Mosin Nagant for hunting

[LeJerk]

I have an M44 and it's not terribly accurate. I was thinking about using it for hunting and wanted to know if there is any way to get it fixed up to be accurate enough to hunt with.

Thanks!

[Scanker19]

Practice, practice, and practice. I also know the following applies to the 91/30. They were intended to be used with the bayonet in place. Like I said don't know if it applies to the M44.

Maybe put it in a nicer stock and float it.

[rammit]

my 91 is accurate enough for minute of pie plate at 100 yards, I would trust it to drop a deer or elk, but I have other rifles that are lighter and don't require a bayonet to be accurate.

[Gunoholic]

I guess I need to read up on mosins. I haven't heard that about the bayonets. I'm just a semi broke college student, but I hunt with some business "big shots." I would love to take an elk with a hundred dollar mosin, while they try to kill one with their $1500+ set ups.

[rondog]

I've heard that the bayonet on M44's need to be extended and "fixed" in order for them to shoot right and accurately, but have no experience to verify that. I haven't heard that about the 91/30's though, and since their bayonet isn't permanent to the rifle like the M44's, I'd be surprised if it mattered.

But if you're going to hunt with it, buy good commercial soft-nosed hunting ammo! Don't try shooting animals with surplus military ammo or any FMJ's. You'll more likely wound the animal and it'll run off, and the rich guys won't be impressed.

[jess357]

You can still find some winchester metric 7.62x54R around, and Wolf Gold line makes a 180 grain soft point as well. I have an M44, and it does shoot best with the bayonet extended. The bayonet is useful for hunting, I will stab the bayonet in the ground or otherwise use it to rest the rifle on a branch. The problem with the mosin's are that they are so dang heavy. I will bring my mosin hunting as a spare in case there is a problem with my main rifle. It is motivation to proper rifle upkeep; I will never miss a cleaning thinking about having to lug that M44 through the woods. Good Luck to you!

[splogan]

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/splogan21/Picture.jpg

The one on the right has a slightly bent bold and was sporterized long ago. I did not do it but plan to mount a scope and use it to hunt. I will also add the aluminum pillars. They are cheap and should help accuracy, they definitely can't hurt. The project is more for fun than anything else. I am actually going to set up a nice T3 Hunter in .308 as my primary hunting rifle.

[Robb]

LeJerk,

Yes, I'm sure you can tune your Mosin to some degree to make it a more efficient hunter. Do some surfing. One of the first things to look at is trigger pull, and then perhaps bedding if you don't mind perminately altering the firearm. If you're handy you can do it yourself.

I should say up front that I have no experience with Mosin's but my son has a huge interest in WWII and we also like to hunt so after getting a new milsurp cleaned up and headspaced I would do internet research especially on triggers & trigger pulls. I was able to clean up the trigger pulls on a Garand and a K98 pretty nicely and that makes a nice accuracy difference.

I'm sure you also can tune a Mosin, and if not you could probably purchase an aftermarket trigger. The Garand turned out very nicely, the K98 pull is at least lighter, smoother and more consistant but still leaves alot to be desired, however my boy didn't want an aftermarket trigger and didn't want to alter the rifle from military trim so we did the best with what we had and didn't mess with bedding. He just had to take it deer hunting last season instead of a scoped Browning .270 and amazingly he took a big forkhorn with his K98. That was the nastiest exit wound I've ever seen.

A scope helps too, I wouldn't modify our WWII milserps that way, but to each his own and should be simple to do, there's a few good smiths right here on this board.
Best of luck.

Robb

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

I'd hunt with my 91/30. While you can get designated "hunting" rifles for pretty cheap, the round has the power necessary to kill pretty much anything....and I hear practice makes the shooter, not the rifle (I am still working on that part ;) )

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

http://youtu.be/xCSDWM0J-L8

[LeJerk]

I could be wrong, but I had mine on a shooting rest firing at paper target at 100 yards, and wasn't having much luck with groups... *shrug*

Maybe I'll try again sometime to make sure.