Cabelas just sent out their father's day flyer, and advertise the Mosin Nagant 7.62X54R in Excellent condition for $99.99. I really would like to have one of these old shooters could anyone please advised me of what to look at or for?
I see a lot of guys saying they have a 91/44 or something like that ?? what does that stand for. Oh the one they advertise is not the Carbine.
Is this the only cartridge that they come in or are their different cartridges also??
Please advise
Thank You John
I definitely agree,that website is great. Hex receivers seem to be more desired (if your not sure if one has a hex receiver or not,it doesn't,you cant miss it). You will notice that guns made during the war were alot rougher than those made before. (I imagine a portly man named "Boris" in a Russian army uniform with a fur hat with the star on it,standing in front of a giant poster of Stalin,saying loudly "MAKE MOAR GUN COMRADES!!!" One thing that people love to find are ex-snipers. If you go up to the website you will find out how to recognize one. I only have seen one once,before I knew anything about them,and I passed it up. After all,some "Bubba" drilled holes in the receiver. What a piece of junk. Little did I know that it used to be a sniper,and that the Russian arsenal had taken the scope off,welded plugs into the scope mount holes and turned it back into an infantry rifle.
Obviously,older tends to be better in Mosins. You will also notice that of the ones you typically see at Cabelas,some have a triangle with an arrow stamped on them,and some have a star. The triangle is Izhevsk and the star is Tula. The Tula ones tend to have better workmanship,clearly visible in the fit and finish of the parts. You will see a date stamped on the barrel,but the receiver may have been recycled from an older gun,so you often find very well made receivers on a otherwise rough looking mid war Ishevsk. There are other manufacturers and in fact,some were made by companies in the US such as Remington under contract,but most of those stayed in the US and you dont find them in a rack of 100 dollar Mosins.
On thing to look for and (at least I do) avoid are the ones that have been "counter bored" On these,the rifleing at the front of the barrel was badly worn (often due to improper cleaning). To fix it ,the armorers bored out the barrel an inch or two so that there would be a nice clean sharp end to the rifling for better accuracy. I assume they did this as they didn't want to cut off the end of the barrel and take the sight off with it. Most (almost all,ive never seen one without) of the 100 dollar Mosins have dark rifleing. On some there is pitting,or damage. On others though,its just years of dirt. I look for sharp corners (as opposed to it looking like its been worn down) on the rifleing and hope that once I clean it (it can take many many hours to get one of these fully clean) that there is no damage underneath. For a hundred dollars though,so long as its in shootable shape,you cant go wrong. Just take a small single cell AAA flashlight that will fit in the rifles chamber with you when you go looking. (I allways feel uncomfortable putting my face in front of the barrel,so I at least tripple check that I can see light through,with the muzzle pointed at a light and the bolt out,you can remove the bolt by opening the action,then holding the trigger down and the bolt will slide right out) If you find one that otherwise looks good,ask them if necessary to take the wire tie off so you can get a good look at the bore.
