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I agree with montea6b about the brass being nothing but a container. I looked it up in my reloading book and that's exactly what my LEE book says. In fact the LEE book goes as far to say that if you threw a couple cartridges in a fire they would simply burn a hole in the side of the brass and most probably the bullets would still be in the brass (given you crimped them). Of course you would never want to try it due to safety concerns. The only reason I thought 30/30 is because it is everywhere, cheap to reload, and it is a rimmed rifle cartridge like the 7.62x54r so I figured that would be a lot easier to switch to than say a 30-06 (and the fact that you can change a Mosin to 30-06 is new info to me, I didn't even know that was possible). I kinda think the venerable 30/30 doesn't get enough credit it deserves. If you think about it 90% of shooting is done well within 200 to 300 yards... especially if you hunt in woods. And that's one of the big reasons why the US military switched from 30-06 to 223 (aka 5.56x45mm). Heck the little 223 that everyone seems to love has less power then the 30/30... neck a 30/30 from .308 down to 5.56mm and I bet you would get better performance than the 223 for long range. Just my .02 not that it means much.

I never thought about the proper fps needed to allow for good bullet expansion. I mainly target shoot so I don't think much about it. Thank you for bringing that out. I'm sure you could load light 7.62x54r rounds, or probably better yet would be to neck down to 7mm or 6.5mm... That would be a lot easier, more fun, and you would get much better range then a 30/30. On the same note, just to know if you could do it or not is pretty cool. If someone did it, that would be a VERY unique 30/30.

At least I now know I had a halfway decent idea. I just wanted to know if it was possible or not. Thanks for the tip about the Mosin barrel. I'll have to look into that later. I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still taking it apart and cleaning the cosmoline off mine.

I got a mosin nagant that I'm fixing up (my first project) and while I was working on it I got to thinking (dangerous I know). Could a mosin nagant 7.62x54r be re-chambered into 30/30? Now before you yell at me for being a stupid noob hear me out first... First we get the obvious out of the way: the barrel would have to be replaced which would take some serious skill at machining because (as far as I know) no one yet makes barrel blanks for Mosins much less chambered in 30/30. Next we solve the feeding issue: since the Mosin has an inline magazine I think this would be fairly easy to overcome; one would simply place couple of tabs at the top so the smaller 30/30 rounds would stay in place and the bolt would push the cartridge past the tabs thusly releasing it for chambering. Finally we have to replace the front of the bolt; Granted this would take some more serious skill at machining but if you replaced the front piece with another that is exactly the same specifications accept for the bolt face. You would need to make it smaller to fit a 30/30 round (maybe down to .508 from the current .573?) and you would probably need to replace the current extractor with one that has a longer reach (perhaps from the current .100 to .165 or .168?). Then (I would guess) you would probably need to heat treat it. I'm just theorizing so if I'm way off please forgive me, I still have a ton yet to learn and I've barely got started in this hobby. But if this is possible, this would make one heck of an awesome deer and varmint rifle. Granted a 30/30 doesn't have the punch a 7.62x54r has but if you think about it you don't really need it. Most shots are within 100 to 200 meters or less and a good 30/30 round (with the right bullet of course) you can get up to 400 meters. Also since the 30/30 has less recoil it would be easy to make follow up shots. So what do you experts think? Do you think this is possible? And thanks for entertaining my thoughts.

Hey 8uck, did you check with the local lumber mill here in Frankfort? I have a friend that works there and he tells me they always have some "scrap" pieces they are willing to part with on the cheap and free. I was going to ask him about it anyway when I got my carving tools. If anything I know he has some stuff that would make great practice pieces. I don't know if they have anything considered exotic but I'll check with him and let you know.

Thank you for all your tips. If you noticed I ended up trading the pistol for a Rem 700 30-06, however I still have the .22 rifle (I'm not getting rid of it). I ordered a Mosin and I'm going to practice on it before I start ripping open my grandfather's .22 rifle. I would rather screw up a rifle I don't care about. :-) Depending on how bad the mosin ends up looking I may just go ahead and spend the money to let a pro gunsmith do the work. Thanks again.

If you think those video's are cool you need to take a look at what these guys did to their Mosin Nagant Rifles: http://therealgunguys.com/blog/2009/06/04/todays-gun-pron/ http://cbrps.com/Products.html Crazy huh?

Thank you for sharing! I'm actually working on getting my first project together so all the info you provided in your build project I found very helpful. You guys did an awesome job on that rifle. I can hardly believe that is a Mosin 50+ years old; it looks better then most brand new rifles. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Mauser pics.

