Archangel Manufacturing Mosin Nagant Conversion Stock

ProMag Industries, makers of magazines for semi-automatic firearms that are notorious for their unreliability has launched a new product which proves that a fool and his money are easily parted. You can now buy a $200.00 Mosin-Nagant Conversion Stock, which will replace the factory wood on your Mosin with what looks like a drunken attempt to make a Magpul stock for a Mosin.

Mosin Nagant idiot stock (300x252)

Now, let’s get a couple of things straight here. I generally like Mosin-Nagants, because I’m 100% in favor of affordable rifles that are capable of hitting a man-sized target at about 100 meters. The 7.62x54R cartridge produces ballistics largely similar to the .30-06, which means it’s also a good gun to bring down most North American game animals. The Mosin is a tough, rugged, and dependable rifle, and if someone had just $150 bucks and needed a rifle RIGHT NOW, it’s a smart choice.

However, buying a $200 stock for your Mosin is about as close to a perfect example of putting lipstick on a pig as I can imagine. Hanging cheap parts off your gun will not make it shoot better. Of course, what people do with their own money is their business, but as a consumer advocate I would counsel against spending perfectly good money on dressing up a Mosin-Nagant in silly, cheaply made aftermarket stocks and parts. Or, to put it another way: “MOSIN NAGANT IS FINE, USED TO KILL MILLIONS OF NAZI HORDES JUST FINE WITHOUT CHEAPLY MADE PARTS OF CHINESE PLASTIC.”

A Mosin can absolutely be a serious rifle. I am not so enamored with the AR15 that I can’t see a place for an old fashioned bolt gun in today’s world of rifles; in fact there are many situations that I can imagine where I’d take a well trained marksman with a Mosin over a CODkiddie and his tacticalized AR15 any day of the week. In fact, just typing that sentence makes me realize the nature of my objection to this sort of accessory – it’s fundamental unserious, like putting a giant rear spoiler on a front wheel drive Honda while neglecting any actual performance tuning. There are functional ways to improve the shootability of your Mosin-Nagant, but buying this stock isn’t one of them. Here’s a short list of things you could buy for a Mosin that will actually help you shooting it better that cost less or the same than this stock:

  1. A Timney trigger ($100)
  2. 900 rounds of 7.62x54R ammo ($190)
  3. An introductory rifle class

I’m a big fan of silly things. I have a 400 horsepower muscle car. It has some fundamentally unserious parts on it, like a giant exhaust, chrome wheels, and a chrome shifter handle. If you want to buy this rifle stock because “it looks cool, and I like that sort of thing” go ahead. But be honest with yourself, and don’t waste $200 bucks on a cheapo plastic stock because you think it will make your Mosin-Nagant shoot better. Chrome wheels don’t make my car any faster in the quarter mile, and a cheap plastic stock won’t make your Mosin a better gun.

22 Comments

  1. The only way I see this as reasonable is if you have a Mosin that has a cracked or broken stock, because this would make it useful again. Even then, there are probably better restocking options out there.

    1. An ATI replacement stock for a Mosin is about 80 bucks. If I had a damaged stock and needed a replacement, I’d climb over a mountain of ProMag stocks to get to an ATI stock.

    2. You’re everywhere. Is there a gun blog without you or Dirk Diggler? I kid. Both of you are fun and have thoughtful comments. And, yes, my Type 53 stock is a beat-up pile of crap, but I wouldn’t let this anywhere near it.

  2. Hell, for the price of the stock, you could buy another Moisin-Nagant!

    And of course, the sight line on the plastic stock is only useful if the rifle is scoped. . .

  3. I agree with most of this post & do not plan on getting this stock for my Mosins; however the car analogy at the end lost me. Unlike chrome wheels, this stock actually does alter the function of the rifle by replacing the internal 5-round magazine with a detachable 10-round mag. If it was a company other than ProMag, I might have considered it for one of my Mosins that has a rough-looking stock.

  4. OK, Let’s say someone was willing to GIVE me one of these stocks, NIB, to replace me busted stock.

    Sure, I’d get a 10 round detatchable magazine out of the deal, but then again, it’s a ProMag magazine. How is a 10 round detatchable ProMag mag any improvement over tearing open string tied paper packets of ComBloc milsurp and thumbing in loose rounds into the original 5 round fixed magazine?

