Many of us had once gotten started with affordable military surplus firearms, a time which unfortunately seems to have come and gone. One of the last holdouts for incredibly affordable milsurp firearms had been the Mosin Nagant family of bolt action rifles. Prices these days are edging closer to the $500 mark but around twenty years ago I, like many others before me, had made the new gun owner pilgrimage to Fleet Farm to pick up a shiny new M44 Mosin and an imported spam can of 440 rounds for the steep price of $135. Let’s talk Mosins, specifically the stubby barreled ones.
The Mosin series takes third place for the world’s most mass produced military rifle at 37 million units, only beaten (by huge margins) by the Mauser 98 and the AK pattern rifles. It first came about back in 1891 with Mosins still seeing use on some battlefields. Appropriately, it (primarily) chambers the 7.62x54R which also rolled out in 1891 and is both one of the oldest military cartridges still in service and one of the only rimmed cartridges still in service. The .303 British takes this award.
Naturally there is quite a lot of history behind these rifles and it’s worth looking into if that’s your jam but I need to try and stay focused here. Shortening the barrel on a Mosin Nagant wasn’t a completely new idea as the original M1891 had been trimmed down somewhat once before with the M91/30. There had also been an earlier attempt at a 20″ barreled Mosin called the M1907 which, after about 344,000 examples made between 1907 and 1914, was abandoned for being too loud, too flashy, and having too much recoil.
In 1939 they went and brought it back. Go figure! At the request of support roles such as artillery, signalers, and cavalry, the 20″ barreled shorty made a comeback as the M38 Carbine. It wasn’t an exact copy of the M1907 but the M38 saw production numbers around 4.9 million units between 1939 and 1945. It would seem these shorter rifles were far better received the second time around!
Back during this part of history the Soviets were all about their bayonets. It was so important to them that every rifle which had a bayonet was zeroed with the bayonet installed and/or extended. The M38 was a little different, in keeping with the lightweight portability and that it wasn’t issued to front line troops; it was specifically made to not accept bayonets at all. This is particularly amusing because the only real difference between an M38 and an M44 is the M44 having a permanently affixed bayonet. As it turns out the M38 was such an effective variant for urban combat compared to the downright massive full sized Nagants it was decided to lean more on the shorter rifles, muzzle flash be damned.
And so came about the M44, an upgraded M38 for what was then considered to be modern combat. The M44 officially got started in 1943 with fifty thousand test carbines before production jumped through the roof with the bulk of them (approximately seven million) made just between 1944 and ’45. Compared to the M38’s svelte 7.5 pound weight the M44 was beefed up to 9 pounds thanks to the bayonet, though as I’ve personally discovered this isn’t such a bad thing.
The M44’s official production only lasted from 1943 to 1948 but approximately 7.7 million had been produced in total, nearly all originating from the Izhevsk plant while only 100,000 rolled out of Tula. Collectors take note.
One other note about the M38 worth mentioning is how the production spiked between 1942 and again in 1943. These war time examples tend to stand out as some cost and time saving measures had been employed. You can expect to find roughly finished receivers and the metal bands (called “escutcheons”) for the sling loops to be missing from a lot of these carbines for instance, though as far as I’m aware they still shoot the same. Still, comparing a rough 1943 made M38 to the beautiful polished and blued receiver of my 1948 made M44, these rougher examples do leave a bit to be desired.
Now, some discussion on the caliber. 7.62x54R, not to be confused with the 7.62 Soviet/Russian which is the 7.62×39, the “R” in the x54 doesn’t stand for “Russian.” Amusingly I’ve come across somewhat recent factory made ammo marked “7.62×54 Russ.” The R actually stands for “Rimmed” which anyone who’s ever handled a .22 is familiar with. In ye olde times rimmed cartridges had some uses, both in being easier to manufacture and easier to make guns for with regards to extraction. As we’ve moved toward higher capacities and faster actions these rimmed cartridges have proven to be a significant hassle even if the round itself is still solid. Add in a tapered case and you end up with a pretty finicky round to feed. Rim-lock is a definite concern and is probably why more modern firearms like the SVD marksman rifles only hold ten rounds in a magazine. Putting as few as five rounds through a stripper clip is nowhere near as pleasant as running ten rounds of 7.62×39 into an SKS through a well made clip.
Back to the carbines and this rimmed cartridge, a far younger me had quickly learned the Mosin Slap years before discovering the joys of the HK Slap. Trying to crank the bolt down on a Mosin, the part which happens to push the extractor onto the cartridge rim, can be so incredibly stiff that my habit for chambering a round is to open palm slap the bolt knob to get it fully into battery. Whether you like or hate a Mosin Nagant, these rifles will outlive the end of days. It’s like wrestling with a mule sometimes, as you certainly feel like you’ve been kicked by one whenever you pull the trigger on a shorty.
Speaking of, that part about the M44’s added weight being beneficial? The M38 is a handy, well balanced rifle and such a joy to carry around that every time you shoot it you’re in for a ride. My dominant hand kept getting shoved back into my shooting glasses, it was not a great day. But, add a pound and a half of solid steel at the muzzle end and you will be delighted to find how much it helps tame the recoil and muzzle climb. It’s like magic! The M44 is a heavier, bulkier, meaner looking carbine all around, but for putting rounds down the pipe I will take the M44 over the M38 any day. I just hope I won’t have to carry it through the woods.
Mechanically the two felt identical. Same “slap dat bolt” reload, same heavy mushy trigger. (How heavy is the trigger pull? “Yes.”) Same barrel lengths, so same massive fireball and window-rattling booms whenever shot. Short barreled AR-15’s have nothing on the bark and bite of a 20″ barreled Mosin! While the M38 was certainly easier to swing onto target and keep steady, the recoil was like getting into a car accident. By comparison the M44 felt more like I was rolling with it, I suppose more akin to being battered by a tall wave in a small boat.
Despite the number of these carbines made and imported they’re becoming harder to find, particularly between all of the surplus corrosive ammo which many of them had been sold alongside and the frequency with which they had been modified or sporterized because their price of entry used to be so low. In my opinion a rifle like a Mosin should be kept as close to its original configuration as possible, or at least not permanently altered. The joy of ownership is having a piece of history and keeping it looking nice. Besides, consider how easy it is these days to get a modern $400 rifle like a Ruger American for hunting or modding purposes.
If you’re thinking of getting a Mosin, get it for being a Mosin and be very mindful of any corrosive ammo. Also consider one sooner than later as no surplus lasts forever, unlike a properly cared for Mosin Nagant.
