Refinishing my M44 Mosin Nagant

[sirsloop 1]

I'm fortunate to not have any retarded gun hating democrats living next door.

[sirsloop 1]

Wouldn't care what they thought anyways

[Ray Ray 3,566]

I'm fortunate to not have any retarded gun hating democrats living next door.

 

I do!

 

Wouldn't care what they thought anyways

 

and neither do I!

[sirsloop 1]

So the staining and poly are complete. The color came out pretty close to as I envisioned it. I kinda wish it was a touch darker, but the wood grain really does pop now. I'm glad I went glossy on the poly as well.

 

 

I did the bedding job today with JB-Quik. In the box o truth article #75 he mentioned using JB Weld, but JB-Quik dries twice as fast so that's the hot setup! I just smeared turtle wax all over the damn place, laid down the JB, and put it all together. After like 3.5hrs it popped right apart. I had to use a brass punch on the bottom side to get it apart, but it was simple. I trimmed back the JB a little bit and started cleaning up. There was a little JB that stuck on the barrel, but it was easily removed with my fingernail. The JB was not completely cured yet so it was easy to remove with my nail or a brass brush. Looks like a successful job!

 

 

Here's a pic of the trigger job with the washer under the main spring, and the slack spring installed on the trigger pin. I CANT WAIT to get to the range with this thing Wed afternoon and shoot it. Between it looking great, bedding, corking, and adjusting the sights... it should be a blast to shoot!

 

 

I also have another little surprise for this thing. It looks so pretty now, I decided to pick up a set of front and rear mojo sights for it. My biggest gripe with this rifle is the crude sights so now I'll have some peepers!! Those should be in sometime this week-ish... maybe I'll be able to bring it up to bullethole next tuesday to shoot it up!

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OoOoOoOOOoooo... all put back together!! Here's a good way to get the bands back on without marring up that new fancy finish.

 

 

I cut up a upper intake gasket for the cork... even came with a self adhesive on it. I used a razor to halve the thickness.

 

 

One last paper check on the barrel... good to go!

 

 

Used a white crayon to bring out the receiver markings. We'll see how this lasts.

 

 

Notice how well matched the hand guard and the stock wood looks now. Much much improvement!

 

 

Here she is!

 

 

My mug... lol

 

 

More pics should be up tomorrow after the range visit... and I'll post up about the Mojo Sights..

 

before.

[autoxnyc 4]

:clap: Nice work. That's a beautiful M44.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Looks good papi, better see her next week!

[Caine 147]

I have to say.. I'm not a big fan of Mosins, but this one turned out really nice. Very impressive!

[sirsloop 1]

Well I took it to the range yesterday and shot a couple hundred rounds. Its seems to be shooting even more to the left than before. I think its relatively consistent, but its like over 12" left at 100 yards. It was a little windy but I think it was more of a tailwind than cross. I was going to screw with the front sights, but I figured I would just adjust my POA, putting the target on the left rear sight notch and shooting. I can't wait to get the mojo sights in now so I can dial the thing in on paper.

 

 

 

[usnmars 136]

Looks sweet Sloop! When bedding, I do the same process as the box-o-truth, but prefer to use gear oil as a release agent. I have had some hairy moments trying to seperate the stock from the receiver using turtle wax. Once I switched to gear oil, not a single problem. We gotta get a board shoot for mosin madness going one day.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

We gotta get a board shoot for mosin madness going one day.

 

Yes we do, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of empty spam cans laying around!

[Krdshrk 3,877]

I have 2 spam cans sitting on my floor at home

[Ray Ray 3,566]

I have 2 spam cans sitting on my floor at home

 

2 for you and how many for me?

[Regulator72 80]

Looks good my friend.. I'm going to bed/cork the barrel on mine as well.. do you think this is what is causing your rounds to make a left hand turn?

[sirsloop 1]

not sure... it was shooting to the left before tho...

[usnmars 136]

I would normally say that m44's were sighted in with the bayo extended. But in the pics you have it extended. I guess just need to adjust, maybe the front sight got bumped when it was in the crate.

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There was a line scribed in on the front sight indicating it was sighted in. I bumped it to the right to help bring shots to the left. I'm just gonna wait for the mojos and then I can dial it in for windage.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

There was a line scribed in on the front sight indicating it was sighted in. I bumped it to the right to help bring shots to the left. I'm just gonna wait for the mojos and then I can dial it in for windage.

 

Keep us posted on the accuracy. I'm curious.

