Seems like I can't walk empty handed out of the LGS any more. I was there the other day to pick up a private, out-of-state purchase I made, and while filling out the transfer paperwork, noticed a Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine in the rack behind the counter. I've had a M-N 91/30 for quite a few years, it's a cool old service rifle to play with, and I always wanted to find a nice carbine to go with it. This one is very nice, it's an Ishevsk armory manufacture (my 91/30 is Tula), the receiver stamp has 1944 on it. Stock is in excellent condition, it's not a laminated one, and it comes with a canvas sling. Bayonet locks securely against the barrel and is also in very good condition, the flat point is sharp as a razor. The barrel is clean with sharp rifling. For $525, I took it home. I'm going to take it to the range on a late evening, just before dark, to fire it. Russian ammo has a slow-burning powder, and the short barrel produces a huge muzzle flash. I bought a bunch of ammo when I got my 91/30, still have most of it; I only shoot the 91/30 occasionally for fun. This one will be the same.

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I certainly can relate. I've been buying guns from same LGS for close to 50 years. If I get there b4 they are open, the owner sees me waiting in my car and says, "Hi Mark, what are you buying today?" I tell him I'm just looking, not buying today. An hour later I walk out with ANOTHER gun I don't need. He knows I'm easy.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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SWCA #3713

I hear ya. I have a nickeled Star PD to pick up now.
Foolishly made just a minimum bid on GB and no one else bothered to bid on it.
Beautiful gun, but I have got to get better self control.

Well, off to surf GB, hope my clickin' finger is under contro.

That is awesome. Glad I’m not the only one. Sometimes I’m relieved when someone outbids me. It’s a sickness that we have.

Ah yes, the M44. Along with the M38, 91/38, and 91/59 they used to crowd the racks at Big 5. These carbines are great educators in handling proper recoil and certainly pushed up the sales of slip=-on recoil pads.

My M44 is a post war Polish blond with that slick Radom fettled action that might better the smoothness of the Finnish built rifles. I'm sure it's been test fired, but is otherwise mint. I bought it in 2009 when milsurps were still cheap.

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Release the Kraken

I know just what you mean. Nice Mosin BTW.

Wife and I stopped at the LGS a couple of weeks ago. "I just want to look around. I sure don't need anything." (Yea...right. Like that has anything to do with anything.) Well, I SURE didn't need another 9mm. I've got a half-dozen or so.

So, exactly why did I think I "needed" a Star Ultra Star, 9mm?



Ok. It was releatively inexpensive, at least in today's world at less that $300, and it actually had two magazines, but still...

I need to find time to get it to the range sooner or later. For now, it's a neat ELMS platform.

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John 3:16 .

As for guns I don't need, the most recent one is an Arex Delta L. Why? I've got a number of main breed polymer 9mm pistols. Well, I've never owned a gun made in Slovenia and it was stupid cheap. Great excuses, I think.

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Release the Kraken

I can definitely relate...Welcome to the addition.

The owners of these LGS are evil and have all taken the same devilish sales classes in school …… the question I ask myself is why I still keep going to the store ??

I was on a Mosin kick back in the early 1990's. They could be had for $30 or $40. At that time they were under appreciated.

My best ones are those that came from Finnland. Like a Swede Mauser, a Finn Mosin was the cream of the crop.

Century used to sell spam cans of surplus ammo. Kick like a mule. My handloads are much easier on the shoulder.

Nice rifle. I have an M44 that I take to the range every time I shoot, one of my favorite rifles. I only shoot light ball through it, recoil is pretty stout with heavy ball. The fireball is impressive.

I guess you know it's really bad when the owner of the gun shop you do most of your business at askes if you don't already have enough guns.

You have a couple of nice peices of history there. I know they didn’t come from the armory looking like that! Nice wood

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“Look life in its iron face”

Nice Moisin. For better or worse I avoided getting into them, but your comment about not walking out empty-handed sure rings true! I know I'm doomed if I ask to see something!

You got off lucky. I went in to order a gun and came home with 4 more once. Enjoy the carbine! It was a nice score!

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The best I can with what I got

In the Winter War (when Soviets invaded Finland in 1939) some ships were sunk and the Finns salvaged the cargo. The best Finn Mosin was the Model 39. Some were arsenaled and never saw service. My Finn 39 was never redone.

It has a 1944 date, and the receiver is dated 1918, with Russian proofs scrubbed. As the story goes, the Finns test fired all these models at 100 meters, and if the shots would not fit a 3 cm group, they were destroyed. My scores would verify that. The barrel is pristine.

(my pics do not do it justice. The tiger striping of the stock is simply awesome. All the bluing is 100%)

My final edit is directed at Finland. God bless them all and I pray they will all stay safe.

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It can be a disease as bad as collecting S&W revolvers. So many variations, round receiver, hex receiver, high side or low side receiver, Tula or Ishevsk arsenal, Rifle, Dragoon or Carbine; the list goes on and on, where do you stop?

All I ever wanted was one nice example of a 91/30 and a M44, now I have them. The gun safe has been playing musical chairs the last couple of days, trying to figure out how to fit them all in. With the 2 1911's I picked up at the same time, and the M41 I'm getting ready to get, space is at a premium. Hopefully, some room will appear when I get the M41; I'm trying to trade out or sell my remaining polymer framed handguns (only three) in order to finance that purchase. I'll also sell one of my 9mm EMP4 1911's, I don't really need two of the same caliber.

Please explain this "stop" concept.

