Modular Chassis System for Mosin Nagant

[Rafaga]

Hi All,

Every now and then a project that doesn’t make sense initially has to be explored. It can frequently lead us to unexpected outcomes. Sometime ago I took an interest in the Mosin Nagant and found tons of useful info here in this forum among others.

There are lots of guys that have done some amazing work in accurizing the Mosin and I don’t need to rehash their work here. You can find them by doing a google or youtube search on accurizing or sporterizing the Mosin-Nagant. One of the builds I found was by a current army sniper that changed everything but the receiver on his weapon and ended up with something that looks like a high end deer rifle. That amazing rifle in his hands was shooting 3/8” groups at a hundred yards. Another guy on youtube was hitting 3 out of 5 at a thousand yards.

I thought to build on their work by designing a high end modular chassis system that will accept the Mosin action and can be configured to the shooter’s mission. Below are pics of the modular chassis system I recently developed. The chassis will accept standard AR type buttstocks and AK pattern pistol grips. The top cover is a medium length (about 14") with 32 slots. The top cover can also be configured in long or short configuration depending on mission requirements. As you can see from the pics the barrel is free floated with plenty of cooling airspace around it. The chassis will accomodate a barrel up to 1-1/4" in diameter. At the front is a Harris type bipod with a custom attachment block for the pin and no saddle is used.

The Mosin parts in the pics are standard except for the barrel is shortened to 20" and the rear sight base has been removed as it interferes with the inside of the cover. Over the next few months I plan on experimenting to get as much accuracy as I can from the standard Mosin parts just to see what's possible. If the project manages to generate sufficient interest I may bring it to market and possibly develop some additional goodies for it. Let me know what you think.

Cheers













The separate modules


Buttstock module


Receiver module


Inside of receiver module



Underside of receiver module


Top cover module. The small block holds the bipod pin.


Free standing chassis with Mosin parts along side.

 

[General Tso]

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sunray]

"...a project that doesn't make sense..." Yep. Silk purse out of a sow's ear. Daft as hell, but without guys mucking about with sow's ears, there'd be no .44 Mag revolvers, high velocity centre fire .22's or small calibre match grade bullets and a decided loss of inventiveness.
"...except for the barrel..." Stock barrel? Should have put a good match grade barrel on it.

 

[War Squirrel]

Ok, now this is awesome. What kind of price point are we looking at here?

 

[redman900]

put me down for one

 

[madcratebuilder]

That is very nice design work, all cnc? I think you have a market if the price point is right.

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

Way too cool!

 

[danprkr]

Very interesting project. Not sure it's my cup of tea, but I am tinkerer from way back so I'm certainly interested in hearing more about it. Especially since you're apparently in my home state of TX.

 

[Z-Michigan]

So this is basically a $700 tacticool chassis for a $80 rifle that was already in service before 1900?

I will concur with "doesn't make sense" and "unexpected outcomes."

Of course, if you enjoy it, have fun.

 

[dirtyjim]

very cool project & i'll make a few sugestions that i think would make it even better.

first, i would ditch the harris bipod for a parker hale type with a removable spud mounted to the front of the chassis.

second, rework the chassis to use at-15 pistol grip since there are a lot more choices in that design.

third, redesgn the rear of the chassis or make another version that uses a buttstock system similar to the windrunner. i would think haveing two versions would better if you decide to market the chassis since there are people who would want the ar type buttstock and people who would want the windrunner style butstock.

and fourth since you have the capability would be to manufacture a cantilever type scope mount to use on mosins that do not use your chasis system. on my mosin project i have a burris P.E.P.R. ar-15 mount turned backwards on a short section of picatiny rail mounted to the receiver. you could take that design and rework it to mount straight to the receiver.

i also have an idea for a q/r barrel system that i'm going to try out pretty soon

 

[jpwilly]

Find a way to make it out of plastic with an aluminum bedding block and rail for scope mount to drive the cost down into the $200 range and you might be onto something. Otherwise I'd make a system for much more popular rifles with aftermarket support such as the Rem 700 and Savage while your at it...good luck.

 

[Sock Puppet]

I don't know about the ultimate market, but your work looks great!

 

[mesinge2]

I tell you I would buy one, better yet I'd send in my Mosin and have you do the work. Even if it was $700 plus the $80 cost of the rifle; its still an accurate custom rifle for under $800.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Even if it was $700 plus the $80 cost of the rifle; its still an accurate custom rifle for under $800.

Which might shoot almost as well as a new $300 Savage or Howa...

