Quote:
Originally Posted by BigFrank
Ok thanks for the info guys...Is the nasty recoil from the shortened carbine length?
If the Finnish models were the best what's the best gun as far as availability goes?
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Partially, and it's magnified by the 19th century ergonomics of the stock design. The 7.62x54 is a pretty stout round, roughly the equivalent of our 30-06.
I honestly don't know what's available these days in Nagants... it seemed like there was an endless supply of Russian WWII-era rifles from the surplus guys and at gun shows. These are pretty typical and might be the best bang for the buck. There were (and probably still are) tons of Chinese made carbines available; serviceable knock-around guns, but nothing to get excited about. I've had quite a few of these, but now own only two; a postwar era, Polish manufactured carbine, and a US manufactured rifle made by Westinghouse. These were contracted by the Russian Govt. during WWI. (One cool feature of the pre-Communist era rifles: the rear sight was graduated in "Arshins" rather than meters or feet, an Arshin being the length of the Czar's stride.) I'll buy another one if the right one (M39 manufactured in Finland by Sako) turns up for the right price. A great place to shop for these old surplus pieces is
Shotgun News.
Cheers,
G