My son-in-law has shot deer with his, but I have not. I am still working on trying to get it to stay on paper at 100 yards. I don't know if the problem is the rifle, or the fact that I just can't use the sights effectively. I've just glass-bedd34ed the thing, but haven't tested it since glassing it. A scope might help. I see that the Weaver M71 Winchester side mount base will fit the M/N receiver. It would onlybe a matter of drilling & tapping four 6/48 holes, and buying one of those bolt bodies with the already-bent handle. With that, I can use the same bolt head, sriker, spring, guide rib, etc., that is in the present bolt, and swithc back to "as issued" if I want. The receiver holes can't reduce the value much, since it has no value to begin with...... I have six or eight older scopes just lying around looking for a rifle to go onto.

The "crudeness" of the M/N comes from wartime manufacture, and is not as apparent on ones made during peacetime. The same thing happens to the equipment of most countries when the stresses of war influence them. There are some pretty sorry excuses for Mausers out there too!

The M/N's wood/metal fit is often very sloppy, and I really don't know what that wood is, but it is quite soft! Many M/N stocks are soaked with some grease like Cosmoline, or some machine oil. This makes them even softer!

The Mosin/Nagant is basically a gooddesign, and if it were executed with a little care as to fit and finish, the result could be quite pleasing.

An interesting side note is that the U.S. Wolfhounds Infantry Regiment was rearmed with Mosin/Nagants when they were sent to fight the Bolsheviks at Vladivostock right after WWI. This was so they could use captured ammunition, if necessary. I believe the rifles issued to them were from the supplies of such rifles made by Remington, Winchester, and New England Westinghouse during WWI under contract to the Czar, but which were never shipped to Russia due to the Bolshevik coup...... This U.S. -made bunch are among the nicest M/N's ever made.

(A scaled-down M/N military rifle, complete with functioning miniature ammo, was made for Czar Nicholas II's son Alexis. I don't know what caliber it was, but I have seen pictures of the rifle and the ammo. I'll bet that piece is worth a king's ransom - or perhaps a Czar's ransom, today!) As far as "custom" rifles are concerned, I don't beieve any other cartridge than the 7.62X54R,or one made from a necked up-or necked down 54R case, could ever be used in in that action. It's magazine is "custom fitted" to hold and feed that particular case configuration, and could not be made to work with anything else w/o costing as much as making a new receiver!

BTW, the M1895 Winchester lever action rifle was available chambered for the 7.62X54R cartridge at one time.