rifleing shot out?
 

I have had a (Mosin Nagant spell) for several years that I picked up at a garage sell. 1944 stamped on it and it was made in Finland I think. I think this is the same ones that was considered very accurate. As I look down the barrel from the muzzle end the rifleing is very thin and gets heavier towards the action. The reason for the question is I know the rifle was designed for long range due to adjustablity on the rear sight. I was thinking about having it drilled tapped for scope, bolt reworked for scope and then maybe refinish and new stock. Any ideas?

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

Try SurplusRifles.com forum for ideas on scope mounts. Alot of info on the mosin. I too have a M44, but mine is Russian. Some attach right to the front sight base and can be used with a scout scope.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

A new (well, new to you) Nagant ranges from $59-109, I wouldn't really waste any more than $25.00 on a new barrell for it. But the scope is a good idea. If it were me I would drill and tap it or get a cantilver rail, but a lot of people have been putting scout scopes on them with success.

Here is my buddies with a scout scope set up off the rear site:




Or of course you could go with a traditional sniper style mount like mine:

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

WestVirginiaBrent
Those look good. I guess my real concern is the rifling. I know they are cheap guns price wise. But there is nothing cheap feeling about them, heavy and solid, I guess thats why Ilike them. What do you think about the rifling? Can you send me some specs on the scout mount.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

If it has 1944 on the top of the receiver its not very likely to be from Finland. If it has a small number '44' on the barrel shank along with a [SA] stamp somewhere else on the barrel shank then its likely to be a M39. If not, then its probably a dime-a-dozen russian rifle. If its a Finish rifle, do not drill and tap it,you'd be better off selling it and using the money to buy a Savage or Remington. M39s are usually worth $250-400 depending on which Finish company built them and condition, drilling the receiver will make it into a $100 rifle instantly.
If its a russian rifle, knock yourself out, it'll be a cheap lesson on how expensive sporterizing a surplus rifle really is- best bet is to get a scout mount and a long eye relief scope- much cheaper than smithing the entire rifle and finding out that it won't hit the broad side of a barn because its shot out.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

It has 1944 on the barrel 253426 stamped an S stamped inside of gear looking symbol and SA above that. I have pics but can't get them to copy and paste on the post. Anyone know how to do this.

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pic

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By all means, shoot it first with the iron sights using decent quality ammo to see if it is accurate enough to bother putting a scope on it. IF it is a Finnish barrel, it will shoot .308" bullets. Just because it has "optimistic sights", is no sign it is actually a long-range rifle!

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

Your gun was made for WW II..

The Russians were trying to defend their homeland against the German invaders. Their only last line of defense was their people.

They didn't need a good gun. All they needed was something that you could point and it would go BANG!

There was stories on the History Channel about - if you were late to work, they would send you to the Goolag - someplace up in Siberia where they made them rifles.

If you were late for work twice, they put you on the front line, put that rifle in your hand, told you to walk out into no mans land and they let the enemy shoot at you - so their snipers could shoot at the enemy snipers. If they missed, they told the next person that they had to go out and pick up the rifle where ever you dropped it and start walking. They did it over and over and over again!

They made those rifles by the millions and quality was not a issue - because the owner of that rifle had a lifes expentancy of about 15 minutes.

When you are at war, and the enemy is at your gate and you only have 15 minutes to make a rifle. You wouldn't care either if the bore was straight or if the rifling was any good. They made them as fast as they could!

About the best accuracy that you can expect - would be to hit a pie plate at 100 yards. Thats all the more that gun was intended to do.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

I don't want to start an argumant because I am not knowledgable by any means. I found a website that 7.62x54.net that has an ID guide. I could not find my exact markings but it led me to belive that it is a Finnish M39.
Length 46 1/2
rear sight flat
Front sight 1" back
Markings has the SAKO


and SA and 1944


any ideas

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

From one of your pics I could see it looked to have an octogonal or hexogonal receiver. My dad has a beauty of a Russian rifle that was refubished at a Finish arsenal and it has one of those non-round receivers.
I am anything but an authority on these weapons but I'd sure find out with some assurance what I had before I did any drilling or hacking on it.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

Thanks for the input, and that is what I am trying to do (find out).

