The angry screwdriver of death (Mosin Nagant content)

I just picked up a Mosin Nagant today. (Pics later.....I had to take it home and rush back to work.)

I knew that the bayonet was long. I didn't know that it could double as a flathead screwdriver.

BTW, does anybody have any care-and-feeding suggestions? Any suggestions on cleaning the cosmoline off the internal bits? Do I need to completely disassemble it and wipe everything down before using it? The shop I got it from cleaned the outside up, but the mechanism is still full of greasy goodness.

Also, what's the newest and best source for M-N ammo? These are the places I have seen mentioned here before:
http://www.aimsurplus.com/
http://ammoman.com/
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/
http://www.ammoengine.com/
http://www.hornady.com/
Are there any other good spots? What are you guys paying right now?

Why yes it can and does

Yes clean everything off. I have a steam cleaning setup that I use which cleans everything beautifully. It can take some work getting all of that stuff off of there.

880 rounds and make sure to use the codes listed in the link.

http://www.slickguns.com/product/147-gr-762x54r-full-metal-jacket-ammo-880-rounds-165-or-157-fs

Initial Cleaning, per 7.62x54r.net

More MN stuff on that site than you can shake a bayonet at.

www.cabelas.com sometimes has good deals on ammo. Local gunshops sometimes have good deals. Next gunshow....

after firing the berdan primed stuff, I'd run amonia down the barrel, it'll clean out the salts in the corrosive surplus ammunition so you don't have your bore rusting....

For the cosmoline, the simple answer is lots of solvent after you get the rifle out of the stock(it'll eat the finish off the stock)

My local gun show is my usual haunt, I buy sealed tin boxes of 880 rounds

I have had good results removing cosmoline with #2 Diesel. Better than commercial solvents.

In Soviet Russia, rifle lubricates you.

slantvaliant wrote: In Soviet Russia, rifle aerates you.

Back when VW Beetles were shipped, coated with cosmoline, we used kerosene and then a soap and water wash.

Full cleaning - they were dunked in cosmoline. Got my last 880 rds from aimsurplus.

My good friend has a Mosin. I got to fire it off a few times and I have to say I will be getting one at some point.

If you want more than passible accuracy you need something better than surplus ammo, though some guns shoot better with different stuff. Prvi Partizan is your go to brand for accurate nugget food. It gets you as good a round as just about anything and you get re-loadable brass for when you want to take a step up in accuracy.

Prvi runs around 15 bucks for 20 rounds, brown bear is a bit cheaper at around 9-10 for steel cased, sliver bear 10-11 steel cased, and Winchester makes some outrageously priced 7.62x54R that i hear is not as good or loaded as hot as the Russian stuff or Prvi.

Don't get too caught up in bench-rest accuracy allot of people take them out thinking they can get them shooting one two inches and it never pans out. It has been my experience that when shooting with irons that most of the time it is the person so practice is more valuable than anything else. Rarely is it ever the gun.

I stripped mine to a barreled action and stripped the cosmoline off with brake cleaner, followed by WD40. It will likely have last been cleaned in Berlin, and will likely have never seen copper solvent, so get the hoppes out and get the barrel nice and clean. Lubing the cocking ramps and trigger mech with wheel bearing grease greatly improve the action. Stoning and polishing the trigger, sear and striker, being careful to maintain proper geometry, and then using wheel bearing grease on everything will make it a smooth, though still long and heavy trigger that has a hard to find breaking point (pull, pull, pull, pull, surpise!) helps with your flinch you might develop.

The small "limb saver" recoil pad at walmart for $20 works good and adds a bit of length to the stock, these guns were meant to be fired wearing 2" of wool clothing, hence the short stock.

You checked head space, correct?

I get my ammo from Sgammo.com

When shooting surplus, I prefer to at the end of the day while still at the range, with the barrel still hot, pop the bolt out, then holding the gun pointed straight down, spray a lot of windex down the barrel, followed with WD40 and a couple patches to soak up the excess, this gets a lot of crap out, and rinses out the corrosive salts form the primers. Makes the proper cleaning a lot faster when you get home. Always clean from the breach, you will need a longer than the standard 30" cleaning rod IIRC for a 91/90, a 36" will do.

