Hi guys, just came acroos this forum so decided to register & add my 2 cents worth.
I live in New Zealand where the hunting of red deer, Sika, Wapiti (elk),Samba fallow & pigs are the main large game so one needs a good calibre to knock these over with, the Mosin will do that no worries if the pill is put in the right spot.
From the 1930's to the late 60's the deer cullers here used mainly the 303 british which is almost equal in performance to the 7.62x54R & they used to take the fmj , nip the end a little & drill a small hole in the end of the projectile so as to create a hollow pointed killer, which worked very well & many thousands of deer were shot dead on the spot by them.
I do have an "unissued" Mosin Nagant with all the "do dads" but am keeping it as a collectors piece.
I've hunted using a number of different calibres but found that any of the 6mm-30 cals were good enough for game down here, currently I use a 260 Remington with reloads for the bigger species & the large fat red hind I shot last Wednesday went down mighty quick even though shot @ 300+ yds.
Pigs with the Mosin----NOT A WORRY--- go for it.
Regards, Phil.