Hello FULL30 readers!


Its been awhile since we’ve done a creator spotlight feature and that fits in well with this articles guest.

Igor K., the creator behind the MosinVirus channel.

Igor, for the readers that may not yet be familiar with you or your channel lets start at the beginning, when did you first begun doing videos, and how did you select your channel name Mosinvirus?

I first began making videos in December of 2012.
It all started with buying an iconic rifle from the motherland, Mosin Nagant (MN) 91/30 back in 2011. The more I shot and cleaned it, the more I fell in love with its simplicity, ruggedness and beauty.

That is when I realized that I caught Mosinitis, a well known decease that affects many shooters/collectors. Unfortunately, the name “Mosinitis” was taken. I don’t remember if it was a YT channel name or e-mail that prevented me from using that name for a channel, so I found the next best available name that still captured the idea of getting sucked into firearms by a single, simple, old, and really affordable rifle. That is how MosinVirus name was born.

Ok, I must admit I did not expect you to make such a heartfelt statement:


The more I shot and cleaned it, the more I fell in love with its simplicity, ruggedness and beauty.

I bet a lot of readers can relate, 2a enthusiasts share a passion and a drive, a brotherhood of shooters, and I say shooters as there are women who can equally relate.

Agreed. I believe that for every single person interested in something or passionate about something, there was something that started them on the path. A “virus” of sorts. Lol.

Now I did find you on YT and became a subscriber based on a series of 1911 videos you have, do you have the same affection for those as you do for the rifle of your motherland?

A model 1911 is my favorite pistol. Before I started building I had one Springfield Armory M1911 A1 milspec 1911 (stainless) and also was fascinated with the design. I remember thinking how Mr. Browning’s mind had to work to come up with the design, Fascinating!

Believe it or not, the next pistol that I am equally as impressed by is a Glock, I mean, its simplicity, cost of production, and the inherent reliability is pretty genius. Then again, without Mr. Browning back in the day, I bet pistols of today could be completely different.

As for my motherland comment, I was born and raised in the former USSR. As a kid I watched many movies about WWII, movies where a Mosin Nagant was seen everywhere. That is why when I realized I could have one here I went for it. It was that history that drew me in.

Plus, the rifles and the ammo were super affordable. I believe the first Mosin I bought was $89 at Big 5 Sporting Goods store.

Regarding my passion for building or working on guns, the reason is simple, I love working with my hands. Even as a kid I needed to make or fix something. That is the primary reason why in 9th grade at school when all students got a choice to leave and continue their general education while pursuing a career in a technical field I chose to go for Tool and Die maker specialty.

Shortly after starting at that Professional Technical School two of the masters picked up on my desire and passion toward the field. One began bringing me blades to finish, put handles on, make carved but caps, etc. And the other asked if I wanted to learn jewelry making. I, of course, speedily agreed.

In short, the reason I started making videos on YT is to show others that things can be done with simple tools, and that people should not be afraid to do their own work if they are comfortable with simple tools.

Wow, this is all very fascinating to me and I bet it will be to our readers as well, I personally did bookmark and follow your videos doing my own 1911 build, I thought they were very well done and advise anyone with an interest to look them up.

And don’t worry, we can edit out the part where you shared you like Glocks

One of the things I do want to touch on is you’ve been largely absent from making any videos, I can assume why and that its not by choice, what can you tell us about that?

A few things contributed to my hiatus. The biggest one was finally getting a house and the remodel of the house. I still remember my wife walking the house, looking at everything and then saying “Gut everything” when we were outside.

“Gut everything”

See More on the FULL30 Forum

It took almost exactly 2 years of weekends and occasional after-work trips to get everything that we wanted done accomplished. That was also the time I built my first staircase.

Then we had to remodel our old place to rent. Finally decided to sell and that remodel also took a turn in a different direction from the original.

All the remodeling and constantly renting Home Depot trucks, plus my interests in wood carving and metal work (I plan on taking welding classes) made me want to get a truck of my own. And, no, I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a new one. I prefer older trucks and feel more comfortable doing repairs on them myself. That goes back to me liking to work with my hands.

Enter the glorious 95 F250 XLT with a 460 engine. I have posted about some of the work on the truck here on the forum in the Truck Smithin thread.

This was yet another reason why I haven’t been back in the video making game.

Enter the glorious 95 F250 XLT with a 460 engine

See the Truck Smithin Thread

And then there are CA laws related to 80% builds. a little piece of me died when they equated building for personal use with manufacturing. YouTube, and their stance on guns also was quite demoralizing. It did help to get a few bucks from YouTube to spend on parts or tools. My channel has been completely demonetized for a while now and it got harder to justify taking on new projects.

Where do you think you’ll go from here concerning getting back into creating more videos?

Lately, I found myself thinking that gunsmithing or gun related content is not the only thing I have to offer to the viewers, however I do have plans for more disassembly type videos, repair/improvement and range test videos.

