Hungarian M44 - What would you do?

Capybara · April 5, 2015, 12:24 PM

Hi all:

I bought this Hungarian M44 at a gun show about two years ago for $150.00. It has had the hand of Bubba laid upon it unfortunately but the metal looked brand new unissued, as in this thing has rarely, if ever been shot. I took care of that, having put a few hundred rounds downrange with it, it is a great rifle, fun to shoot, very accurate for an M44. The stock has been sanded, varnished, the sling escutcheons were inexplicably painted gloss black along with the barrel bands and the magazine and Bubba also installed sling bases (why do this if you have the Mosin dog collar fittings right there?!?!) I have been hunting for a Hungarian stock for two years, have only seen one decent one pop up on Gunboards and I was about 10 minutes too late.

If this were your gun, would you:

1. Keep it as is as a fine shooter than has been Bubba'd?

2. Keep up the hunt for an 02 Hungarian stock? Maybe someday I will find one?

3. Find a nice, clean Russian stock and transfer the action over to it to have a Hungarian/Russian mess?

I'm not in a hurry, but every time I take it out to shoot, the present stock bugs me because it is so cheesy looking.

Thanks for your opinion.

psalm7 · April 5, 2015, 02:52 PM

I guess you are talking about the very light color because someone has stripped the red'ish color comblock finish .
I think I would refinish it to your own taste since it has already been refinished . Like a good dark walnut or maple with lots of "bird pecks" .
Unless there is some damage I cant see in the picture .

**44 AMP** · April 5, 2015, 03:58 PM

"Zip strip" the varnish, refinish in a less "cheezy" color. Or just use some more spray paint...

Capybara · April 5, 2015, 04:08 PM

Yes, the light color bugs me a little but the shiny varnish and the shiny gloss black that someone rattle canned the barrel bands, sling escutcheons and the magazine bug me more. That's what bums me out, someone spent a decent amount of time and effort destroying the collector value of this rifle. That can never be gained back but I could at least restore it to look like a normal M44. Since it is a Hungarian in a Bubba'd Russian stock set, my dream would be to locate a nice condition "02" stamped stock set to make this rifle at least correct, if not numbers matching.

Hungarian stocks are like Unicorn tears, pretty rare. I've seen exactly one for sale in two and a half years of searching. I may either redo this one or just buy a decent looking Russian stock and be done with it.

BoogieMan · April 6, 2015, 06:52 AM

Soak the bands and painted parts in mineral spirits. It will take off the rattle job and leave the original finish, if they didnt sand or blast before painting.
Lightly sand the stock and give it a coat of oil. I wouldnt worry about collector value. The Hungarian 44 is one of the more rare variants but not all that rare, unless its a 91. 44 Value in mint condition is still only $200ish.
I have one (far from mint) that I paid $125 off gunbroker.
I should not that im a big fan of all Hungarian guns, my collection is small but up to 5 now. If you want to sell and start with a fresh one I would help you out.

lohr64 · April 7, 2015, 10:57 PM

Don't sweat too much on this stock, it is not Hungarian correct.

I was looking for a genuine one myself and decided to go an other route as they are no where to be found. I will build one from an extra 91/30 stock I have.

the Hungarian front slings slots are approximately 1" closer to the butt than the other variations.

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM44H.htm

Capybara · April 8, 2015, 03:25 PM

I may have found another poster who will trade me a Hungarian stock for this one plus a few bucks. Hopefully a happy ending for this Hungarian.

Ignition Override · April 9, 2015, 11:06 PM

But will the fit of the action/barrel in the "new" stock still allow the gun to be so accurate?

Capybara · April 10, 2015, 10:25 PM

It's an M44, how accurate will it ever be?

If it's an issue, I will have to shim it or possibly bed it but if it is is 6 MOA or better, I am happy.

Ignition Override · April 11, 2015, 02:00 AM

My pair of common Russian 44s were so inaccurate at 50 yards (only spam can Bulgy ammo) that I sold them. Groups from a soft rest were over 6", from 50 yards...

Otherwise I really liked the rifles, and cleaned the bores with Windex/dried them every day they were used.

tobnpr · April 12, 2015, 03:37 PM

Never heard of a decently "accurate" M44 (or T-53).
I suspect, the barrel harmonics gods aren't really pleased with that folding bayonet on the end of the barrel.

But hey- it does throw one heck of a fireball

Capybara · April 13, 2015, 05:50 PM

My story has a happy ending. Thanks to the generosity of Calgunner echo1, my Hungarian M44 is now sitting in a very nice 02 Hungarian stock set. We were able to make it happen for very little money and just a little effort. I love it, I think it looks much better. Once again, the kind generosity of Calgunners never ceases to amaze me, thank you echo1. Will post some real pictures when I have time, did not have time this morning after swapping out the stocks to break out the camera and flashes. I am just pumped to have a real Hungarian M44 now, not the mish-mosh I had before.

