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Old May 25, 2012, 10:11 PM   #1
BloodOmen911
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Mosin Nagant for deer hunting?

I've recently purchased a Mosin Nagant for a sweet $90! The bore is nice, I varnished and polyurethaned the stock, I'm having my bolt bent by a guy who goes by blazen999 on eBay, and I'm currently having a firefield repro PU scope mounted on it in Shreveport I mostly purchased to make it a "project gun" but my dad ( who is a die-hard weatherby guy) has been talking a lot of smack, saying I can't take down a deer past 100 yards with it! I've never heard of anyone hunting with a Mosin Nagant, much less a scoped one, and I'd like to prove my dad wrong this upcoming deer season

What are your thoughts on this? Have any of you hunted with a Mosin before? Would I be better off not trying it, in fear of simply wounding a deer and watching it run away because of inaccuracy? Or do you think I should prove the old man wrong?
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:35 PM   #2
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As soon as you "prove" him wrong, he'll just say it was a lucky shot anyway. Nothing wrong with hunting with a MN, but don't do it just because someone says you can't; the people who hate these guns are going to hate them no matter what.

You'll have to shoot yours and see how it does. Some of them can't seem to keep it on the target and others are capable of 1-2 MOA out of the box. There was a thread recently on another forum about accurizing them, I'll PM you the link as I don't know the policy about linking to other forums.

Do you load your own hunting rounds? There's no doubt that can make a difference.
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:36 PM   #3
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Back in the 70s Gun digest published a story about a guy of Finnish decent who used a Mosin, Finnish manufacture of course, to take several deer.

With a good hunting bullet you should be able to take a Louisiana white tail out to 300 yards.

I am playing around with Camp Perry match. Pull the bullets from my MIL Surplus ammo and replace it with a good hunting bullet. I don't have any results yet but it looks promising.
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:38 PM   #4
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Thanks! And he probably would say that. He's a grouchy ol' geezer
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:40 PM   #5
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I have a close friend who has more expensive rifle - including some Weatherby rifles as well as a couple of Remmington 700s and a Ruger M77 in various calibers but every year he'll reach for his sporterized Mosin Nagant M91 first. He consistently takes deer out to 300 yards every year with it - bent bolt handle with a 4x Leupold scope. I'm sure he'd take deer further out with it but that's about the longest shot he can get where he hunts.
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:40 PM   #6
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300 yards? That's pretty good, I hunt on a pipeline ROW. The scope is 3.5 magnification. How will that limit me range-wise?
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:43 PM   #7
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Simo Hayha "hunted" 505 Russian troops with an M/28, with open sights.

You can take a deer with it.

I have a PU that I converted from an infantry rifle, and from a rest I can hold about a 2-3 MOA group at 100. You'll do just fine.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vDIypxgwzXs

'nuff said.
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Old May 25, 2012, 10:47 PM   #8
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@MagnumWill
Reproduction scope or authentic?
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Old May 25, 2012, 11:36 PM   #9
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Watch Enemy at the Gates.
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Old May 25, 2012, 11:39 PM   #10
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I have Great movie! Wish they went more into detail about his stalking technique and movement patterns
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Old May 26, 2012, 02:00 AM   #11
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It's a repro, The mount and scope were from Accumounts. The scope is "dated" 1942, but it is nitrogen filled and the turrets turn the FOV, not just the crosshairs. I'm a pretty big fan of it.
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Old May 26, 2012, 02:27 AM   #12
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I don't really like the rifle so I never had one, but I know about a guy who was hunting about everything from deers to pigs with a short Mosin. He might have a custom made stock but I'm not sure.
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Old May 26, 2012, 08:23 AM   #13
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I was thinking accumounts for a moment when selecting a scope and mount, but firefield was offering a nice chinese repro mount and a scope for 169.99. The firefield was a steal everything looks pretty high quality, just need to see if it handles recoil. It should seeing how it was made for a Mosin Nagant
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Old May 26, 2012, 08:33 AM   #14
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If it's accurate it will absolutely kill a deer. Not much different than a .308/30-06. Mine is about a 4MOA gun so I've never used it. If it shot worth a darn I would have used it. I have killed a deer with most of my unconventional deer guns just to do it, Ar, M1A, Arisak, .458. I'm going to kill one with my .50 when I get it. It's fun to use something other than a modern, scoped, bolt gun.
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Old May 26, 2012, 11:02 AM   #15
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Anything that can be hunted with a 30-06 or 308 can be hunted with a 762x54R. Just make sure you use soft points.
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Old May 26, 2012, 11:59 AM   #16
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As said, depends on how accurate the rifle is.
You'll need to use factory SP's as mentioned-although I sent some match SMK handloads I shoot to a guy in NY that swears he gets great expansion from them and uses them for deer (and mebbe Bear).

