M-44 mechanical safety conversion?

[akjim]

Has any one ever heard of a modification to the M44 (and for that case, the 91/30) that you could drill and tap anykind of mechanical safety for these rifles? Having had a Marine Corps. Lt Col. for a dad we never ever dropped our fingers into the guard until it was time to squeeze, and muzzle control was a religious mantra, but I have a number of friends who I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew there was a safety to engage. I've disassembled 4 or 5 of the M44's and am looking to find an easy conversion. I'd ask the Mosin Nagant forum but I fear even asking the question would be a mortal sin.

thanks guys.

[sjohnson]

You're right about the mortal sin thang.

I've never seen any replacement safety. Best I can offer is that some have welded a ring on the end of the cocking piece, like the K31.

[my-rifle]

That's great. Those guys'll get a hard-on if you even mention fixing a broken Mosin. "Ruining its historical value! That stock broken by UPS is part of its history!"

But seriously. An effective mechanical safety would be a big deal for guys who want to use these rifles for hunting. That damned cocking piece safety is REALLY bad. A deer could hear you a mile away decocking one of those.

[akjim]

Ya I know. I belong under another name to the MN forum and take the warning on the home page to heart. But for my $63 bucks I'm not anticipating that the other 10,000,000 produced MN44's are going to disappear in my lifetime thus upping the historical importance of my fine examples of slave labor. An 80 year old J Stevens is still only worth a couple hundred bucks.
Exactly my question. Still hunting with snap shooting might be fine but I wouldn't want to be sitting in a tree stand or blind and try and quietly close the bolt. Aint gonna happen. It's amazing how many really intelligent basic machine shop and CNC educated guys there are on this forum, I was hoping one of them has figured out a simple fix. .

[3 weelin geezer]

The safety for such a friend that toys with rifles is right at your toe tips( or shall I say under them) Whack him on the head with a shoe and send him to the car. No gun 'play' for him. What good is that safety on the trigger if he is too busy stroking the trigger? You know what they say about assumptions....

[akjim]

3 Weelin,I have to completely agree, and I've got a 1/2 dozen less friends who for some reason never got invited back after an afternoon of hunting or shooting. It's just a life long "safety on, finger off trigger, muzzle control psychosis of mine. Having a devil of a time getting over the no safety. Probably shouldn't even own the damn things.

[sjohnson]

Wait a minute - I thought you were all discussing a NEW safe for the Mosin. Mosins ALL have come with a standard safe.

Pull back on the cocking piece and twist it about 45 degrees counter-clockwise. Done.

[akjim]

Man, now I really feel like an idiot. This feeling is becoming way too common.....
I've got 4 or 5 of them in the basement in various degrees of refinish and rebuild. I've disassembled the bolts a dozen times to clean out the cosmoline and grease build up and have reviewed the nuemrich (sp) plans a dozen times. no safety levers anywhere I could see. All the bolt actions I own have a designated safety lever (Lee Enfields), button (Wins and Rems) or the SKS style. ....thanks sjohnson. damn it's not at all obvious and if you don't ask.... So thanks again, I'll check that out tonight. After the way this day's gone that is one fine piece of news.

[sjohnson]

"There's no safe" is in the top ten of hidden Mosin knowledge. Right behind "My bolt's hard to open after firing."

[my-rifle]

I also thought you were talking about a new replacement safety. The safety on the mosin is only useful for transporting the rifle or some such situation where the loud noise of taking it off "Safe" won't matter. The safety is impossible to use by those with arthritis or without strong hands. A replacement safety would be a big help.

[sjohnson]

my-rifle - while I agree that the safety is tough, with practice you should be able to put it on or off silently. I grabbed one of mine and just did, no clicks, snaps or pops.


For arthritics, etc., there's a guy on ebay who's been selling K31-style Mosin cocking pieces. Five minutes to a more arthritic-friendly safe on any Mosin.

[my-rifle]

At least Mosin actually gave us a cocking piece handle instead of the tiny slot that Mauser gave us. For those who find the Mosin cocking piece difficult you can always offer fo them to try re-cocking a Mauser after a misfire, eh?

[akjim]

Thanks for the heads up. What a kid in a candy store I was last night. cocking, safety engage, safety off..over and over. It wasn't that hard with practise to get it to engage and disengage silently. I do agree it would be difficult for anyone with hand problems but it will make me sleep a lot easier at least knowing that one is available. What a balls buster...
thanks guys... :D

[gnarlytoes]

You can simply weld a ring to the rear of the cocking piece, like the Swiss K31.


The safety can be quietly disengaged if you pull back a bit while twisting.