    Being a ProMag, your rate of fire would probably be higher WITHOUT the magazine even installed, using teh gun as a single shot. . .

  5. The Automotive Go Fast Plastic analogy is perfect… as a performance accessory, both are perfect for siphoning money from suckers.

  6. Oh, and the stock comes with a 5 round magazine, not the 10 round mag illustrated above. You have to buy the 10 round mags seperately at $25 a pop.

    And you’re still stuck with a ProMag magazine. . .

  7. I’ll be happy to go on record I spent the money and received my stock from ProMag. I also fitted the Timney trigger, bipod, Rock Solid Industries scope mount as well as variable scope. Yes, total investment was a tad over $500 for a $99 invest on the Mosin 91/30.

    Key statement here? “To each his own”. So readers weigh your options and make your own choices. Ammo is stupid cheap and readily avaliable.

    And target hits with this nice setup at 300 yards do not disappoint.

    Consider me in full disagreement with this authors opinion of the Archangel Mosin Nagant Stock.

  8. Hmm. 150 for the rifle and 200 for the stock is 350. that’s Ruger American Rifle, Savage AXIS, Marlin, and Remington 770 territory. Personally, I’d buy any of those before I’d buy that idiotic stock.

    1. $350 can get a fella a whole lotta gun, if one knows what they’re doing.
      And if they don’t know what they’re doing, then that go faster crap ain’t gonna help any.

  9. Yup. If Poison Maggots were still $70, AND this stock was about $100, it MIGHT be worth it.

    Still need a decent trigger, though, so the $300 – $350 price tag for rifle + stock ALONE kills it. And you still have a ProMag magazine {wink} (No, there is no such thing as “too much hate to be spewed at ProMag magazines”. LOL)

  10. I’m guessing no one has any issues with taking a $700 Remington 700 rifle then spending another $500-$1000 making it better? I fail to see how this is different, just starting out by spending $550 less on the rifle to start.

    Plenty of Vega’s and Pinto’s out their running 8 second quarter mile times.

    1. There is a serious difference between bolting a bunch of ‘go fast’ plastic to your Pinto, and actually doing stuff that makes your Pinto go faster.
      Bolting go fast plastic to your Pinto won’t increase your speed or handling, no matter how kewl it looks. And I’m sure that the 8 sec Pinto had a whole lot more work done than bolting plastic to the bodywork.

      Likewise, there is a big difference between bolting a kewl plastic stock to your cheap gat, and actually making mods that honestly increase accuracy.

  11. Rumblestrip, try this comparison.

    Ruger American Rifle in .308, stock as it comes out of the box. = $300

    Moisin Nagant $120 (cheapest I’ve seen lately) + ProMag Stock $200. = $320

    The RAR already has scope bases included, and has a good adjustable trigger. You can mount a scope and go to work. Total price of Ruger, minus the actual scope rings and scope is still $300. AND it is a roughly 1 MOA gun already.

    The Nagant needs a new trigger, scope base, bent bolt handle conversion, AND then you can price rings and a scope. So, add a Timney Trigger and ATI bent bolt handle & scope base @ $160. So the Nagant is now up to $480, and it sure as Hell ISN’T a 1 MOA gun. Even tweaked, a Nagant is lucky to hit 1.5 MOA on its best day.

    So, for spendiong your extra $180, you have a rifle that is known for being very stiff to work, weighs more, is longer, and shoots 50% worse than just buying a good entry level rifle off the shelf.

    The “hate” here isn’t because you aren’t brand conscious or anything. (And it isn’t “hate”, despite my jokes about ProMag magazines — it is pure disdain.)

    The issue is spending MORE money for a WORSE end product. It’s like putting $6000 worth chrome spinners and low profile tires, a $3000 Bose sound system, and a $200 car alarm on a 1981 Chevette. Only it’s not a Bose sound system – it’s a Boze (made in Cambodia), and the chrome on your spinners is flaking off after six months.

Comments are closed.