eldeguello

The Mosin Nagant bolt action Russian service rifle is easily available in all its' various configurtions, and quite cheap. I recently bought a Mosin M91/30 barreled action for $80.00 and a stock for $30.00. Put it together and it shot just like you'd expect from an old used military rifle. It fires, but is none to accurate. Maybe I just haven't found a load it likes yet. I've shot .308", .311", and .314" bullets in it. The .311's shot best. Bore diameter on this rifle is .300", groove is .314"! Bore is in good shape, as is the crown on the muzzle. I will try glass-bedding it into the stock and see if that makes any difference. Basically, there is nothing really wrong with the cartridge, except due to its head size and rim, it takes a "strange" action to feed and chamber it. The Mosin action meets this requirement, apparently designed around the cartridge. I don't think you could use any other round in this action, so it really can't be converted into anything else. The Russians DO have a 9X54Rmm cartridge, sort of a "Russian .35 Whelen", made by necking this round up to fire .354" heavy bullets for brown bear hunting. I don't know if they had to alter the magazine box to accept the bigger bullet. Probably not, but a .45/70 won't work!