Mosin M44 recoil

[SpeedAKL]

So I've recently had my first experience shooting a Mosin-Nagant M44. First off, I'd like to say that there are few if any guns out there that make a bigger BOOM for fewer bucks. It's quite a fun piece...I love the action, and the thing is quite accurate once you learn to shoot it properly.

The M44 seems to get a lot of buzz on this site because of it's recoil. I fired the gun standing up, wearing a single thin t-shirt, and leaning slightly forward with the gun tight against my shoulder to brace for this infamous recoil. I fired it....and didn't find that it was all THAT bad. I didn't run more than 10-15 rounds through the thing, and I can see where the recoil would get old if I'd kept going, but it wasn't the run-for-the-hills experience that I thought it would be.

Bought 3-inch slugs at Dicks today, heading out to the range this weekend. We'll see how those stack up against the M44

 

[Pigspitter]

I would recommend a butt pad for the gun if you plan on shooting competition. It's not bad for a box or two but after about 50rds, it starts to hurt.

 

[Bartkowski]

Also some ammo, has a lot more recoil than others. I have some that is a good bit less than a 30-30 and my friend has some that is noticable more. But a butt pad is good just because I find that the gun has to short a LOP.

 

[SpeedAKL]

One thing that IMO amps up the recoil (7.62x54R is a big, powerful round but not really any more so than .308, .30-06, .303, etc) is that nasty steel buttplate. Recoil pad is definitely a thought.

 

[jpwilly]

I think many of the people complaining including myself shot them from a bench rest. Standing isn't bad at all. From a bench and no recoil pad it kinda hurts after a few shots. I'm no wussy but I didn't care for it and put a slip on recoil pad to tame it. That really helped. Later a muzzle break from an even shorter barrel. The muzzle blast is very cool and gets a lot of attention both pos and neg.

 

[foghornl]

That was the prefered method of Soviet Army cooks to tenderize meat...place a hunk between the M-44 stock and shoulder, like a recoil pad....BOOM!

Ammo does make a large difference in recoil, too. Some of the "Light Ball" isn't bad, but some of the "Heavy Ball" and those Barnaul Arsenal 203-Gr soft-point hbunting ammo rounds are...well STOUT!