Purchased my first deer rifle... a mosin
 

All my previous deer hunting was done in Iowa and we cant use rifles so it was all shotgunning...

well after doing alot of reading i figured an old mosin was a good choice considering how cheap (and effective) they are...

so i was wondering who else has hunted with one and what they thought, i have a 91/30,

to make it more hunting friendly im thinking of changing out the stock to one of those ATI ones and putting one of those pistol scopes on where the rear sight is... any other advise?

also as far as ammo im wanting to use brown bear soft points cause they are cheap and the brown bear i used for my ak47 was accurate and reliable...

feel free to throw me any advise you have,

thank you

They're heavy clunkers, built ridiculously simple. The trigger isn't fit for a nintendo light gun. And yet, they're fun to toy with and can shoot very well. At around $100 shipped to your door, a guy can have as many as he wants. The brown bears will do the trick on game. I personally would shy from the scout mount. I'm not speaking from experience, but it seems like something that could easily lose its zero. It may be a cheap gun, but IMO....if you're gonna scope the gun and use it much, go ahead and get it drilled/tapped. Those ATIs would be a fine upgrade. I'd rather go with a Boyd. Just because they're cheap doesn't mean you should get the cheapest parts. Remember, the mosin was used as a sniper rifle. It's very capable of accurate shooting....and the fact that you made it happen so cheaply will make you laugh. It does for me! :D

Hi Shane
Let us know what you do to your Mosin and how well it shoots. I have been thinking about getting one to hunt with when it rains.

The only thing I would recommend is to have a gunsmith change the bolt angle to clear and mount a scope on the receiver. You won't get the field of view on a scout mount that you will on a regular receiver mounted scope. Check out the job this guy did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=GO11gIafId4

Russian bolt
 

I used one, like you when I was a kid. I am an old goat and bought it through the mail for 15 or 20 bucks. I was so happy to get an honest to goodness deer rifle to use instead of the single shot 12 gauge I was using. Then I found out a box of ammo cost as much or more than I paid for the gun! We were not importing anything from the Commies at the time and Russian bolt guns were around but few people had heard of them. This rifle (still have it) was almost as long as I was tall. I did get a deer with it that year, and it was one of the farthest shots I have ever taken at a deer, scope or not. It really shot if I could lay it over a log to steady it. If you sit to hunt the safety won't bother you much. That is a major drawback on that rifle. I do my own work and converted one to 30-40 Krag, got rid of the split bridge, put the bolt handle behind the bridge, Timmney trigger, some other mods to it. You seem to want to spend money on it. Take my advice and use it as is and save the money to buy a cheap used civilian deer rifle with a scope. There are a lot of good deals out there if you look. If you can't do the work yourself it will turn into a money pit.

Superb advice. I bet his Mosin will shoot pretty decent as is, and if not - then it's not worth spending money even on ammo.
A used hunting rifle in decent shape can be had for under $200.00 if you know what to look for and what to steer away from. Also helps to be flexible on the make, model and caliber. So many rounds will do just fine on whitetails.