Are any hunters in Europe using these? Do hunters in Europe use the 7.62x54R cartridge for anything?

They used to be the most common moose rifles in Finland from 1920's till late 60's. You can still see them in use by some old hands, but they aren't that popular anymore. They have also been converted to some Finnish special calibers like 8,2x53R and 9,3x53R with sportesized stocks and scope mounts etc.

I used to have the best of all, the M39. I had a scope mount put to it and also a Advanced Technology synthetic stock. I had it for a couple of years and shot a couple of black grouse with it, but then I sold it (to buy another rifle).

They have been quite useful and rugged weapons, but because of some characteristics, like the difficult safety system and problems with scope mounting, people have mostly got rid of them as soon as they have had the chance to get a better weapon, like our own Tikka or Sako. I believe it's much like the Lee-Enfield in countries that have used it. Some keep it and hunt with it forever, but most don't.

One person who favored Mosin-Nagant all his life was the famous sniper Simo Häyhä. I met him several times as a kid, since he was a friend of my grandfather. Simo had a "sporterized" Mosin-nagant rifle as his all-purpose hunting rifle after the WW2 until late 70's. I've been told that he was quite a marksman with it also

I have one that I have never hunted with but took as a joke to a military long rifle shoot in place of my Swedish Mauser. The gun is a tack driver, BUT

The trigger needs a tow strap to pull, the action feels like a bad gate latch, and the stock is the oddest design. Mine is a Remington that never made it to the C[T]zar. I even have a little of the 1916 production run of ammo from Remington. Let me tell youthis is a powerful round, and I am looking forward to shooting the 1895 Winchester I recently got in this caliber.

A side note is that some troops in Vietnam hated to find these cases because it sometimes meant they were up against a sniper.

I carried one in my police jeep for awhile. I liked it very much. Here where I worked before retirement we had a problem with black bears. The high numbers ment we were required to shoot several a year that had become addicted to garbage dumps. I shot 3 average size bears ( 150 to 250 lbs ) using Wolfe mil-surp ammo with the point filed down to the hollow point. I used one shot on each bear and it worked fine. Mine is very accurate out to 150 yrds or so. It made the perfect rough use rifle and the 7.62x54 round is nothing to sneeze at either...........JJ