Mosin Nagants are NOT Ugly

[WeldonHunter]

Hopefully you didn't explain it until after you cleaned him out of Tula's at Izhevsk prices...

Yep unfortunately educating the person you buy from usually results in higher prices.

[entropy]

Mosins are incredibly sexy imo. Plus, you cant bash someones skull in with a modern polymer stock

That depends on the rifle, I have one of the polymer stocks Uncle Sam made for the M14, that one will stand up to bashing skulls in, the AR would likely come apart if you treated it like that.

A VN era M16 or M16A1 stock, yes, but the M16A2 stock was tough as nails, and longer to boot. I'd trust one to crack skulls with, though I'd prefer an M14 for that....

[Sirex]

Hopefully you didn't explain it until after you cleaned him out of Tula's at Izhevsk prices...

I think I am the only one on the board who prefers Izhevsk over Tula, even though I am't sure why.

[BubbaDX]

Hopefully you didn't explain it until after you cleaned him out of Tula's at Izhevsk prices...

I think I am the only one on the board who prefers Izhevsk over Tula, even though I am't sure why.

I like the Izhevsk hammer and sickle logo. I grew up during the cold war and the logo was everywhere as a threat to our way of life. To me it's an iconic symbol of the Soviet empire.

[Joeinthehills]

While in the "Reading Room" I chanced upon a July 2008 Vol. 156 No. 7 article in The American Rifleman by Bruce N. Canfield.
I didn't say I was a hoarder, but I like to keep TAR back copies on hand since I became a LM 30-MAR-70.
The title of his article Ugly Duckling:The Mosin-Nagant in U.S. Service

Sorry kids, if I appear to be older than Dianasor Shit, but I became a Life Member of The National Rifle Association before you were born, and even before my son was born because I believe in the 2nd Amendment! And hold true to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America; Not the one that Lincoln changed in 1865.

[EJTHor]

I generally don't find the Soviet guns that attractive. That speaks nothing of function or history.....but I don't personally find them all that attractive. An M39, on the other hand, IS a good looking rifle.

When it comes to milsurps, the sexiest one ever created in my opinion is the 1903 Springfield. That is a gorgeous rifle.

[Junk Yard Dog]

While in the "Reading Room" I chanced upon a July 2008 Vol. 156 No. 7 article in The American Rifleman by Bruce N. Canfield.
I didn't say I was a hoarder, but I like to keep TAR back copies on hand since I became a LM 30-MAR-70.
The title of his article Ugly Duckling:The Mosin-Nagant in U.S. Service

Sorry kids, if I appear to be older than Dianasor Shit, but I became a Life Member of The National Rifle Association before you were born, and even before my son was born because I believe in the 2nd Amendment! And hold true to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America; Not the one that Lincoln changed in 1865.

You remember the day that inventor Nigh T Soil came out with the new invention he caller "dirt" Man, it was so hard to grow shit before we had that! The best looking US rifle is the Model 1873 Springfield, it was the last truly US rifle. The Krag was not invented here, The M1903 is a Mauser by another name, and the Garand was invented by a transplanted Canadian, plastic rifles don't count. The Model 1863 rifle musket was our rifle, so was the allen conversion that was used to convert the early Model 1865,66, and 1868 Springfields that led to the creation if the all new parts 40/70 Model 1873.

[shoto2758]

I have seen a few T53 stocks that would make alot of people run away in terror.
But can these rifles still throw lead downfield with the best of them.
Hell Yeah..

[clayshooter2]

I can see where some think that a common war time 91/30 refurb with sloppily applied and peeling shellac is ugly. The first time I saw one it was next to a nice looking Winchester M1917 and I thought the Mosin was kind of ugly too. It grew on me fast though. Now a M39 on the other hand, I have never heard anyone call an M39 ugly.

[ernurse]

I think all mosins are beautiful, mianly in their simple lines and construction almost as designed my a high schooler rather tyhan some technical genius. There simplicity is only second to their being so robust and trustworthy.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I think all mosins are beautiful, mianly in their simple lines and construction almost as designed my a high schooler rather tyhan some technical genius. There simplicity is only second to their being so robust and trustworthy.