Gun-deals.com is pretty awesome for seeing the latest deals EVERYWHERE on ammo and gun parts/kits and complete weapons. You can even put your zip code in and it gives you the shipping rates and price per round from most vendors on one page.

You are welcome and I am sorry for enabling your addiction.

Soak the metal bits in Mineral Spirits. Takes the cosmoline right off. Works better than the brake cleaner I tried.

I used a tub of hot water and dawn dish soap for the metal bits, and had to resort to paint stripper to get the caked on grease off the stock.

Was looking for a mosin, but came across an offer for a VZ24 1938 that I couldn't pass.

The crazy thing is it has the flathead because it's part of the tools that field service the rifle.

moparman76_69 wrote: The crazy thing is it has the flathead because it's part of the tools that field service the rifle.

Actually, its only for in case you lose the screwdriver/firing pin tool in the toolkit, it isn't meant to be used as a screwdriver on a routine basis.

Also, mosin bayonet tip: You can make it less of a press fit by spreading the socket out a little with a prybar.

So far as depreservation goes on my M44 I used a lot of Hoppe's and brake cleaner on the bore. I boiled the bolt (which in retrospect might not have been the best idea) then disassembled it and cleaned it all up. The stock tends to soak up the cosmoline like a sponge and a lot of people simply "shoot it out." I actually found that you can use an iron and a rag to get the majority of it out and not take the lacquer off the stock if you're careful.

Feeding has been covered here, I just run Bulgarian surplus through mine or whatever I can find since it's a bolt action rifle. From what I've read the rifles are sighted in with the bayonet extended so it might might not resonate correctly if folded, mine sure as heck doesn't. There's a couple of articles floating around about floating or bedding the barrel to improve accuracy. Since I'm retrieving mine from the other side of the country this Christmas I can't really speak to how well either of those techniques work until probably mid January.

Which version did you get? My M44 kicks like a mule but I found my buddys 1891 a bit softer.

The0retical wrote: Which version did you get? My M44 kicks like a mule but I found my buddys 1891 a bit softer.

This is a 91/30

JohnGalt wrote: If you want more than passible accuracy you need something better than surplus ammo, though some guns shoot better with different stuff. Prvi Partizan is your go to brand for accurate nugget food. It gets you as good a round as just about anything and you get re-loadable brass for when you want to take a step up in accuracy. Prvi runs around 15 bucks for 20 rounds, brown bear is a bit cheaper at around 9-10 for steel cased, sliver bear 10-11 steel cased, and Winchester makes some outrageously priced 7.62x54R that i hear is not as good or loaded as hot as the Russian stuff or Prvi. Don't get too caught up in bench-rest accuracy allot of people take them out thinking they can get them shooting one two inches and it never pans out. It has been my experience that when shooting with irons that most of the time it is the person so practice is more valuable than anything else. Rarely is it ever the gun.

This! I can consistently put 2" groups @ 90 striding steps, (put the Target holder up, and then paced it off, in retrospect I prob should have reversed that to get the 100 I was going for) with iron sights using my old enfield(indie chambered in 7.62*51). Old battle rifles require some familiarity and practice. Personally I enjoy shooting my enfield waaaaay more than the FAL I've got sitting next to it. And yeah the mosin is on the list for will haves one day.

Assume that all of the Russian and Eastern European ammo is corrosive primed. Some of the Silver Bear with soft-nosed bullets marked "Non-Corrosive." right on the box most assuredly is corrosive. The Windex is a good tip. You can make an equivalent with half and half household ammonia and water. The water dissolves the salts.

Aaargh! I've been reading/watching stuff on the cosmoline removal, and this does not look like fun.

I did see one useful tip......large diameter PVC, capped on the end, as a container to soak the barrel in.