Ive been eyeballing one of these chambered in 7.62X54R and wondering how feasible it would be to rebbl one for something like a 444 Marlin. Just an open sight proposition. I know the magazine would need to be altered, how complicated are they to rebarrel?

I think you should take your money and just buy a 444.I had a m44 and decided that,while I liked it ,it doesnt have any provision for handling escaping gas,and the metallurgy and machining may not be the best.you'll spend hundreds and still have a $100 rifle.Just my opinion.

You may be right about that. Ive also considered getting one and keeping all metal works as is and making a nice walnut stock for it in manlicher style just for shits and giggles. The 7.62X54R isnt a bad cartridge in its own right and theres a real good bullet selection available for it. Could turn out to be a real cool little rifle for not much more than a ben franklin.

I have a few Mosins, and have flirted with the same idea. My conclusion was to outfit the good ones with Mojo sights, and maybe a synthetic stock, and leave them as they are.



A $170 Finn from Wholesale Guns and Ammo makes a fine, but slightly heavy, hunting rifle, just as it is. If your eyes are over 45, the Mojo is a big help. Mine does 2" groups at 100 yards, with iron sights.



My M44 is a great little "back of the pickup seat" rifle... cheap, durable, and adequate. Mine does 4" groups at 100. the M38 is the same gun, but without the dang bayonet lug. You can get those for about the price you mentioned.



I do have a spare Finn....

The reason I sold mine was I wanted to start loading for it when i realized there wasnt any way for gas to escape in case of a case or primer rupture.I doubt this would be a problem with surplus ammo, as the primers are made of thicker metal,but there are too many other better suited actions available for me to chance it.Give me a turk mauser or a yugo for a few dollars more and I can feel way more safe.Dont get me wrong,I like the mosin,but I dont think it is worth rebarreling. If you could find a gunsmith willing to work on them.

As a kid, I lived in Japan for a year during the Korean War. The troops were bringing back a lot of captured Moisins from Korea, and there was a Japanese gunshop in Tachikawa where I lived that was doing a booming business of sporterizing them. It is amazing how nice one of these clunkers can turn out if it has its' bolt handle altered to resemble the Mannlicher-Schoenauer, is restocked with nice wood, polished and blued, and has some well-executed engraving!! and a scope put on it in a side mount like a Griffin & Howe or Jaeger. In Japan in 1952 these kinds of alterations cost a pittance compared to today's costs for gunsmithing services, so were quite affordable for American service personnel stationed there.



However, I believe most, if not all, of these rifles retained their original barrels, and were left in their original chambering. The main reason for this is that the shape of the magazine box, and the way it is set up to feed, makes it too narrow in the front end for any fatter rounds. (A'la .444.) The box is also quite short.

In the 1920s the DCM sold Russians very cheap - the US had taken all the Remington made ones that Rem was stuck with after the Russian revolution. There were many articles in the American Rifleman up through WWII about sporterizing and some very nice rifles were shown in photos. But all of them were kept in the original calibre. Today probably the best ones are the ones rebuilt by the Finns with their high quality barrels.

I have converted a 91/30 to 45/70 and I have a friend, Dennis, who I watched put a Sprinfield barrel on a 91/30 and ream it to 7.62x54R. I got him a reamer with a floating pilot so he can use .308 or .311" barrels.

Here are some of my picturs.


SPORTERIZING 91/30s
452/70 wildcat uses 45/70 brass and 45acp bullets
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=127760
Dennis' scope mount bathtub anodized for 91/30s and Williams side mount rings
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=257405
Glass bedding 91/30 with two pillars and tape under sear to decrease
trigger spring
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=926374
milling vertical for 452/70 extractor relief on breech
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=126137
2 91/30s sporterized
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=135114
milling 45 degrees
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=126141
91/30 custom scope mount for over center rings with bathtub anodizing
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=257405
Cutting threads and measuring distance to shoulder on 91/30 452/70 project
http://www.roderuscustom.tzo.com/cgi-bin/ib3/iB_html/uploads/post-3-08809-rebarrel91_30small.jpg

Clark, what did you have to do to get the M/N to feed .45/70 ammo from the magazine box?

The rim diameters are fairly close. I would think that it would be a fairly easy convesion. Maybe a little rail work? I have a M44, M38, and a 91/30. They are fun plinkers and I even shot a feral pig with the M44 while I was stationed at Ft. Hood, TX. One in 45/70 would provide a good sized thump both on target and shoulder.

I had to grind a tool to make the breech face big enough for 45/70 brass.

I only fired it single shot.
Like so many guns, it only got to the range once, and then into storage.