The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I have a good buddy who lives out in Cali who recently started developing an interest in firearms and was looking to buy a rifle. Himself a Russian guy, I figured it would be righteous initiation for him to go with a Mosin. Well, no sooner than I sparked his interest he started talking about painting stocks and mounting scopes. My heart kind of sank right there.. I tried to explain to him as best I could without getting pushy, fell on deaf ears. I've been recommending Mosins to a few of my friends, but now I think I'll think twice before I do it again..

Mosinitis vs taticalitis!

Well If he is the typical "I need a Tacticool Rifle-Gun" kind of guy a 5 shot bolt action might not be his cup of Borscht as it were. One can only hope.

This stuff is gonna happen. Nothing you can do about it, short of buying all of them yourself.

Hmm.

I even found a couple of Savages for him on GB that are already scoped and that will cost him less than what he's planning to do. Wasn't interested. But yeah, maybe it'll pass, we'll see.

Chiroptile wrote:I even found a couple of Savages for him on GB that are already scoped and that will cost him less than what he's planning to do. Wasn't interested. But yeah, maybe it'll pass, we'll see.

I was going to suggest that exact same thing.. How about showing him all the Mosin hate sites online?? There is one on facebook and I'm sure plenty others.

It happens.... My cousin recently commented on my Remington Model 10 pump shotgun in that it needed to be re-blued. I love him like a brother but....


I personally think it looks fine just the way it is.

You were trying to spread The Faith, but you may have hit on an iconoclast.

For your penance, you will have to go save more Mosins.

Yes guy I know I got him interisted and he bought one. Shot it 2 times and it kicks to hard. Wants to make lighter handloads for it. Wants to have it drilled for a scope and a better stock. Now he is talking about buying an M39 and drilling it!!!!

And 2 of his buddies the same. I tried to talk sense but its like give some guys a model A and they leave it alone clean it up and appreciate amd the other guy gets out the sawzall.

Comment on how you can understand the need for scoping it given his advancing age and diminishing eyesight, how a lot of older men scope their rifles to keep up with the younger shooters. Being that he is Russian you might also remind him that this rifle was used by the meanest, toughest, badass, group of Russians to ever march across Russia, and how they wiped out the Nazi's with that rifle. How they considered the use of scopes, and the entire concept of sporting rifles to be something reserved for Nancy Boys, and limp wrist types in general, a real mans rifle is a weapon of war such as the 91/30 as issued.

Junk Yard Dog wrote:Comment on how you can understand the need for scoping it given his advancing age and diminishing eyesight, how a lot of older men scope their rifles to keep up with the younger shooters. Being that he is Russian you might also remind him that this rifle was used by the meanest, toughest, badass, group of Russians to ever march across Russia, and how they wiped out the Nazi's with that rifle. How they considered the use of scopes, and the entire concept of sporting rifles to be something reserved for Nancy Boys, and limp wrist types in general, a real mans rifle is a weapon of war such as the 91/30 as issued.

Sounds like you have practice with these types of responses! I like this one.

Many times I have met Bubba, too many times.

You just can't trust anyone from California.

Or just say: Really? Simo Hayha didn't seem to think his Mosin needed a scope.

walnut red wrote:Or just say: Really? Simo Hayha didn't seem to think his Mosin needed a scope.

and he didn't need one, didn't care for them at all with good reason.

You could always help find an already bubba'd one. Since the damage was already done, it would at least spare another.

My approach might border on blasphemy here, but when somebody talks about doing this I first try to steer them towards a Savage or other low-cost modern rifle. When that fails, I educate them on the relative rarity and historical values, and then tell them "for heaven's sake at least make sure it's a '43 Izhevsk, not a '98 Cossack. If you're going to delete a piece of history, at least delete it from somewhere there's a LOT of history floating around."

Hmm, maybe I should start insisting that they bring me a rare Mosin to trade for a common one? I don't want to sound totally selfish and evil but I could probably see my way clear to send a wartime junker to the metal shop in exchange for a Sestroryetsk or a Remington... forgive me, brothers, I am weak.

I have some very nice 1942, 43, and 44 Izhevsk and Tula wartime rifles. In many ways these are more fascinating to me than the 1930's rifles. You can read the desperation of the times in their rough, or not so rough finished metal. One good thing about the sharp rise in M1891 prices is that few Bubba's will drop $400-$450 on a rifle in order to butcher it up, they can spend a bit more and get a plastic fantastic instead.