Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings liberty lovers, I was in D.C. last week and visited the United States Supreme Court. No, I wasn’t arguing with the court but wanted to. In recent years the court has ruled on arguments relating to the Second Amendment. The Court has ruled on weapon bans in D.C. and Chicago. The court ruled against these bans. Basically saying a citizen has the right to protect themselves. Good news? Not really. Here’s the rub. The court ruled 5 to 4 to protect these rights. Why wasn’t it ruled 9 to 0? The 1st Amendment addresses free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Most of us would agree freedom of speech is a fundamental right. If it weren’t for 5 conservative justices the 2nd Amendment may be interpreted very differently. I don’t get it. Attending public schools is considered a fundamental right. It isn’t in the constitution. In our country, abortion is considered a fundamental right. I’m pretty certain it isn’t in the constitution. The 2nd Amendment is in the constitution and 4 of the 5 Supreme Court Justices do not think it is a fundamental right? I’m confused. The take-away from this is we are one heart-beat away from losing this right. Let’s pray one of the 5 conservative justices don’t get hit by a bus or decides to retire.

Over the next few weeks we will be reviewing Russian/Soviet era military fire arms. This weeks’ fire arm is the Mosin Nagant 91/30.

When the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941 the Mosin–Nagant was the standard issue weapon of Soviet troops. As a result, millions of the rifles were produced and used in World War II by the largest mobilized army in history.

The Mosin–Nagant was adopted as a sniper rifle in 1932 and was issued to Soviet snipers. It served quite prominently in the brutal urban battles on the Eastern Front, such as the Battle of Stalingrad, which made heroes of snipers like Vasili Zaitsev and Ivan Sidorenko. Google these guys and read about their incredible shooting skills.

The M1891 was adopted by the Russian military in, well, 1891. It was redesigned in 1930 thus the designation of M91/30. Earlier dated versions were more finely crafted. After the outbreak of the war, Russia cranked out rifles that were more crudely crafted. The Soviet union abandoned the M91/30 soon after the war in favor of the SKS style rifle and ultimately the AK 47.

Today you can buy an M91/30 for about $100. This includes a cleaning kit, ammo pouch and bayonet. Most of these rifles are in good shootable condition. They shoot a 7.62x54r cartridge. The “r” stands for “rimmed”. This ammo is plentiful. I will tell you this rifle is a shoulder cannon. The 54r is a big ass round. If you are interested in a bit of history this is a cool rifle to own. The Russians mint marked their weapons. You will see the mark for where the rifle was made, serial numbers are easy to compare on the bolt, receiver and stock.

Here is a picture of mine.

Happy shooting and keep an eye on the ass-clowns in Washington.

Big Mullet