Mosin Magic Part 1 - Intro

I have been filling up my gray matter with info on the MN 91/30 of late.

This rifle has to be the buy of the decade, if not longer. A time tested full power battle rifle, arsenal refurbished for around $100 dollars on sale! The price is going up as the dollar sinks, so buy now!
This is an incredible amount of rifle for the money, able to take down any game on the North American continent with the proper configuration and grain bullet.

An awesome investment!

This rifle is currently so affordable, every one interested in being prepared could buy one along with 880 rounds of ammo and put it away in your closet for when it may be needed, for less than $360.00!

Cabela's currently list's the 91/30 for $149.00, but I am sure you can find it for less if you look around. Big 5 sporting goods stores in my area usually have them on sale every month or two.

Sportsman's Guide currently has 880 rounds of 7.62x54r in the steel tins for $166 plus shipping (less if you are a member). Add a few boxes of hunting ammo and you are doing pretty well. Those with Mosin's would do well to stock up while you can get it this cheap. It may not be available in the future, say after Nov. 3rd 2012!

In my pursuit of this knowledge, I came across a video from Nutnfancy showcasing his Mosin-Nagant 91/30's, of which he says he (now) owns four samples of. It was was an interesting video, if not a bit long ("Mosin-Nagant: The $100 .30-06" by Nutnfancy). If you are familiar with him, you know he can be a bit long winded on some subjects; thorough, but long winded. The link is provided at the end of this post.

Nutnfancy likes the MN 91/30 (obvoiusly, since he now owns 4) and calls it a fun gun to shoot. He has one which he has Dura-coated the entire gun, including the Red Dot scope he has on it, and the stock.

Nutnfancy made one statement in this video regarding the 91/30 that I don't agree with. When talking about the sometimes awful trigger pull, he says:
"I could throw a Timney trigger in there, but I don't want to spend $100 on a Mosin." (25:05 min)

I have priced some of the other newly manufactured retail guns out there he recommended that are on a par with the MN, and you are looking to drop [$500 to $1100] for a Savage or the Rem 700 in .308 or .30-06. Since the 7.62x54r is within this performance range, somewhere between the two, I selected these calibers for price comparisons. These prices are for just the bare rifles, no upgrades. Pretty big price spread, and prices are going up all the time! Add to this the current price of .308 and .30-06 and shooting your rifle gets rather spendy, fast! This is also for a bone stock rifle, possibly needing some tweaks for better performance. You may be able to find them cheaper, but this is what I found with a quick search.

Now, the MN was not produced as a 1 MOA rifle, and was not intended to be. But that does not mean that it can't be improved upon. It is an affordable alternative to modern, high priced rifles, leaving money on the table to improve it's performance, cheaply.

So let's see what we can do to improve the accuracy by investing up to the cost of one of the newer rifles.

Sources:

Mosin-Nagant 91/30 ($149)
http://www.cabelas.com/bolt-action-mosin-nagant-model-91-30-rifle-bayonet-2.shtml

Sportsmans Guide 880 rnds 7.62x54r, 147gr FMJ ($165.97)
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/880-rds-762x54r-147-gr-fmj-ammo.aspx?a=865012

Nutnfancy's Videos
"Mosin-Nagant: The $100 .30-06" by Nutnfancy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PQUDmINoPM&feature=relmfu

"Arctic Ops: Mosin-Nagant 91/30" by Nutnfancy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eqG5GJRies&feature=relmfu

YouTube
Becoming "Tactical" Doesn't Require Becoming "Tacticool"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cf_j2YnLhw&feature=related