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

Ypurs is definately a Sako. Nice rifle;)

The Finns picked up a lot of mosin nageants off the battlefield and rebuilt them, by 1944, the war was over for them as far as fighting goes.

Definately shoot it before deciding that its shot out, use .308" bullets. The Finns paid a lot of attention to details in building their rifles and took very good care of them, it should be an excellent shoo
I would defeinately reccommend against bending the bolt or drillign the receiver, the rifl eyou have is worth well over $300 in original form and worht far less if molested.

You can buy scout mounts thta repalce the rear sight leaf from B-Square or even better do a search for 'Darrels scout mounts' and use a LER scope with the mount.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

I would expect that with a wartime Russian rifle, but Finnish rebuilds are in an entirely different class when it coes to workmanship and accuracy. The Fins still use rifles built on mosin nagant receivers for sniping.

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As a matter of interest, the Russians had two main arsenals that made rifles during WWII. One was the Tula Arsenal, and the other was called "Izjhvest", as closely as I can come to transliterating the sound using the Roman, rather than the Cyrillic alphabet. (The Roman alphabet doesn't have a symbol for the equivalent sound of the Russian sound-it's like the "g" sound in the last syllable of the word "garage". At least one of these, Tula,was established under Czar Peter the Great in 1715 or so, and has been making Russian service small arms for nearly 300 years.The other one was established about 1805 or so. NEITHER OF THESE, the main Russian small-arms factories, IS BEHIND THE URALS, AND NONE WERE EVER STAFFED BY GULAG PRISONERS!

The M91 Mosin-Nagant was designed by a Russian Army captain (Mosin), and the well-known at that time Belgian gun designer Nagant. Although this rifle is a little "strange" in design (look at the overly complicated magazine arrangement!!), if made with quality materials and workmanship, it is a good equivalent to all the other service rifles in use by the world's armies in that era, at the early introduction of smokeless powder.In fact, it is a lot better than some of its' contemporaries, such as the Mannlicher Carcano junk in Italy and the Lebel of France. Most of us are spoiled by having the M98 mauser and its near copy, the M1903 Springfield, to compare to the M/N! Of course, the M/N's made during the stresses of wartime are pretty sad examples of a firearm, especially the WWII versions....... IF you can find a M/N made by New England Westinghouse, Remington or Winchester back during WWI, you'd really have something!

Another fact is that the M/N cannot be easily (if at all) converted to use any other cartridge case, so it doesn't get much gunsmithing! That makes it less interesting to guys like us!

http://www.answers.com/topic/tula-arsenal

http://www.nrapublications.org/archives/russiabonus.asp

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

Your rifle is a Finish one made by Sako as indicated by the "S" for the Finish Army as indicated by the boxed "SA". The hexagon receiver is more desirable than the round. The M39 are said to be more accurate than the Russian M44's and M38's. I would shoot it with out the scope and see how it does. If you still desire the scope then put one on that does not alter the rifle and the rifle can be returned to original condition. This rifle is going up in value for sure and you don't want to ruin it.

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

I agree, and you can purchase a bolt body section that has a turned-down bolt handle, take the bolt apart and replace the body section with the one that has the altered handle, and save the original bolt body. Then, later on, you can restore the bolt to original condition and the whole rifle will then be original.

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Winchester never made any form of Mosin Nagant. They did produce the M1985 in 7.62x54R caliber. That may be where the confusion comes from.

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Yes. You are correct. I stand corrected!

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Why not? There were many Finnish M39 rifles made in 1944. I own several 1944 dated examples myself.

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I'd love to see actual photos of the rifle. We could then tell you if it is in orginal condition or "Bubba" has had his way with it.

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Check page one of this thread

RE: rifleing shot out?
 

It may bea forum problem, but I only see a picture of the top of the action area. I can't see any photos of the complete rifle.