 

[dirtyjim]

Which might shoot almost as well as a new $300 Savage or Howa...

but i bet the line of people at the range waiting to shoot it would be much longer

 

[Onmilo]

I approve.

 

[Sam1911]

What is the distance between the cheek weld of the stock and the centerline of that scope? I don't think my head's big enough.

 

[Abndoc]

First Mosin I've seen that appealed to me. It's still a Mosin, though.

 

[Rafaga]

very cool project & i'll make a few sugestions that i think would make it even better.

first, i would ditch the harris bipod for a parker hale type with a removable spud mounted to the front of the chassis.

second, rework the chassis to use at-15 pistol grip since there are a lot more choices in that design.

third, redesgn the rear of the chassis or make another version that uses a buttstock system similar to the windrunner. i would think haveing two versions would better if you decide to market the chassis since there are people who would want the ar type buttstock and people who would want the windrunner style butstock.

and fourth since you have the capability would be to manufacture a cantilever type scope mount to use on mosins that do not use your chasis system. on my mosin project i have a burris P.E.P.R. ar-15 mount turned backwards on a short section of picatiny rail mounted to the receiver. you could take that design and rework it to mount straight to the receiver.

i also have an idea for a q/r barrel system that i'm going to try out pretty soon

Hi DirtyJim,

I like your suggestions, in fact I looked into doing some of them.

First, the bipod is attached with a stud. If you look at the picture of the top cover the small loose block is the attachment point for the stud and the bipod doesn't use the saddle. Certainly any type of bipod can be fitted.

Second, the AR-15 grip would be much better for the reason you indicate. Problem is there isn't enough room for it. Because that grip has a curved rear surface the distance from the top of the grip to the bottom of the stock tube on the AR-15 is much greater than here. If I move the stock up it interferes with operation of the bolt. If I move the grip down it won't line up with the trigger. Best solution I found was the AK grip.

Third, because of the modular design we can create any kind of stock. If there is sufficient interest in the project I could make a fully adjustable stock module with all the bells and whistles.

And fourth, the possibilities for mounts are endless. The first top cover I made had a cantilever part the extended back about three inches but, it was too floppy. I cut it off to what you see now which is maybe a little short. I think extending it back about 1-1/2" would be just about right for rigidity and functionality.

Quick change barrel? Wow! Maybe on a future generation

 

[Rafaga]

That is very nice design work, all cnc? I think you have a market if the price point is right.

Yes, it's all CNC machined. If there were sufficient interest to produce a batch of them I think I think the cost can be brought down to about $300 bucks for the chassis system. Of course the stock, grip, and bipod is up to the user.

 

[Rafaga]

I don't know about the ultimate market, but your work looks great!

Thanks for the thumbs up.

 

[CoastieShep]

Pretty sweet.

 

[Rafaga]

What is the distance between the cheek weld of the stock and the centerline of that scope? I don't think my head's big enough.

You would need a head like a melon. Definitely needs a cheek riser which I still need to make up. First, shorter scope rings are in order.

 

[Vyacheslav]

if you wanted it to take an AR grip, adapters are pretty easy to find, i'll be interested if it makes the rifle shoot better than a stock finn

 

[Rafaga]

So this is basically a $700 tacticool chassis for a $80 rifle that was already in service before 1900?

I will concur with "doesn't make sense" and "unexpected outcomes."

Of course, if you enjoy it, have fun.

I totally see your point even though the cost would be quite a bit lower than you guessed. In fact, I struggled with that a bit as I was working on this. Kinda like making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I pushed on though just as an engineering exercise. As development progressed I began seeing the project in a different light. It became apparent to me that this chassis is not really an accessory for a Mosin. In actuality, the Mosin is an accessory for this chassis.

Follow my logic for a moment. The Russians were really good at making simple and durable, and we can benefit from that by clever exploitation. Think of an 18 wheeler you see rolling down the highway. The engines in those chassis routinely see a million miles between replacement. The chassis will go 3-4 million miles. In our case I built an advanced chassis to accept that Russian Mosin-Nagant engine which happens to come packaged in a wooden crate. When you use up the engine you simply remove and replace a new one into the chassis as needed.

The Mosin "engine" does have it's own merits. Low cost, simple, durable, responds well to tuning and accurizing, plus lots of potent and cheap ammo. If you do a youtube search on Mosin Nagant sniper you find some very interesting projects where guys are shooting out to a 1000 yards with the Mosin. Once a project like this is completed you'll find that it's hundreds or thousands of dollars less than a Remington build and you have something truly unique. Sure, I may do a Remington chassis in the future but, for now this is a first step.