosins had good bores.  Well, the one I got had a very good bore and is a very good shooter.  We put it in a shooting vise and shot it at 50 yards (my eyes don't handle the sights very well beyond that!).  I made a group 1.25 high by .5 wide.  I attribute the height of the group to my eyes and the differential hold using the vise.  

We shot with the Czech silver tip ammo that is so cheap right now.  It's about 147 or 148 gr fmj and is pleasant to shoot.  My ten year old grand son shot it quite a bit with no recoil complaints.

Amongst the family, we have three more in transit at this moment from Aztec.  You can put the MoJo sights on these and I'll vouch for the quality of them having mounted one on my K31 with great results.

I guess a .22 LR would be a better plinker, but a good m38 with a good bore can do it all! :grin:

[securitysix]

I've got a couple of Mosin's on order from Aztec myself.  One of them is an M38 carbine/flamethrower.  I bought a case of Czech "silvertip" (post '80 production without paint) and plan on having some fun as soon as possible once the gun shows up.

As for a plinker, ammo is cheap, so that's a big plus.  Sights are usable, at least on my dad's M-44, so no huge disadvantage there.  If dad's M-44 is any indication, the fireball and muzzle blast will be....interesting.  

Mine will be a plinker and may get used for coyotes on occasion if it shoots well enough.

[Longcruise]

Security,

mine will be going after coyotes too.  I think the czech ammo will make a great dog round!

Yup it throsws flames ala m44

I dumped my only m44 because it shot 6 inches at 50 yards on it's best day.  Might get an m44 from Aztec though if they are as good as the 38s.

If you can work with m44 sights, you can shoot the 38s too.  My problem is more to do with 57 year old eyes than anything.