Capybara · April 17, 2015, 02:11 PM

Range Report on "New To Me" Hungarian M44

Made it out to the range this morning to see how my refurbished Hungarian M44 shoots with it's new 02 stock versus how it shot with the Russian Bubba'd stock at the top of the page. In that stock, the rifle was pretty consistently a 4 moa rifle, at least at the short distances I shoot it at. The new stock feels great, with a traditional milsurp finish instead of all sanded and varnished. I mostly shot it standing up but my pictures from that angle were all out of focus, forgot to set the correct focus on the camera. This one was almost in focus at least.

I shot a combination of Czech Low Recoil Training Ammo and Bulgarian Surplus. I have quite a few hundred rounds of PPU Brass 7.62x54r but I mostly shoot my surplus ammo out of this rifle so that's what I brought.

I packed at 4:00 AM this morning. Being half asleep, I packed my paper target base but no backer with the wooden supports so no paper targets to measure groups. Fortunately I did remember my 8" AR500 gong. This was my group at 150 yards, it measured 4.25". Disregard the two smaller marks below, those are the Czech Training Ammo which really goes all over the place past 100 yards. The big marks are from the Bulgarian Silver Tip surplus. Wish I had some Heavy Ball to try, I keep hunting for some of it but it has dried up.

Overall, from this very unscientific test, the rifle shoots better with the Hungarian stock than it did with the Russian. It was effortless hitting the gong at 150 yards, wish I could get it out to 200 and 300 to see what it can do. I will have to take it out to Wes Thompsons sometime to try that.

So for the Hungarian stock, besides the obvious cosmetic and historical improvements, it gets a big

Unfortunately, a couple of shots later...

Time to buy a new AR500 gong. The new ones don't have these ears, they just have bolt holes through the body of the gong. This one lasted two and a half years and was shot a LOT with everything from 8mm Mauser, some 300 Win Mag, tons of 7.62x54r and lots of AR/AK rounds as well so I am not too bummed. It took a beating. This break wasn't even from a hit, I think both sides developed stress fractures from the tremendous shock of the impact of all of those rounds. All of the mounting bolts, nuts and washers stretch and warp like crazy.

leadcounsel · April 17, 2015, 10:44 PM

You got yourself an excellent accurate reliable carbine that was cheap. Don't mess with it, just love it for it's beauty. If you must change it, just sand down the stock and refinish it and the bands.

Don't sell it! Good grief. Not even worth the hassle and you'll lose a great gun!

skizzums · April 17, 2015, 11:56 PM

first of all, if you don't plan to reload......please save your used brass cases. I will pay decent $$ for them. but really, I don't know what to tell you about your stock, if you don't ike it, sell the gun and get one with a stock you like. not much else you can do besides watch ebay for the stock you want to pop up.

if your mosin is as accurate as it is with surplus ammo, your going to be blown away at how accurate you can get if you get into handloading. hence, saving those brass cases.

the middle shoot n C target in the middle is using Barnaul 200gr 54r. notice all the other target are handloads, literally cut the groups in half from "factory ammo. bore sizes and chamber dimensions are all over the place in myosin's since there are so many different manufacturers' and variants. this is 100 yards, Finn nagant running about 2 MOA consistent until it gets hot. I average 2.5MOA with surplus which is actually better than I usually get with the heavy-weight barnaull.

other options include keeping the stock you have, free-floating it and bedding it. bedding is so extremely important on these rifles and you will know an immediate difference, especially when it comes to the recoil lug and tang.. I have 3 mosins and the best shooter has a factory stock, glassed and free-floated. great rifle.

if you want to keep it "un-tainted"(bubba'd) anymore, may I suggest getting a cheap aftermarket stock and put the one you have on there in the closet and bed the cheap polymer one. I have a polymer monte-carlo stock I would pretty much give to you for experimentation. I came across a ,not so much bubba'd) finn, but with NO stock at all. the cheapest finn stock I could find ran about 400$, so I said screw it and just really went bubba crazy on it, but it turned out to be a pretty sweet rifle. o I would ust closet your stok, get a "shooter" stock for fun, since they require no permanent mods to switch out, and have fun.....oh yeah, a Timney trigger will change your life. if your rifle shoots that good as is, you may have one of the few and only MOA myosin's, you should play with it and see what it can really do. new stock, new trigger....none of it is permanent, and it can give you time to find the original stock you really want while having a great shooter while you wait

skizzums · April 18, 2015, 12:05 AM

if you want an aftermarket stock to play with, I would be glad to give you my monte-carlo stock for your brass cases if you don't intend to ever reload them.

