91 Mosin Nagant wildcat rebarrel.

Mecanik · Jun 22, 2012

Has anyone ever been successful in re barreling a Mosin Nagant to ANYTHING. The thing just seems to scream at you with those rotted out barrels to be converted to something. I've racket my brain to come up with something and the only thing I can think of is boring out the barrel to say .35 caliber and wildcatting the thing to .35x54R. Maybe it's been done.

DieselScout · Jun 22, 2012

Mecanik said:
Has anyone ever been successful in re barreling a Mosin Nagant to ANYTHING. The thing just seems to scream at you with those rotted out barrels to be converted to something. I've racket my brain to come up with something and the only thing I can think of is boring out the barrel to say .35 caliber and wildcatting the thing to .35x54R. Maybe it's been done.

The barrel is the least of your problems. The bolt face is very large to deal with the rimmed caliber, too large for most popular main line and wildcat cartridges. So you have to have someone weld and machine it and move the extractor. Other rimmed cartridges may share the same bolt face but if I was going through all the trouble of rebarreling the gun I wouldn't be using the mostly antiquated rimmed calibers. Just my opinion.

EDIT: Upon re reading your post, I think what i typed isnpointless as you are suggesting necking up the 7.62x54R, so bolt face diameter is a moot point.....so disregard.

motoman98 · Jun 22, 2012

sounds like a winner: the 9.09x54r

Mecanik · Jun 23, 2012

Possibly bore out and sleeve the barrel to something. Change out the head of the bolt or re invent the extractor in some way to use something else. Hmmmmmm

motoman98 · Jun 24, 2012

AHH, there is a guy down the valley and He is an accomplished rebore person: Jesse Ocumpaugh
Check him out, he does good work. Home - Reboring by J E S

Jamie6.5 · Jun 24, 2012

The Aussies have a favorite small game/varmint caliber based on the .303 Brit.
It is the .25-.303.
Ballistics are very close to the .25-06, and many sporterized Enfields are in use today because of it.

Considering that a barrel blank can be cut/threaded to any shank necessary, I see no reason why a whole new family of cartridges couldn't be developed based on the .54R case, as long as there's plenty of reloadable brass available.
Generally, the American gun buying public doesn't favor rimmed cases. Which is kind of a shame when one considers how many fine weapons and cartridges could be built using the various bolt actions originally built for them.

revjen45 · Jun 24, 2012

This sounds like something a gunsmithing student would do as a project in the last semester. It's not like there aren't LOTS of calibers available to achieve the same real world results, or actions more amenable to conversion. The M-N is a great collector for those who can't afford to collect more expensive things (my hand goes up here) or a great beater/practice rifle with ammo available @ reasonable prices (my hand goes up again). This sounds as practical as dressing up an SKS with lots of tacti-kewl rails and accessories. Please don't take this as a flame, just an observation.

Mecanik · Jun 24, 2012

Jamie6.5 said:
The Aussies have a favorite small game/varmint caliber based on the .303 Brit.
It is the .25-.303.
Ballistics are very close to the .25-06, and many sporterized Enfields are in use today because of it.

Considering that a barrel blank can be cut/threaded to any shank necessary, I see no reason why a whole new family of cartridges couldn't be developed based on the .54R case, as long as there's plenty of reloadable brass available.
Generally, the American gun buying public doesn't favor rimmed cases. Which is kind of a shame when one considers how many fine weapons and cartridges could be built using the various bolt actions originally built for them.

I agree, there's plenty of reloadable brass around and lots of military brass around that could easily be sized up to .35 caliber and the bullet replaced. ALso It does appear the the fellow mention in the previous post does list the .35 russian as a calliber he makes. I really wanted this to be a home project using an existing barrel and just rethreading it to fit the action. Being a machinist most of my life I would like to attempt it.

Jamie6.5 · Jun 26, 2012

Mecanik said:
I agree, there's plenty of reloadable brass around and lots of military brass around that could easily be sized up to .35 caliber and the bullet replaced. ALso It does appear the the fellow mention in the previous post does list the .35 russian as a calliber he makes. I really wanted this to be a home project using an existing barrel and just rethreading it to fit the action. Being a machinist most of my life I would like to attempt it.

Go for it!
Just keep us updated on your progress, and follow up with the results.
That way, I can use your help to work up a .338-54R Mosin!

Now to find a Finnish donor,......

Mecanik · Jun 26, 2012

"Now to find a Finnish donor,......"

But make sure it's got a rotted out bore to start with. No sense ruining a perfectly good mosin. There's lots of rotties out there at the gun shows.