My first Mosin-Nagant

[sbkittrell]

I've owned firearms for over 50 years and over the last few years I've been interested in Mosin-Nagants, but never really studied them closely, and so I never bought one. A few weeks ago I stumbled across a Wiki article on Roza Shanina, which led me to the stories of other Russian WWII snipers. So I lurked around here and checked out some other MN forums. Last Saturday I went to a gun show in a local town with the expectation of buying a Mosin and I found this one. As you can see it's a M91/30 made at the Tula arsenal in 1939. All the serial numbers matched and the bore was bright so I bought it and I really like this firearm. On the way home from the gun show I stopped a buddy's house and did a super quick test of it, 3 shots at about 50 yards on a paper plate to see if the sights were even functional and found out they were fine. I haven't shot it from a proper rest at a 100 yards yet, but based on the quick/dirty test firing, it will be a good shooter. Now I'm in process of learning about Mosins and I'm amazed at all there is to learn. I'm already planning on making one of the carbines my second Mosin and will probably end up going nuts over these rifles. The price, the feel of them, and especially the history are what really excites me. Eventually I'd like to have a Mosin modified at the arsenal with a PU or PE scope, so I'll have tons of questions about that. Thanks for creating this forum. I'm glad to be here.

[Darryl]

Beautiful rifle! Welcome to the forums!

You are really hooked on these rifles! One and you can't wait to get another, and looking at snipers. I hope you are thinking of a "real" sniper and not those fakes they are selling. What you have is what we call "Mosinitis". It never goes away, but with small doses of this forum it is "almost" controllable!

Dolk

[Junk Yard Dog]

Welcome aboard, we seem to be having a rush of 1939 Tula's of late Yours is at least the third of that date and arsenal combo to appear in the last few weeks. A rifle from the year the war in Europe started, a year that will be remembered by history. Nice looking piece, glad to hear that there are no issues that need correcting, sometimes they do tend to shoot a bit high, or off to the side, this is mostly due to their being sighted in at the arsenal with the bayonet mounted. It's easy to get carried away with collecting these rifles, I did, most here have, you will find a lot of information on the board, and the main page that should help

[sbkittrell]

Beautiful rifle! Welcome to the forums!

You are really hooked on these rifles! One and you can't wait to get another, and looking at snipers. I hope you are thinking of a "real" sniper and not those fakes they are selling. What you have is what we call "Mosinitis". It never goes away, but with small doses of this forum it is "almost" controllable!

Dolk

Thanks. From what I've read on the internet, the problem of fake sniper rifles is a real concern. That's one of the reason's I'm here, so I can pick ya'll's brains and learn to identify the real thing. From what I've heard the real arsenal modified sniper Mosins were set up at the armory and sighted in there so they don't have all the issues that come with ones that are modified today. How hard are the real sniper versions to find? I'm thinking (and I am VERY ignorant on this subject) that they must be rare (and expensive) and hard to come by. Any tips or information on finding these rifles, and weeding out the modern conversions, will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Rongo]

Yep, he's hooked.

Time to get that C&R license so you can have them delivered to your door. Embrace the disease... Mosinitus is only an issue when you deny that you have it.

[desdem12]

I swear i don't have it....i swear....i only have 15 or so....not like you guys with 150...i don't don't have mosinitis. That's a pretty red head Tula there i like it

[Izhevsk762]

Beautiful rifle! Welcome to the forums!

You are really hooked on these rifles! One and you can't wait to get another, and looking at snipers. I hope you are thinking of a "real" sniper and not those fakes they are selling. What you have is what we call "Mosinitis". It never goes away, but with small doses of this forum it is "almost" controllable!

Dolk

Thanks. From what I've read on the internet, the problem of fake sniper rifles is a real concern. That's one of the reason's I'm here, so I can pick ya'll's brains and learn to identify the real thing. From what I've heard the real arsenal modified sniper Mosins were set up at the armory and sighted in there so they don't have all the issues that come with ones that are modified today. How hard are the real sniper versions to find? I'm thinking (and I am VERY ignorant on this subject) that they must be rare (and expensive) and hard to come by. Any tips or information on finding these rifles, and weeding out the modern conversions, will be appreciated. Thanks.