That rifle looks really sweet. I have a thought for your muzzle flash attachment. I don't know if this is even possible or not, but... could you flash out the end of the muzzle to make it fit? You would obviously have to re-crown but the flash suppressor sure wouldn't move when you were done.

I have a couple of my grandfathers guns, a .357 mag pistol (S&W 19-3) and a .22 semi auto rifle (Remington 550-? I think it's a -1, can't remember exactly). Both of these guns are awesome shooters, but both are in pretty bad shape. Bluing is coming off, some pitting, some rust, etc. My grandfather unfortunately never took care of them, I guess he just never felt like he had to. Anyway, I'm asking for direction because I want to do this right. So here are a few questions and I'll probably ask more later. Do you know where I can get or can you give me complete disassemble and reassemble guides for these? What is the best way for me to remove the old bluing, remove all rust, and remove all dirt/fouling from these? (please keep in mind I don't have a shop, only my kitchen table to work on) What is the best way for me to reblue them? I think the work that I'm most nervous about is the reassembling and removing the rust. Thanks for your help. --Riv

That is sweet man. I can hardly wait to see what all you can do with that thing.

WOW!!! I'm really blown away with what you guys can do with these old rifles. Very impressive to say the least. I'm really itching to get started with my project.

I checked the Charles Daly site, didn't see anything on there. I guess they no longer make them. Thanks for all the suggestions, now I know what to look for at my next gun show.

I ordered my C&R FFL papers from BATF... still waiting to get them. Once I do I can order stuff online. Until that happens, I'll check some of the stores around. So far the only place in town I have found to carry C&R stuff is the place I mentioned earlier that I found the Nagants and Mauser. One last question, can you recommend any good home hobby gun smith books? Thanks for all the tips guys. I really appreciate the help.

The guy at the gun shop did have a Swedish Mauser 6.5x55 for $375. It's in really good shape, perhaps I should grab it instead. Hopefully he will still have it when I have the $$$.

Nice job. Were did you get your parts from?

Thanks for all the great info. I appreciate it. I'm a big guy so the stock on the Nagant is to small for me, that is actually the first thing I noticed when I picked it up and would want to change. I figured I could probably fit a cushioned plate on the butt at first, then later put a better stock on it. roscoedoh you said; "Mosins make good hunting and plinking rifles, but compared to big Enfields, SMLEs, and Mausers, you're quite limited with what you can do." Would you still suggest I start with a Nagant as my first project rifle, or should I get a Mauser/Enfield/SMLE? (don't know exactly what a SMLE is) Basically what I'm wanting to do with my first project is learn, and hopefully have a nice and very accurate rifle when I'm done. I'm planing on working on the stock and/or replacing it, add scope, pillar/glass bed it (attempt at making it as accurate as possible), mess with trigger pull, add a bipod, and anything else I can do to it that I come up with later down the road. I'm also new to reloading so I want something I can easily reload, learn, and experiment with.

8uck5nort has been telling me for a while that I need to get a Mosin Nagant for my first sporterizing job. Before today I never seen one accept for online. I found that the actions as well as the barrels were in excellent condition, needless to say they really impressed me. And you can't beat the price tag. This leads me to a couple questions for you experts. Are you restricted to the 7.62x54R or can you change it to .30-06/.308/7.92x57/.270/etc like you can a Mauser action? And should I even think about this? What model/type of Nagant should I look at getting? When picking one out what defects should I be watchful of, and how to check for it? Any other thoughts you have about Nagants? Mainly what I looking to get out of this is an excellent learning gun that is a fun shooter and accurate when I'm done. As a side question, what is the real difference between the Russian 7.62x54R and the 7.62x51 nato that is used in current US sniper rifles? Thanks for your help. I'm already looking forward to getting it done and posting pictures. :-)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a savage or Rem 700. In the mean time I'll grab something else, at least I can learn from it and have some fun.

I'm wanting to get into hobby gun smithing (read: "I'm a noob please help"), however I'm running into a very annoying problem. I can't find anything that is inexpensive for a south paw like me. I've shot a lot of right handed guns and I don't have a problem doing this but I would like to find an inexpensive lefty bolt action that I can fix up and have some learning fun with. I know I could always buy a right handed gun and be done with it, but I would prefer a lefty. Mostly because I never had one, also because I don't have $700 - $1,200 to slam down on a brand new lefty Rem 700 or [place brand name here] rifle. Besides whats the point in buying a brand new rifle, no fun in that. Any suggestions on what to get and where? Thanks.