My son and I went shooting Sunday at the Airfield Shooting Club in Wakefield. I brought my Mosin Nagant rifle along with a Glock 23, A Rossi .357 magnum revolver, and a Polish P64 pistol. My son enjoyed the revolver the most, with the Mosin Nagant a close second. He did pretty good for someone who has not shot much.
Mosin Nagant
Shooting the Mosin Nagant
I finally got to shoot my Mosin Nagant rifle that I had purchased at the gun show in Hampton. I went to the range in Wakefield on Wednesday and let loose. To my immense relief it shot flawlessly. Next to my Mossberg shotgun, the Mosin has quite a kick. The 7.62x54r round is a really large caliber. I put 40 rounds downrange, including 20 new Wolf rounds and 20 of the 1980 Bulgarian surplus ammo. Neither gave me any problems.
Firing at 50 yards I was able to get 1″ groups which I though was pretty good. I really enjoy shooting the Mosin. It is my first wood and metal gun and I love the smell and feel of it. I love that it is a part of history and was used by millions of Russian soldiers during WWII.
Due to the fact that the Bulgarian surplus ammo was what is termed “corrosive” I cleaned the bore with a weak ammonia solution to clean the salts left by firing the ammo. If you don’t get rid of the salts they will attract moisture, possibly rusting and pitting the bore.
After I got back from the range I disassembled the Mosin and carefully cleaned it. It was recommended that you pour boiling water down the barrel to further remove any remaining salt, which I did. Then I used Ballistol to clean and lubricate the rifle. The rifle came with the original cleaning rod and kit but I chose to use a boresnake instead. Maybe next time I will use the original kit.
When you take apart the bolt for cleaning you have to be careful that the firing pin spacing is correct. The cleaning kit comes with a tool to measure the minimum and maximum gap between the firing pin and the primer. To little and the pin will not strike the primer, too much and you could drive the pin completely through the primer, not a good thing.
I took a video of me shooting which I will embed here, along with a photo showing the Bulgarian ammo I used. That’s it for now.
The Mosin Nagant
As I mentioned in my last post, I attended a gun show in Hampton last weekend. As I feared, the lure of another gun struck me. I have always been a history buff and I have always wanted a WWII era firearm. My father had a Japanese Arisaka rifle that he obtained while serving in WWII. I remember always being fascinated by that rifle. What I have really wanted is an M1 Garand but those are very expensive.
I have seen a lot of people on YouTube shooting the Russian Mosin Nagant bolt action rifle and it is much less expensive to acquire than an M1 Garand. So when I saw several Mosin Nagants for sale for only $125 I could not resist. The rifles were in excellent condition and came with an authentic sling, the original bayonet, and a complete original cleaning kit. Another booth was selling Mosin Nagants for less money but they were in only fair condition and without a sling, bayonet, and cleaning kit. The one I bought was manufactured in 1941.
The rifle fires the massive 7.62x54r round which is only manufactured today by a few companies. You can still obtain surplus ammo in quantities, mostly from Russia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. I bought some Wolf brand ammo as well as 200 rounds of 1980 Bulgarian surplus ammo. I have yet to fire the rifle due to poor weather, but I plan on shooting it next week at the range in Wakefield. If it doesn’t blow up in my face, it should be a blast….
What the Hell Is Going On 