Finding a real M/N sniper rifle in the wild is a challenge. The only place that has original PU sniper rifles is Rguns, they are $800 each. Original PE, and PEM sniper rifles are practically non-existant here.

[sbkittrell]

Beautiful rifle! Welcome to the forums!

You are really hooked on these rifles! One and you can't wait to get another, and looking at snipers. I hope you are thinking of a "real" sniper and not those fakes they are selling. What you have is what we call "Mosinitis". It never goes away, but with small doses of this forum it is "almost" controllable!

Dolk

Thanks. From what I've read on the internet, the problem of fake sniper rifles is a real concern. That's one of the reason's I'm here, so I can pick ya'll's brains and learn to identify the real thing. From what I've heard the real arsenal modified sniper Mosins were set up at the armory and sighted in there so they don't have all the issues that come with ones that are modified today. How hard are the real sniper versions to find? I'm thinking (and I am VERY ignorant on this subject) that they must be rare (and expensive) and hard to come by. Any tips or information on finding these rifles, and weeding out the modern conversions, will be appreciated. Thanks.

Finding a real M/N sniper rifle in the wild is a challenge. The only place that has original PU sniper rifles is Rguns, they are $800 each. Original PE, and PEM sniper rifles are practically non-existant here.

Thanks. I found a link to the RGUNS site and saw they had some. I think 800.00 is a reasonable price, but I'm hesitant to buy any firearm that I haven't personally looked at. I've only bought one firearm online before and that was an antique 14 gauge double muzzleloader. I'm not saying that I don't trust them, just that it's a new thing for me, and I really like handling and examining a firearm myself before I buy one. But Illinois is too far for me to drive, so I might have to do it. Has anybody here ever dealt with RGUNS?

[desdem12]

Most guys here have dealt with RGUNS and there reputation is excellant. You may be able to ask them to send pics of some, but any they send you would be as they described or better. If you have a C&R license you can forego the FFL transfer fee and then get it sent to your door, (which is way cool to get guns in the mail) and the charge is probably cheaper than the fee. Only $30 for 3 year license to drain your wallet.

[Jumperwire]

First off, Welcome to the Forum. It's your first step in to a wonderful relationship with history and firearms.
Man that sounded professional
In any case, RGUNS is very reputable. A few of us have done business with them and, personally, if I can round up $800 more, I'm going to again.
There is also an alternative. It's called a Scout Mount scope. If I am not mistaken. I actually bought a rifle with the mount. You take your sight off and install it over the old sight base. No drilling or harming a nice historic firearm. In any case, it's a alternative.
Oh and don't worry about that Mosinitis thing. Your in no danger until you discover Finns

[sbkittrell]

Thanks for the advice ya'll.

[BuckeyeSgt]

You think this is fun...wait till you get ya a carbine. They are my favorite. I got into it for about the same reasons. The history is fun to research. It started with one....

[Izhevsk762]

http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... f=36&t=440

http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... f=36&t=507

http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... f=36&t=387

All of those^^ are original PU sniper rifles, all from Rguns. They are typical of the quality of the Rguns rifles.

[SA1911a1]

Congratulations on your new rifle. I had also had firearms for over 50 years before I got my first Mosin Nagant, but I have been trying to make up for lost time. I started getting interested in these great guns a little over a year ago and have had a heck of a lot of fun buying, shooting and learning about the Mosins. You have come to the right place to discuss your new rifle, there is hundreds of years of combined experience among the posters here, and anyone that post here will be happy to answer any questions. Sometimes you might even luck up and get a correct answer.

The C&R license is the way to go, if you decide you would like to collect a handful or more of these guns; just hold on to your pocketbook, it can be a rough ride.

I might get rocks thrown at me for this, but I will also recommend a book, you can find on Amazon. The Mosin-Nagant Rifle, by Terence W. Lapin, in the North Cape "For Collectors Only" series. I found, as a begining collector, this book to be a great help. The more experienced collectors here, generally, don't seem to care for this book, but the pickings are slim for reference material on these rifles. I found this book to be well worth the investment.

I agree with a previous poster that you will like the M-1944 models of this rifle, the carbines are a hoot to shoot.

Have fun and welcome to the forum!!

[smacneighill]

Congratulations sbkittrell. Mosinitis is a disease we have all come to live with .