A Tale of Two Mosins

By Joe Berk

When I first saw Mosin-Nagant military surplus rifles for sale in a Big 5 sporting goods store years ago, I dismissed them as junk.  Wow, was that ever a mistake.  I’ve previously written about being smitten with these Russian rifles, and my appreciation for them continues unabated.  Back in the day, you could pick them up for $79.  That was after the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russians were sending Mosins over here by the boatload to raise cash.   Then, during the Obama administration, the flow of these rifles to the US stopped.  Today, a Mosin will set you back $300 or more (and it’s mostly more).   I recognized the inherent quality and probable appreciation after shooting the first one I bought.  I knew Mosin prices would climb and I picked up several.  My two favorites are the ones you see in the photo above.

I use the first Mosin I ever bought (the one on top in the above photo) for shooting jacketed bullets.  It has a bore that looks like a sewer pipe, but it is accurate.  Here’s a recent 100-yard target.

I don’t use surplus 7.62x54R ammo in my Mosin-Nagant rifles.  Surplus ammo used to be cheap and readily available, but not anymore.  Even when surplus ammo was around, I didn’t use it because the primers were corrosive.  I shoot only my reloads in the Mosins.  Just about any 150-grain, .312 diameter jacketed bullet works well with 43.7 grains of IMR 4320 propellant.   That powder is no longer available, but I have a stash.  When I use it up, I’ll probably switch to Varget or IMR 4064 (both powders are said to work well in the 7.62x54R cartridge).

The other rifle Mosin you see above (the one on the bottom) is a beautiful hex receiver with a bore that appears to be brand new.  When I fired it with jacketed bullets, it grouped very well, but it also shot very high with the rear sight in its lowest setting.  I thought I would have to find a taller front sight, but I tried a few cast bullets and to my surprise, the rifle shot to point of aim at 50 yards.  When I tried my cast bullet load at 100 yards, it was a scosh low.   I went up one click on the rear sight and it was perfect.

My cast load for the Mosin is a 200-grain bullet sized to 0.313 inches over 18.0 grains of SR 4759.  Like the IMR 4320 propellant mentioned above, SR 4759 is a discontinued powder, and like my situation with IMR 4320, I also have a stash of SR 4759.  When I run out of it, there are other powders that work well with cast bullets.  I’m looking forward to developing a new load with them.  The load you see here sets a high bar, but I’m sure I can find a load that will match it.

With both the Mosin-Nagant rifles you see above, I’ve refinished the stocks with several coats of TruOil (I sanded the stocks as little as possible to preserve the original cartouches).  I’ve also glass bedded the actions and cleaned up the triggers.  Both rifles are fun to shoot and both are superbly accurate.

If you would like to read more on our Mosin adventures, you can do so here:

• • • More Mosin Loads
    • Reloading and Shooting Cast Bullets In The Mosin
    • Mosins and Enemy at the Gates
    • Home on the Range
    • Stupid Hot 7.62x54R Ammo
    • Lee Ermey’s Guns Go To Auction
    • Revisiting World War II
    • Sniper
    • Motorcycles and Milsurps

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