[muzzleblast]

Hey All

I agree with Jake on this one, the nagant is a decent rifle. The M44s are not all that old, not like a 91, or maybe like Jake said, an m-38...You'd probably have to take that bayonet off to scout/customize your rifle anyway. Don't worry about those tolerances, they should be just fine...Russian gear is simple, cheap, mass produced, and effective as all hell. Not to mention tough. A lot of people slam the nagant for having "minute of barn door" accuracy, but a lot of the time it just happens to be a beat up, went through a world war and Christ knows what else, shot with corrosive ammo for 70 years kinda gun they have experience with...If they do at all. Look at the tolerances in the AK...the lil bugger works. The nagant action is strong, the bolt feels a little strange at first, but it grows on you, and I don't think you will have to use a different round. 7.62X54 is just as good as .308 win for hunting if you have good ammo. Just make sure you have it checked for headspace...most nagant cleaning kits come with a handy little tool to check your firing pin protrusion too.

I have a 1939 91/30 thats a pretty faithful old gun, shoots 3.5 to 4 inch groups in my less than capable hands, and I like it. If you find a carbine in good shape with a nice bore, I don't see why it shouldn't shoot 2.5 inch groups after you scope it. Hey, you're pretty realistic in what you want to use it for, and thats cool. I don't know if its just here in Canada, but I've been seeing a lot of arsenal refinished nagants in excellent condition...pretty cheap since they were redone.

I say go for it!

 

[muzzleblast]

I have an Advanced Technologies stock on an SMLE, and its about what can be expected for the price. It has never had any functioning problems, and it was a perfect fit. On the other hand, some machining marks are visible on it, and the checkering is a little low budget. It it were painted, it would look pretty sharp. It is a tough stock though, and I like it. It didn't break the budget. They also make bipods, if you want one...Versa-pods and Harris bipods are better though.

For the LER scope I would turn to Leupold, but if Burris makes one, that would be a good budget choice, and Burris scopes are more than worth the lower price. Where are you planning on getting the mounts?

As for the headspace, you can check out Brownells, and look for a guage set. There are three, GO, NO GO, and FIELD. Basically it looks like a round, and it should chamber the GO, but not the other two. I think in the military a NO GO is acceptable, but needs work when possible, and FIELD stands for field reject...scrap. Its still a good idea to have a smith look it over though.

New in wrapper rifles should be good quality, but new in wrapper means a lot of different things to different vendors. Make sure you get a good look at the rifle, and that it comes from a reputable vendor.