91/38 Nagant?

[dearborndevil]

Does anyone here have experience with the 91/38 Nagant?

I just picked one up at Dunham's. I was looking for a hex reciever 91/30. They were out of stock. There was however, a sale on the 91/59 Nagants. I've seen these before, and it's basically a cut down 91/30, with the rear sight graduations past 1000 meters milled off. Nice rifles, actually. My brother in law has been looking for a Nagant carbine, after trying my M44. So I asked to see the 91/59.

That's when I noticed, this was an odd bird indeed. It had an M44 rear sight and stock-but a hex reciever. So I snapped it up. After getting it home, and looking some things up, I figured out that what I have is a 91/38. These were old WW1 Imperial marked 91 Nagants, that were trimmed to carbine length by the Czechs, and had M44 sights and stocks installed-minus the bayonet.

BTW-Century Arms had indeed marked it, and sold it to Dunham's as a 91/59.

Anyhow, input from a fellow 91/38 owner would be appreciated.

[Guy Fawkes]

I don't own one, but check out this web site, very informative on all things mosin-nagant.

http://www.7.62x54r.net/

Check out this site at the bottom for 91/38 rifles.

http://www.7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinID.htm#3/4carbine

[Plain Old Bill]

I have one, dearborn...nice little carbine, very accurate. Try shooting it at dusk - the fireball is awesome.

[wizzegun]

Sounds like you got lucky. Those are the best kind of finds.

[weaselchew]

Cool find, I haven't seen anything other than M91/30s and M44s at the local Dunhams here. The most "unusual" Mosin find I've come across at a Dunhams was an ex-sniper 91/30. As it sounds, you have already read up on it... the 91/38 is basically the "original 91/59" and was done using M91s rather than M91/30s for the 91/59s. It doesn't suprise me at all that Century would mistake a 91/38 for a 91/59 - especially considering some of the more glaring misidentifications they've done from time to time.

Which arsenal is it from and what year? I'd like to find a Sestroryetsk 91 or 91/38 some time (or both! )

[dearborndevil]

This one is a 1915 Tula. It needs cleaned up BAD! There is a lot of mild pitting on the barrel markings, and rust scales on the barrel. But, other than covered with years of grime, the reciever and bolt look good. The bore also looks like it has been carried more than shot. The stock has seen some HARD drills. There is a crack all the way thru the butt, starting from the butt plate screw hole. Threre is also a large chip missing from the wood, near the bottom of the butt plate. That said, this is probably the nicest fitted, and most ergonomic Mosin stock I've ever handled.

My plans for now, are some very careful use of 0000 steel wool, and degreaser. I initally planned to just buy another M44 stock. But after feeling just how comfortable the old stock is, I plan to repair the crack properly. I'm debating the use of hide glue or HotShot. Some East Bloc field armorer did a crude job with wood glue and screws. I also want to make an arsenal style repair to the chip at the bottom of the stock, by replacing part of the wood.

But hey-what do you expect from a hex reciever Mosin for $119?

I've yet to shoot it. But this rifle has the nicest trigger and handling qualities of any Mosin I've owned. It's well balanced too.

And I don't doubt the fireball. My M44 is ungodly! lol

[bigdog02]

Buttplate screw hole crack - if that crack is a straight line and runs horizontal along the stock, then it is supposed to be there - a toe repair. To save money and scrap wood, the russians would just splice on a bottom part to the stock instead of cutting the entire stock from 1 piece of wood.

[dearborndevil]

Buttplate screw hole crack - if that crack is a straight line and runs horizontal along the stock, then it is supposed to be there - a toe repair. To save money and scrap wood, the russians would just splice on a bottom part to the stock instead of cutting the entire stock from 1 piece of wood.

That's the repair I want to make. The crack that is currently there, is along the grain of the wood, and was crudely glued/screwed together in the field. It split along the grain, after someone tried an oversized butt plate screw, and/or striking the butt on the gound through repeated drills.

I want to do an arsenal style toe repair, to keep the stock looking as it should, while fixing the old damage.

[dearborndevil]

OK-so I cleaned all the crud off of said rifle. After trying to cycle rounds through the action, I noticed a persistent problem. Every 3rd round fails to catch under the extractor, and the 4th hangs up in the magazine.

I'm going to take apart the magazine, and go over the insides, using a brass brush soaked in oil. Also, I know this rifle has the original style interrupter device. My M44, which has the newer style interrupter feeds flawlessly.

Are there any known quirks to the original design?

[dearborndevil]

D'uh! Give me a dunce cap, and sit me in the corner. Once I cleaned to cosmoline out of the magazine, it worked perfectly.