the stock isn't pretty, but it does free-float the barrel, lightens it up a bit and helps with the recoil. plus, the option for a stock mounted bi-pod can make life a lot easier

good luck with whatever you are trying to achieve. maybe I missd what exactly you were asking. but it seems like you have something pretty rare in the mosin world, a mosin that actually shoots under 4 MOA stock. I would definitely keep it

Capybara · April 18, 2015, 11:42 AM

Not going to sell it or further modify, just going to shoot it. I run a reloading club, we teach about 200 new reloading students a year so I definitely am saving my Prvi 54r brass. Only problem with reloading for the Mosins is that it is a big case that uses a lot of powder and good .311-.313 bullets (I need to slug this ones barrel) are not cheap at all. I think I am at about .35 per round, which is cheaper than factory brass, but almost double what I paid for all of my surplus and I have quite a lot it. So I usually shoot surplus ammo unless I am going to range that doesn't allow it.

While this rifle is accurate for a Mosin, if I want to really shoot some good groups, I am putting an optic on my K31. I love this rifle though, especially for my son and new shooters. I give them a few boxes of the Czech low recoil training ammo and they love shooting it. Once they get used to that, I switch them to the silver tip Bulgarian and see how they like it. The recoil isn't bad with a limbsaver and it increases the LOP to my body, I am 6'1 so a lot of my milsurps and my AK are way too short LOP for me.

This story has a happy ending, I am very happy to have found a Hungarian stock. This was my first M44, I have five others but this one will always be the favorite because it has a great trigger, the bolt is really, really smooth. Non of the usual Mosin roughness and stickiness. Great gun.

April 5, 2015, 12:24 PM	#1
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	Hungarian M44 - What would you do? Hi all: I bought this Hungarian M44 at a gun show about two years ago for $150.00. It has had the hand of Bubba laid upon it unfortunately but the metal looked brand new unissued, as in this thing has rarely, if ever been shot. I took care of that, having put a few hundred rounds downrange with it, it is a great rifle, fun to shoot, very accurate for an M44. The stock has been sanded, varnished, the sling escutcheons were inexplicably painted gloss black along with the barrel bands and the magazine and Bubba also installed sling bases (why do this if you have the Mosin dog collar fittings right there?!?!) I have been hunting for a Hungarian stock for two years, have only seen one decent one pop up on Gunboards and I was about 10 minutes too late. If this were your gun, would you: 1. Keep it as is as a fine shooter than has been Bubba'd? 2. Keep up the hunt for an 02 Hungarian stock? Maybe someday I will find one? 3. Find a nice, clean Russian stock and transfer the action over to it to have a Hungarian/Russian mess? I'm not in a hurry, but every time I take it out to shoot, the present stock bugs me because it is so cheesy looking. Thanks for your opinion.

April 5, 2015, 03:58 PM	#3
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 28,813	"Zip strip" the varnish, refinish in a less "cheezy" color. Or just use some more spray paint... __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.

April 6, 2015, 06:52 AM	#5
BoogieMan Senior Member Join Date: April 4, 2012 Location: South Jersey Posts: 2,217	Soak the bands and painted parts in mineral spirits. It will take off the rattle job and leave the original finish, if they didnt sand or blast before painting. Lightly sand the stock and give it a coat of oil. I wouldnt worry about collector value. The Hungarian 44 is one of the more rare variants but not all that rare, unless its a 91. 44 Value in mint condition is still only $200ish. I have one (far from mint) that I paid $125 off gunbroker. I should not that im a big fan of all Hungarian guns, my collection is small but up to 5 now. If you want to sell and start with a fresh one I would help you out. __________________ Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it. Milton Freidman "If you find yourself in a fair fight,,, Your tactics suck"- Unknown

April 12, 2015, 03:37 PM	#11
tobnpr Senior Member Join Date: August 1, 2010 Location: Tampa Bay Posts: 4,556	Never heard of a decently "accurate" M44 (or T-53). I suspect, the barrel harmonics gods aren't really pleased with that folding bayonet on the end of the barrel. But hey- it does throw one heck of a fireball __________________ Remington 700/Savage Rebarreling /Action Blueprinting 07 FFL /Mosin-Nagant Custom Shop/Bent Bolts Genuine Cerakote Applicator www.biggorillagunworks.com

