I recently discovered that I had a problem. I had acquired several rifles in a very short period of time, but I had never actually taken them out for “the” first try out at the range. I usually run out to the range as soon as time permits, when ever I buy a rifle.  In this case I had actually purchased too many - too quickly. I have always dreamed of being in this predicament and it finally happened. Inside of one month I picked up a SMLE No.1 Mk III, a Romanian M-44, and a Russian 1891/59 Carbine.

All three rifles were very hard to pass up and worth the trouble I would face later at home, for going over my budget.

I did not have any .303 ammo - so the SMLE went back in the safe for a later adventure. So I decided to take the two Mosin style and go on a "range" adventure.

The M-44 was manufactured in 1955 as shown in Figure 1. The bore, an hour later cleaning and 100 patches, looks like new.  I really don't believe it was fired very much, if any at all. The stock has some dings and the bluing is missing in a couple of spots. All in all - not bad for a whopping $59 from a local sporting goods store.

The 1891/59 receiver was manufactured in 1943, (as shown in Figure 2) but the rifle was assembled in 1959.

I have read that the 1891/59 is a carbine that was assembled, during and after WWII, out of parts and rifles of 1891/30 Mosin-Nagants. Creating this rifle was faster than manufacturing an M-44 from scratch and it filled the need for a shorter length battle rifle.

This little rifle is immaculate in every detail - great wood, almost 100% bluing, and a brand new, sparkling bore.

I purchased the 1891/59 from my friends at -

River City Gun Exchange, 2358 Fruitridge RD
Sacramento, CA, 95822  Phone: 916-428-0377

The first of two primary differences between the two rifles as far as I could tell was that the M-44 came with an "ever so handy" bayonet that is semi-permanently attached to the right of the barrel and the 1891/59 did not (soon the M-44 also would not). The M-44 had cheesy (for lack of a technical term) rear sights when compared to the 1891/59 rifle, as I will discuss in greater detail later in this article.

I was nervous about shooting a short barreled rifle with a full powered rifle cartridge, such as the 7.62x54R, and I also did not expect great accuracy.   So, to start with, I placed my target at 50 yards.  My thought was that if I got any shots “in the black”, I was lucky. After all, these rifles were not made for accuracy, but I was hopeful as they were based upon the original Mosin-Nagant 1891/30.

As I expected, the recoil was pretty stout - but the one thing I had not expected was the level of accuracy. Not bad shooting for a little rifle.

My first 2 shots were in the 8 ring and my last 3 shots were in the 9 ring (as shown in Figure 6).

I did not have any type of shoulder padding - so I had to improvise and found a thick hand towel in my kit to place over my shoulder. I am not a wimp - but I was planning on firing off 60 rounds total and did not want a sore shoulder the next day.

Next I loaded up the M-44 with 5 rounds, anxious to see how it fared against the 1891/59. I have to say I preferred the sights on the 1891/59 over the M-44. They were the full version originally on the full version Mosin-Nagant.

The M-44 sights are an example of Communist manufacturing at its best as shown in Figure 11. They are hand made and very rough, with hand etched gradient marks. While the 1891/59 sights are a little more graceful in looks and functionality, if you over look the very rough, unfiled routing marks in the steel where the sighting gradient marks were just routed off without any finishing work as shown in Figure 12 .

Figure 10 shows the first 5 shots I made, at 50 yards, with the M-44. I was aiming at the logo in the middle of the photo while shooting.  Most of the rounds placed to the left of aim, while one stray shot  impacted to the right.

Overall I think both rifles would make nice little brush rifles to be used for plinking, pig hunting, deer hunting and/or home protection. Their size and balance makes them a really easy to use and wield rifle. Accept for the recoil, I cannot think of any downside to having a Mosin Carbine. Actually with the price of M-44s on the market currently ($40 to $100 range) – I could see a reason to have one or two in anyone’s collection.

jlm;)