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Release the Kraken

Sounds like another safe is in order.

And with the Mosin-Nagants, you have a whole 'nuther subset in Finnish capture pieces. I grew up in an area of Ohio that had a lot of people of Finnish heritage. I started studying Finnish history and acquired a great admiration for the Finns standing up to the Soviets. So absolutely I had to have a Mosin-Nagant with Finnish capture marks. And happily I found one. I have a case of shells so one of these days I need to take it out and play with it.

I hear ya'. I really like shooting the M44; enjoying it one bolt-rack at a time. The concussion and the fireball during low light shooting sessions is a real blast!

Then when your 5 rounds are shot, you can charge the target with the bayonet!

Congrats on your great looking pair!

My grandfather never had these problems. He was an avid gun collector. All the gun dealers knew what he wanted. From what I’ve been told he never went looking for guns. The gun stores when they found something they thought he would like just called him. This all took place back in the 70’s and 80’s so no internet.

I have a 1943 Mosin 91/30 to go with my 1942 Mosin M38.
The 91/30 is sighted in for 147 light ball (with bayonet attached) and the M38 is sighted in with 174 heavy ball.
They are a blast to shoot (pun intended).
I reload and it helps reduce the blast......

wyo-man

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Live free or die

Hair Trigger, you got a winner! I don't know how old you are, but like some others have said, military surplus was great in the 80's and 90's. You could buy a SKS rifle and case of ammo for about $150 in the 80's. In the 90's, you could buy Mosin Nagant 91/30's for around $75 all day long. The only bad thing was that they were often covered in Cosmoline! After a while, you even enjoy dealing with it. You could even buy them by the case. I can't remember if a case was 10 or 12 rifles, bayonets, leather ammo pouches, and oil bottles for each rifle. One of the coolest coffee tables I ever saw was made from one of these wooden Mosin Nagant cases. It was glass covered and held some rifles with the accessories, and other wartime stuff, and it, and had lighting to show everything off.

I bought a SKS with case of ammo, a fancy refinished Ishevsk 91/30, and a Tula Dragoon. I always wanted a M44, but they were about $50 more, so I didn't get one. It seems like the ones I see for sale now have stocks beat up badly, and rusty. It looks like you got a nice one with a beautiful stock. I have heard the M44's were fire breathing dragons.
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

Need’s got nothing to do with it

I shoot cast lead bullets in mine. An NOE 314/ 299 mold throwing 210 grs bullets, and about 12 grains of Unique, or Red Dot, with shoot about 3 inches at 100 yards. It would probably would do better, if my eyes could see the open sights.
Low recoil and cheap fun shooting.

That short rifle and Russian loaded ammo, is a little to much for me.
I would rather be kicked by a horse.

Where do you find your non-Berdan primer brass? I doubt I'll shoot either of my Mosins enough to make buying dies and brass worth the effort, but it would be nice to know a source JIC.

I'm 68. My LGS was opened by a retired Army Special Forces armorer, who knows about almost any military weapon you can name from the 20th -21st Century. Back around 2014, he bought several crates of 91/30's that he'd hand-picked, looking at good condition barrels and lockwork first, and appearance second, but still important that it was nice. I was second in line to get one, I'd always wanted one, and got my 1932 dated, Tula arsenal hex-receiver rifle for $225, including the bayonet, sling, ammo pouch and cleaning kit.

He's gone off to Alaska now, living pretty much off-grid, but his son now owns the store. He learned a lot from his dad, and now and again finds something really nice. This M44 is easily as nice as my 91/30, the stock has none of the usual acceptance marks on it; the rifling I looked at with a bore scope and it is perfect. Luckily, the importer's stamp is barely visible on the side of the receiver, so it looks fairly untouched by time. I still haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but hopefully this weekend I'll run a few rounds through it.

I got my C&R FFL in 1998, so I could buy direct from Century Arms. Looking at my bound book, I paid $29.87 for some real nice Mausers, and $69.95 for an SKS. Mosins were $39.87, but they often had "U-Fix-Ems" for as low as $16.00. These low grade ones were usually pretty good, maybe only missing a screw or 2.

I just can't believe that these old war horses now sell in the $500 range. It's all supply and demand. Back then, with every new catalog Century would announce that a new supply was found somewhere. Now they are all gone.

All the brass I have is Norma. They still make it. You would have to do a search to see who has it in stock.

Graff's does have 7.62x54R in stock, but I don't know who the manufacturer is.

Lee carries the dies, plus molds to make boolits.

My last purchase of surplus 440 round spam cans was in 2002, at a cost of $38.87 delivered. It is all 100% sure fire, but it kicks like a mule. I still shoot it, but sparingly, preferring to blend it in with my lead boolit handloads.

That Norma brass is good stuff. I have loaded them a dozen or more times and they are still in use.

Those were the days. I suspect the shipping would cost that much today.
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

I'm sure that's true. The good thing about Century Arms was that back in the day, shipping was free.

Of course, back in the day Midway USA shipped for free as well.

Grafts currently has Lapua, Prvi Partizan, and "Major Mfg Brass" available. All unprimed.

wyo-man

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Live free or die

I like those M44 Carbines. You can use them as a gun, club or spear.

Didn't NEED...

...but did WANT!

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Bill - SWCA #2327

Way back when, I was taught that Soviet M44 carbines had foldout bayonets and that the ones without bayonets were M38s.

...and then came the 91/59 and 91/38 rebuilds just to muddy the waters.

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Release the Kraken