April 17, 2015, 11:56 PM	#15
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	first of all, if you don't plan to reload......please save your used brass cases. I will pay decent $$ for them. but really, I don't know what to tell you about your stock, if you don't ike it, sell the gun and get one with a stock you like. not much else you can do besides watch ebay for the stock you want to pop up. if your mosin is as accurate as it is with surplus ammo, your going to be blown away at how accurate you can get if you get into handloading. hence, saving those brass cases. the middle shoot n C target in the middle is using Barnaul 200gr 54r. notice all the other target are handloads, literally cut the groups in half from "factory ammo. bore sizes and chamber dimensions are all over the place in myosin's since there are so many different manufacturers' and variants. this is 100 yards, Finn nagant running about 2 MOA consistent until it gets hot. I average 2.5MOA with surplus which is actually better than I usually get with the heavy-weight barnaull. other options include keeping the stock you have, free-floating it and bedding it. bedding is so extremely important on these rifles and you will know an immediate difference, especially when it comes to the recoil lug and tang.. I have 3 mosins and the best shooter has a factory stock, glassed and free-floated. great rifle. if you want to keep it "un-tainted"(bubba'd) anymore, may I suggest getting a cheap aftermarket stock and put the one you have on there in the closet and bed the cheap polymer one. I have a polymer monte-carlo stock I would pretty much give to you for experimentation. I came across a ,not so much bubba'd) finn, but with NO stock at all. the cheapest finn stock I could find ran about 400$, so I said screw it and just really went bubba crazy on it, but it turned out to be a pretty sweet rifle. o I would ust closet your stok, get a "shooter" stock for fun, since they require no permanent mods to switch out, and have fun.....oh yeah, a Timney trigger will change your life. if your rifle shoots that good as is, you may have one of the few and only MOA myosin's, you should play with it and see what it can really do. new stock, new trigger....none of it is permanent, and it can give you time to find the original stock you really want while having a great shooter while you wait __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

April 5, 2015, 02:52 PM	#2
psalm7 Senior Member Join Date: March 7, 2014 Location: Middle TN Posts: 543	I guess you are talking about the very light color because someone has stripped the red'ish color comblock finish . I think I would refinish it to your own taste since it has already been refinished . Like a good dark walnut or maple with lots of "bird pecks" . Unless there is some damage I cant see in the picture .

April 5, 2015, 04:08 PM	#4
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	Yes, the light color bugs me a little but the shiny varnish and the shiny gloss black that someone rattle canned the barrel bands, sling escutcheons and the magazine bug me more. That's what bums me out, someone spent a decent amount of time and effort destroying the collector value of this rifle. That can never be gained back but I could at least restore it to look like a normal M44. Since it is a Hungarian in a Bubba'd Russian stock set, my dream would be to locate a nice condition "02" stamped stock set to make this rifle at least correct, if not numbers matching. Hungarian stocks are like Unicorn tears, pretty rare. I've seen exactly one for sale in two and a half years of searching. I may either redo this one or just buy a decent looking Russian stock and be done with it.

April 7, 2015, 10:57 PM	#6
lohr64 Junior Member Join Date: February 19, 2009 Location: North Carolina Posts: 6	Don't sweat too much on this stock, it is not Hungarian correct. I was looking for a genuine one myself and decided to go an other route as they are no where to be found. I will build one from an extra 91/30 stock I have. the Hungarian front slings slots are approximately 1" closer to the butt than the other variations. http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM44H.htm

April 8, 2015, 03:25 PM	#7
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	I may have found another poster who will trade me a Hungarian stock for this one plus a few bucks. Hopefully a happy ending for this Hungarian.

April 9, 2015, 11:06 PM	#8
Ignition Override Senior Member Join Date: February 18, 2008 Location: About 20 nm from the Big Muddy Posts: 2,884	But will the fit of the action/barrel in the "new" stock still allow the gun to be so accurate?

April 10, 2015, 10:25 PM	#9
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	It's an M44, how accurate will it ever be? If it's an issue, I will have to shim it or possibly bed it but if it is is 6 MOA or better, I am happy.

April 11, 2015, 02:00 AM	#10
Ignition Override Senior Member Join Date: February 18, 2008 Location: About 20 nm from the Big Muddy Posts: 2,884	My pair of common Russian 44s were so inaccurate at 50 yards (only spam can Bulgy ammo) that I sold them. Groups from a soft rest were over 6", from 50 yards... Otherwise I really liked the rifles, and cleaned the bores with Windex/dried them every day they were used.