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so the mojo sights came in... the front sight went on no problem with a little filing and ooomph. The rear sight... OMFG... how the F do you get this thing off? Ya ya...the pin is supposed to come out but IT AINT COMIN OUT

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my god that was a PITFA. I thought the front sight was going to be hard. Heck I had that replaced in about 10 minutes. Getting the rear sight apart... OMFG. Good thing this is only a $150 gun cause I was pounding on it like CRAZY. I eventually gave up breaking punches, pieces of old drill bits, nails, and anything else I could find. I busted out the good drill bits and drilled the damn thing out. Kinda pissed cause its not perfectly installed, but it'll have to be good enough. It does have a little play in it, but I don't think it'll matter unless its banged around.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

You had problems taking the rear sight out? I had to replace the rear leaf sight pin - popped right in with a hammer and a punch.

[sirsloop 1]

Ok, so the stock sights have been changed out and the Mojo double aperture sights put in. Like already mentioned it was a PITFA getting that rear pin out. Seems like a lot of guys have the same problem as they have been in the guns for year and years. Here's some close ups.

 

 

 

I got the extra aperture pack and put the smallest aperture in the front. That seems a touch too small and I'm probably going to switch it out for the middle size. Another sight option that I think would work well is the small/medium sight on the rear with the stock front pin. It may be better if the front pin was filed down to a point though so its a touch narrower at the tip for accuracy.

 

At the minimum rear sight setting the thing shoots like 1" high at 100 yards at the min setting. Windage is dialed in nicely now. Its not a crazy pattern but first time out I put like a 4" pattern with it. I could probably reduce that a little bit with the medium front sight aperture so I can better center the bullseye. I forgot them so next time.

 

First shot at 200 yards produced a nice DINGGGG on the steel. Dead center! WOOT! Repeated a nice DING on the 2nd shot, which was reassuring! I then started missing a lot in wierd ways which confused me. I would hit, then the next shot would seem like a richochet way off on the birm, hit, then one low behind the target, then off to the side, side, high birm, hit, etc. Really wacky considering I'm a fairly steady shot and I was using a bench rest with rear bag. I figured the sights were shooting just a touch low.

 

After the first session I moved up the rear sights slightly and started to miss behind the target consistently. I couldn't figure out how moving up the sights made me miss low cause I was hitting before! After the 2nd session I saw the marks out on the ground and took a better look at the sights. When I went out to 200 the first session, I "adjusted up the sights", but they actually didn't move at all. The elevation doesn't actually change on them until the 2nd dot around! When I started shooting the 2nd session I just barely moved them up, so the rifle was still low at 200. All the bullets from the 1st session were bouncing off the dirt and into the steel at 200 yards. Most of the 2nd session bullets were impacting the ground at 200 and making dirt clouds behind the target.

 

3rd session dialed up the rear sight I started hitting real well. I knocked pretty much all of the paint off the bottom of the target. IDK how many times I hit but it was like 4/5 shots or more hit! I walked out and repainted the target pretty confident in the aim. I was shooting on 2... while waiting for cease fire to end the range guy came out and was like... thats a Mosin Nagant right??? I'm like... ya a M44. He's says "damn, nice setup... you're knocking the sh*t outta that steel!"

 

In the last session I only shot a few times at the plate so I could better see where I was at. Ya ya I need a scope. As you can see I'm still a touch low at 200 but its still quite nicely on the plate! ding ding ding... the M44 is shootin quite nicely nowwww!!

 

[jermz1987 243]

Very nice. Cant wait to see the next one.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

Where did you buy those peep sights?

[sirsloop 1]

heh heh... peppered it some more... and shot the damn rebar in half!! Notice I had a direct hit on the bolt head! I used grade 8 bolts on it for extra survivability! It put a decent crater in the head tho! My first 10 shots cold bore were hits. After a few minutes of shooting the wind REALLY picked up and it was pushing the bullets high right. I had to chase the sights around a little bit and aim to the left hand side to get it back on target...

 

 

 

sights are from http://www.mojosights.com

[Maksim 1,504]

if it was shooting to the side... I was going to say it is hte damn benches at Dix. =)

[Radek 73]

You should have gone with a lighter stain ... nice golden!

[sirsloop 1]

Lol... how can you blame a bench?! There are a ton of people who have made their MN's blonde/golden. I think it obscures the wood and looks rather bland. The dark stain extenuates the wood and looks awesome! I was also able to match the hand guard color to the rest of the gun...

[vjf915 456]

Dude I LOVE how your stain came out. I just picked up my first Mosin Nagant a couple days ago, and cant wait to dig into it like you did. I definitely plan on bedding the stock, and now that I read it....corking the barrel. I may refinish the wood later down the line, I don't think I will just yet though....my finish is in good condition actually. And I plan on getting the return spring too. Your work is exactly what I planned on doing, and I'm glad I read how well yours turned out.

[sirsloop 1]

Have fun with it! It took me like a week worth of tinkering for 30 minutes here and there to redo the stock. Most of it is dry time. Def much nicer and you get the opportunity to tear the rifle apart and learn everything about it.