The basic look of the Mosin comes from The Berdan II that came before it, and other older Russian rifles.

[rdmadison]

This thread went up before I had ever knowingly seen a Mosin and shortly before I held my first one. That one was the ugliest firearm I had ever touched.

A few minutes ago I had my small collection of Mosins out and was admiring how beautiful they really are. I wonder if any of you shared the same biases I did? The rounded topline of the stock looked bloated. The fishbelly in the stock in front of the magazine made the rifle look pregnant. That lo-o-o-ng barely-tapered fore-end looked like a leftover from the Arabian Nights. And the color: crikey. And the grinding marks everywhere: Jehu!

When I actually shot one, I found that the bulge on top of the stock helped keep my cheek up where it needed to be to align the sights. The fishbelly gave my forefinger an ergonomic place to rest as I gripped the grooves with three fingers and thumb. The long barrel and fore-end balanced the rifle in the rear of my palm: with the bayonet the balance point moved to the front of my palm. The color was the result of too much sloppily applied shellac, and when you rubbed it out with a little alcohol or new shellac, that puddled red turned into a rich mahogany color that looked like (dare we say it) fine walnut. And when I found examples that seemingly hadn't been extensively refurbished, there were no grind-marks--even in the 1943 Izhevsk that's sitting in my lap as I write this. Although it was built at the height of the war, there are no coarse grind marks at all. It's true, the inside of the receiver isn't polished and the inside of the trigger guard probably never felt emery cloth. I suspect that some of the really nasty grinding on at least one of my others happened when parts were matched up during refurb. Likewise most of the crappy finish. And you can't blame a war-effort for using a shellac that dries in a thirty minutes instead of an oil or varnish that would take at least several hours. A lot of the damage to the finish seems to have happened even after they left Century: one particular shipment at our local Cabela's looked as if it had been delivered in the back of a pickup truck.

No, the Mosin Nagant refurbs that have passed through my hands seem to have been well-built and finished, and only messed up before being put into storage. They are beautiful not only because they are designed well but also because--in at least enough cases to come to my notice--they were built well. One might well value the patina and scars of a war relic, but most of the shabbiness I see is probably the result of Comrade Bubbalov at the arsenal.

[steelbuttplate]

A K-98 is a thing of beauty for sure, but compared to the action of a Mosin, the Mosin is like the slide on a nice trombone, the Mauser is like shifting gears on a old Dodge dump truck. The way they operate and shoot is what makes them beautiful to me. Mausers have to much metal, overkill in the receiver area. Same for the P-17, didn't like the one I had at all. JYD said something about the 03-A3 that's got me wanting to try one out......Can I rent one? SBP 62 MN's

[jones0430]

Certain rifles have an elegance that is the combination of design and function. The K98k is a refinement of that, as is the 1903A3. The Garand and to some extent the SMLE.

The Mosin Nagant is also in that elegant company, as the long stemmed rose.

It has the same kind of beauty as does the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.

[SA1911a1]

I think that the ugly thing came along with the cheap thing. If Mosins had been introduced to the American public at a thousand bucks a pop they would have been called beautiful. Another issue, is that when these rifles fist came to the US, we were still involved in a cold war with the Soviet Union, therefore, anything Soviet or Russian had to be ugly (it was patriotic).

[qz2026]

The very first words Lapin used in his book, The Mosin Nagant Rifle, was "The Mosin Nagant rifle is not an attractive firearm." I as thousands more, tend to disagree with that statement. There is nothing not to like about these rifles, including their appearance. They're PURDY...

[FR0STY54R]

I absolutely agree. The mosin is a beautiful rifle and I'm not sure why people regard it as so hideous.

The tiger striped stocks on some of the Finnish rifles, along with the varying shades of orange and red shellac on the Soviet refurbed stocks in my opinion is simply beautiful.

[slcampbell]

I put my Mosins in the same class as my wife, they are both old and very beautiful.