Re-barrel a Mosin Nagant

[CurtDawson]

Thinking about re-barreling a mosin nagant from 7.62x54r to 7.62x53r,thus allowing the use of 308 dia. bullets.Any difficulties I should be made aware of?

 

[jpattersonnh]

I need to ask why? .311 bullets tend to be cheaper and are always availible. 150 and 180gr both shoot great. It would cost more to re-barrel, than to find a Finn, which by the way shoots 7.62x53r which is the same cartridge as 7.62x54r, just Finn manufacture. Case length on the 54r cartridge is 53mm. Modern European ammo is loaded differently. x53r does use a .308 bullet.

 

[btrapr]

I am a little rusty on Mosin end, but if memory serves me right the Finish model 28 actually had a 308 bore and was used in competition including the Olympics way BACK. This gun runs a little high compared to the others.

I do agree that I too would look for a Fin made rifle...they re-barreled all of the guns except some of the 91/30's but they will be marked SA in a box stamping. This was the proof mark that they checked and test fired the gun and it passed their standards which I think was 1.5' at 100 meters with ball ammo. A Model 39 Finn would make a great shooter...

BUT if it was me unless your stuck on the thought of a Mosin Nagant_____WOULD be to invest in a Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55...If the barrel does not look washed out these things normlly make excellant shooters....

Back to the Mosin Nagants the Finns actually re-barreled one particular model which escapes me right now, but it was actually used until sometime in the 70's as one of the SNIPING rifles...They can be rebarreled but it is a lot of trouble because you will need to re-work the bolt face if you go away from the original cartridge.

I have seen more then one sporterized Mosin 1944's with their shorter barrel by a simple synthetic stock and an ATI? bolt handle conversion kit so a scope can be sued, but the short barrels rifles some kick to them...A 91/30 could be done the same way...Shorten the barrel to around 24' re-crown, bed, trigger job which is very simple to do, and remove the upper handguard and shorten the stock forearm...CHEAP and effective...you will end up with their version of a 30-06 more or less...

 

[2506]

Some of the older Finn rifles like M-28's did have .308 bores but every 91 Finn and 39 Finn I have ever seen have bores that need .311 bullets. I have a 'B' barrel 39 Finn that was un-issued and man it is a shooter. For target work I shoot the .311 Sierra MK over 50 grs AA 4350 with a CCI 200 primer OAL 3.000 and use a Lee Factory Crimp Die on it.

Yes you could re-barrel a M/N with a barrel that will handle .308 diameter bullets. The only difference in the 54R and the 53R is 1 mm of neck length. You can shoot 53R cases interchangeable with 54R cases in the same rifle. The only reason that the Finns have the 53R is because they can't own a rifle in military calibers. So to be politically correct they just cut 1 mm off the neck of a 54R case and called it a 53R and that is not a military caliber so they can own it. Sounds like Washington politicians doesn't it?