The Mosin Nagant is one of the most famous battle rifles of the 20th century and one of the few that can still be purchased for under $200. Chambered in 7.62x54R, (between the .308 and .30-06 in power and ballistics), the Mosin Nagant I quite simply a functional piece of history that should occupy every safe.
Due to the low purchase price, the Mosin is a favorite platform to build a custom gun from. It is not hard to walk the line at a rifle range and find a Mosin with an upgraded trigger; more noticeable would be an Archangel stock, but the trigger does more for performance, so it always comes first.
Manufactured in the USA by Timney Triggers, the 307 drop in trigger for the Mosin Nagant is one of the finest replacement triggers available. It is a simple drop-in assembly that doesn’t require a gunsmith. It features a 1.5 to 4 pounds adjustable trigger pull with trigger block safety. All of the trigger components are housed in an anodized 6061-T6 aluminum alloy cage for durability, ensuring legendary Timney performance.
Sale price: $79.95 
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This truly is the best sales price I’ve ever seen on this trigger over the years. I consider myself a seasoned budget shopper with bragging rights to some exceptional deals. But this sale beats my best savvy by $10 bucks and that was after months of web scouring and a coupon code. So, if anyone has been anticipating doing a Mosin Nagant mod, now is the time to pull the trigger (pun intended).
For those that are interested in my mod, I completely sniperized one of my Mosin Nagants into one of the hottest looking modern rifles today.
I started by ordering the all black ProMag AA9130 Archangel Stock Conversion Kit along with an extra 10 round magazine to complement the 5 round mag it already comes. I then painted it two-tone using two colors of Krylon (Ultra-Flat) Fusion Camouflage series spray paints. Archangel was not yet distributing the Field Dark Earth colored stocks yet so I created a base coat color using Krylon’s Fusion Sand colored paint which is essentially the same as FDE. Then I used a tightly woven cargo net as a stencil overlay to spray through some pretty cool looking camo patterns using a second can of Krylon’s Fusion in a Dark Olive Green. The two-tone effect was awesome and very professional looking.
After this I purchased a combo kit and added a rear tapped scope mount (and then a scope). The kit also included a replacement drop-style bolt handle you add by sawing off the old bolt handle and tapping new screws to mount the new bolt handle which is designed to accommodate the lever action around the new scope. This is a must, otherwise the old bolt handle gets in the way of the new scope mount (hence the kit). The screws are fine, but just for my satisfaction I later decided to weld and polished the bolt handle to a nice finish.
I then shortened the unnecessarily long barrel (sawed it right off) and added a custom Witt Machine muzzle brake. I added the ProMag picatinny forend rail and then mounted a folding bipod. And finally I topped it all off by dropping in the same Timney Trigger as mentioned in this article. This sniper rifle is sweet.
That sounds like an abomination.
I have three of these wonderful rifles. A 1934 Tula Armory hex receiver that is bone stock. A 1939 Izhevsk Armory round receiver that has received a full customization by me including a Timney Trigger group, and sits in a Boyd’s laminated hardwood stock in black pebble finish. There are too many other features and work to list here. I call it my KGB Sniper Special and it only fires my custom loaded ammo in fire formed brass. Someday I hope to take it out to a long rifle range out west to see what the rifle and I can do. The last one is a 1945 Izhevsk Armory M-44 carbine that got the full Archangel treatment. I also removed the folding bayonet and added an AK style muzzle brake. Loaded up with 10 round mags, it always impresses others at the range with the firepower and thunder. I have named her “The Beast” and she is my answer to Col. Jeff Cooper’s Scout Rifle concept for about $300. An L.E.R. scope could be added to a rear sight base mount if I desire, but right now I still use the iron sights which are more than adequate out to 200 yards.