My first Mosin: 1943 Izhevsk 91/30

[carls mosin]

that is a beauty, have fun with it.

[gbeecher65]

Very nice, especially with the wartime stock, a little rarer find! Although, I admit I do like my '33 Tula refurb because the stock is new and shiny..You'll enjoy shooting it, they are a blast to shoot and always fun. The history of these rifles are amazing, along with the huge numbers produced. Happy shooting!

[audadvnc]

Did this rifle off a number of Nazis? What would the original owner think of his trusty battle rifle, one day ending up in the hands of a white-bread suburbanite Texan...

Who knows if this rifle felled any Germans. It's at least as likely that the first soldier issued this weapon died with it in his hands before he ever got a shot off.

The Downside of History is it sometimes lands on you...

[nicholjm]

Well, it's been four months, but I finally got to the range to shoot my '43 91/30 for the first time. I have a 8 year old and a 11 month old (girls), so getting to the range by myself is hard. I showed up with my 91/30, a box of about 250 rounds of surplus russian ammo from a spam can, my spotting scope, and a lot of anxiety (in a good way). The only slots left on the range were the 100 yarders, and I've never shot anything that far with iron sights before, especially an unproven-who-knows-where-the-sights-are gun, but I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a try. The first shot didn't even hit the paper, but most importantly, the gun fired just like it was supposed to! No explosion or other unfavorable actions, just BANG! Holy moly, this gun is a beast! The metal buttplate feels so good (more on that later)! The trigger is as rough as the latch on the door to Castle Grayskull! It took me a little while to figure out how to get the shots on target. At first I thought it was hitting high, or right, and sometimes I had no idea at all where that round went, but then I realized it was just me, and my "new-ness" to the 100 yard distance. I finally figured out how to squeeze the trigger steady, and hold accurately, and darned if the rifle was pretty dang sighted in from the start! I was able to start consistently getting hits in the target, which was about a 10" diameter stick-on bullseye, at 100 yards. Not bad, I say! After about 40-50 rounds, my shoulder announced that it was done, and wanted to go home. That metal buttplate is NO JOKE! It felt like I was shooting slugs from a 12 gauge! I had a proud bruise to show off the non-understanding wife (yes I know to pull in hard to the shoulder, but it didn't matter!). I will be looking for a rubber butt-pad (any suggestions, anyone?) After shooting, while the barrel was still hot, I poured some water down the barrel from the breech end, then sprayed some Ballistol in too. Hopefully that was good enough for the corrosive ammo. I gave the whole gun a good cleaning and oiling when I got home, cause who knows when I get to shoot it again. It was a LOT of fun to shoot this thing.

[WeldonHunter]

Sounds like you had fun. Yeah these rifles can be beasts. My shooting buddy and fellow forum member Fred_G uses a Limbsaver and swears by it. I've never used one because I've got a lot of meat on my shoulder so I can't tell you which one to get. Walmart sells them and I think there's a few different ones. http://www.walmart.com/ip/LimbSaver-10545/19342432 One word of warning about these. DO NOT leave it on the firearm when you put it back away for storage. Not even for short periods. They can discolor the finish on the stock. Remove it when you're done shooting and you're fine.

[bunkysdad]

Yep, the Walmart Limbsaver is just fine, and I can vouch for that great suggestion to remove it when storing away your rifle. It kind of adheres to the shellac just enough to cause it to leave some marks. Hey my niece lives in Houston, but she is still a Cowboy fan first. I live in the Dallas area myself. Your cleaning method sounds good.

[jones0430]

Rather than put something on the rifle, I went the other route. I use a shooters recoil pad.

Shooting Pad

With this I can shoot multiple rifles without needing different recoil pads to put on the buttstock.