FWIW, my sporter shoots moa with those handloads, and I shoot it at 565 yards. So yeah- it's accurate enough to take a deer...

Hate to say it, but Dad needs and edumacation...
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Old May 26, 2012, 12:33 PM   #17
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Anything over 500 yards with a Mosin is great! Are hand loads for the Mosin really that effective? I might need to buy a hand loader then! I've been wanting to reload for awhile now but I never saw the need to since the only gun I really wanted to reload for accuracy purposes was my 6.5x55 swede. But after hearing that I might need to look into it
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Old May 26, 2012, 01:49 PM   #18
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My main deer rifle is a H&R handi-rifle in .308 but here are my 3 back up guns:

M38
m91/30
M1 Garand



I recommend Hornady® Custom Classic Military Ammo with the SST bullet.

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Old May 26, 2012, 01:58 PM   #19
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Considering the muzzle velocity is a little higher that the 30-06 and once it is sighted in you should be good to go to 600 yards.
Long shot for any hunter with any rifle, yes
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Old May 26, 2012, 05:19 PM   #20
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Quote:
300 yards? That's pretty good, I hunt on a pipeline ROW. The scope is 3.5 magnification. How will that limit me range-wise?
Well your range limit would really depend on how good a shooter you are. My friend can hit break dessert plates at 500 yards with his M91/30 with a 4x scope which isn't that much more magnification than your 3.5x. If you put the shot where it counts I'm fairly sure the bullet will kill deer out to 500+ yards with a good heavy soft point.
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Old May 26, 2012, 06:46 PM   #21
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Quote:
Anything over 500 yards with a Mosin is great! Are hand loads for the Mosin really that effective? I might need to buy a hand loader then! I've been wanting to reload for awhile now but I never saw the need to since the only gun I really wanted to reload for accuracy purposes was my 6.5x55 swede. But after hearing that I might need to look into it
They're not precision rifles by any means. But, I worked on this one myself- aftermarket stock, free-float the barrel, pillar and receiver bedded, Timney trigger, cut/crown, and d&t'd a Weaver mount to it for a 6-24 scope for long range. Like I said- first, make sure the rifle shoots. Mine has a great barrel, and tight chamber. Lands are slightly rounded (not sharp), but well defined and zero pitting in the barrel. Arsenal refurb.

Like any rifle, handloads will make a difference. In comparison to the cheap surplus ammo- a HUGE difference. It will shoot minute of angle, with the 174 grain SMK's. See how she shoots, then decide if it's worth the effort- to put the effort- into it.

Just my $.02...

The original stocks can be sloppy. Often a gap between the recoil block and the recoil crossbolt, and a poor fit of the action to the stock. Any rifle benefits from a bedding job at least, and pillars as well to improve consistency. If you want to hunt with it, I'd consider an aftermarket stock (Boyd's), bed the receiver- consider a Timney- and you'll likely be yards ahead in accuracy than you would be if you left the action in the military stock.

Last edited by tobnpr; May 26, 2012 at 06:53 PM.
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Old May 26, 2012, 06:58 PM   #22
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My gun club only has a 200 yard range but I can hit a 6in plate all day long off hand with iron sights. I have to aim high and left about 2inches per 100 yards but I would have no qualms about shooting a deer if it were legal in iowa. Once you have it dialed in its a fine rifle.
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Old May 26, 2012, 07:38 PM   #23
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It's absolutely capable of taking deer with the right ammo. There are several companies that offer 7.62x54R ammo with a soft point bullet from 150gr-203gr. Check MidwayUSA for it and I'm sure you'll find something. If I were going to hunt with it I would probably handload for mine, but for what I use the rife for it's just not cost effective (neither is 7.62x39 for that matter). My rifle will shoot 2" groups at 100yds with irons and surplus ammo which is about the best I can expect with my eyesight. If it were scoped I would expect that to shrink to 1"-1.5" with handloads.

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Old May 26, 2012, 09:25 PM   #24
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Well that's some handy info Does any of the manufacturers make HP 7.62x54r rounds? I'd much rather hunt with HP than SP. I'd rather lose a little meat and not have it run off into the woods rather than save some meat and go hiking xD
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Old May 26, 2012, 09:58 PM   #25
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Any deer hit with a good soft point in the "kill zone" won't go far.

I know it's a personal choice, but the only game I'd use hollowpoints on are varmints.
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