April 13, 2015, 05:50 PM	#12
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	My story has a happy ending. Thanks to the generosity of Calgunner echo1, my Hungarian M44 is now sitting in a very nice 02 Hungarian stock set. We were able to make it happen for very little money and just a little effort. I love it, I think it looks much better. Once again, the kind generosity of Calgunners never ceases to amaze me, thank you echo1. Will post some real pictures when I have time, did not have time this morning after swapping out the stocks to break out the camera and flashes. I am just pumped to have a real Hungarian M44 now, not the mish-mosh I had before.

April 17, 2015, 02:11 PM	#13
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	Range Report on "New To Me" Hungarian M44 Made it out to the range this morning to see how my refurbished Hungarian M44 shoots with it's new 02 stock versus how it shot with the Russian Bubba'd stock at the top of the page. In that stock, the rifle was pretty consistently a 4 moa rifle, at least at the short distances I shoot it at. The new stock feels great, with a traditional milsurp finish instead of all sanded and varnished. I mostly shot it standing up but my pictures from that angle were all out of focus, forgot to set the correct focus on the camera. This one was almost in focus at least. I shot a combination of Czech Low Recoil Training Ammo and Bulgarian Surplus. I have quite a few hundred rounds of PPU Brass 7.62x54r but I mostly shoot my surplus ammo out of this rifle so that's what I brought. I packed at 4:00 AM this morning. Being half asleep, I packed my paper target base but no backer with the wooden supports so no paper targets to measure groups. Fortunately I did remember my 8" AR500 gong. This was my group at 150 yards, it measured 4.25". Disregard the two smaller marks below, those are the Czech Training Ammo which really goes all over the place past 100 yards. The big marks are from the Bulgarian Silver Tip surplus. Wish I had some Heavy Ball to try, I keep hunting for some of it but it has dried up. Overall, from this very unscientific test, the rifle shoots better with the Hungarian stock than it did with the Russian. It was effortless hitting the gong at 150 yards, wish I could get it out to 200 and 300 to see what it can do. I will have to take it out to Wes Thompsons sometime to try that. So for the Hungarian stock, besides the obvious cosmetic and historical improvements, it gets a big Unfortunately, a couple of shots later... Time to buy a new AR500 gong. The new ones don't have these ears, they just have bolt holes through the body of the gong. This one lasted two and a half years and was shot a LOT with everything from 8mm Mauser, some 300 Win Mag, tons of 7.62x54r and lots of AR/AK rounds as well so I am not too bummed. It took a beating. This break wasn't even from a hit, I think both sides developed stress fractures from the tremendous shock of the impact of all of those rounds. All of the mounting bolts, nuts and washers stretch and warp like crazy.

April 17, 2015, 10:44 PM	#14
leadcounsel Junior member Join Date: September 8, 2005 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 2,119	You got yourself an excellent accurate reliable carbine that was cheap. Don't mess with it, just love it for it's beauty. If you must change it, just sand down the stock and refinish it and the bands. Don't sell it! Good grief. Not even worth the hassle and you'll lose a great gun!

April 18, 2015, 12:05 AM	#16
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	if you want an aftermarket stock to play with, I would be glad to give you my monte-carlo stock for your brass cases if you don't intend to ever reload them. the stock isn't pretty, but it does free-float the barrel, lightens it up a bit and helps with the recoil. plus, the option for a stock mounted bi-pod can make life a lot easier good luck with whatever you are trying to achieve. maybe I missd what exactly you were asking. but it seems like you have something pretty rare in the mosin world, a mosin that actually shoots under 4 MOA stock. I would definitely keep it __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

April 18, 2015, 11:42 AM	#17
Capybara Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2012 Posts: 180	Not going to sell it or further modify, just going to shoot it. I run a reloading club, we teach about 200 new reloading students a year so I definitely am saving my Prvi 54r brass. Only problem with reloading for the Mosins is that it is a big case that uses a lot of powder and good .311-.313 bullets (I need to slug this ones barrel) are not cheap at all. I think I am at about .35 per round, which is cheaper than factory brass, but almost double what I paid for all of my surplus and I have quite a lot it. So I usually shoot surplus ammo unless I am going to range that doesn't allow it. While this rifle is accurate for a Mosin, if I want to really shoot some good groups, I am putting an optic on my K31. I love this rifle though, especially for my son and new shooters. I give them a few boxes of the Czech low recoil training ammo and they love shooting it. Once they get used to that, I switch them to the silver tip Bulgarian and see how they like it. The recoil isn't bad with a limbsaver and it increases the LOP to my body, I am 6'1 so a lot of my milsurps and my AK are way too short LOP for me. This story has a happy ending, I am very happy to have found a Hungarian stock. This was my first M44, I have five others but this one will always be the favorite because it has a great trigger, the bolt is really, really smooth. Non of the usual Mosin roughness and stickiness. Great gun.