My interests, as previously stated, involve woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking, and anything and everything else that I can do with my hands. Guns land nicely right in the middle of my interests, but I know I will be taking on other projects.

So the thought is to create other channels to share my other projects, while continuing to post gun related videos to “MosinVirus”.

In closing I encourage all you reading who are not yet subscribed to Mosin Virus to do so on both Juxxi and Youtube

You’ll be able to utilize any of his existing videos on your own builds and also be notified of his new videos.

Igor I really appreciate you taking the time to give us some insight into your work and your life , Thank you, and I look forward to your next video.



Notable Replies

  1. When we used to buy Mosies, they3 were $40-80.
    There were piles of tables to sort thru.
    I bought one, costed $150! Demilled PU! Never been fired.
    Brand new, ONLY shot the finest ammo, no milsurp, no corrosive primers. Got the PU scope (well a repop).
    Shot like a standard MN, so I traded it away for yet another 45/70.
    I have a scoped 30-06 that does 1/2 mile shots with ease, had no use for a standard Ruski rifle. Had an SKS too, it went away a while back.
    Its now a main arm for a young man.

    Load yer truck up and move the flock off the west coast. Your people deserve better. Now with 2 million new voters, So Cal going to be a worse sewer hole.

    For 50 years my Mother would say (How bad they had it during the war)
    here in the US.
    Between the movie “Enemy at the Gates) And my in-laws who survived the Japanese occupation of Asia during WWII.

    She never uttered those words again.

    True story

  2. Those were the days my friend.
    Wish I could thank my Dad for all the mil surp he stashed for us back then. M1 Carbines – Mk 4 enfields – 03’s and the like.
    When I had shown him a Shotgun News ad that had AK’s for $300 [1980 IIRC] he bought one for each of us.

  3. $300 was a rip in the 80s, I bought a case of 12 for $1300.
    Then my boat sank :frowning:

  4. That is the plan.

    I only saw images of those ads. Never wished more for a time machine.

    Some people are just not good with boats. I bet you sank more than one. :wink:

  5. Avatar for Jtr Jtr says:

    Back in the day we could buy an sks for under 40 bucks . Wish I had bought a semi load now .

Continue the discussion at the Full30 forum forum.full30.com

5 more replies

Participants

Avatar for Preyhunter Avatar for ArmedEyeDoc Avatar for Jtr Avatar for Quick_Draw_Mcgraw Avatar for Mosinvirus Avatar for system Avatar for mjrfd99 Avatar for WV460Hunter

Notable Replies

  1. When we used to buy Mosies, they3 were $40-80.
    There were piles of tables to sort thru.
    I bought one, costed $150! Demilled PU! Never been fired.
    Brand new, ONLY shot the finest ammo, no milsurp, no corrosive primers. Got the PU scope (well a repop).
    Shot like a standard MN, so I traded it away for yet another 45/70.
    I have a scoped 30-06 that does 1/2 mile shots with ease, had no use for a standard Ruski rifle. Had an SKS too, it went away a while back.
    Its now a main arm for a young man.

    Load yer truck up and move the flock off the west coast. Your people deserve better. Now with 2 million new voters, So Cal going to be a worse sewer hole.

    For 50 years my Mother would say (How bad they had it during the war)
    here in the US.
    Between the movie "Enemy at the Gates) And my in-laws who survived the Japanese occupation of Asia during WWII.

    She never uttered those words again.

    True story

  2. Those were the days my friend.
    Wish I could thank my Dad for all the mil surp he stashed for us back then. M1 Carbines - Mk 4 enfields - 03’s and the like.
    When I had shown him a Shotgun News ad that had AK’s for $300 [1980 IIRC] he bought one for each of us.

  3. $300 was a rip in the 80s, I bought a case of 12 for $1300.
    Then my boat sank :frowning:

  4. That is the plan.

    I only saw images of those ads. Never wished more for a time machine.

    Some people are just not good with boats. I bet you sank more than one. :wink:

  5. Avatar for Jtr Jtr says:

    Back in the day we could buy an sks for under 40 bucks . Wish I had bought a semi load now .

Continue the discussion at the Full30 forum forum.full30.com

5 more replies

Participants

Avatar for Preyhunter Avatar for ArmedEyeDoc Avatar for Jtr Avatar for Quick_Draw_Mcgraw Avatar for Mosinvirus Avatar for system Avatar for mjrfd99 Avatar for WV460Hunter

Notable Replies

  1. When we used to buy Mosies, they3 were $40-80.
    There were piles of tables to sort thru.
    I bought one, costed $150! Demilled PU! Never been fired.
    Brand new, ONLY shot the finest ammo, no milsurp, no corrosive primers. Got the PU scope (well a repop).
    Shot like a standard MN, so I traded it away for yet another 45/70.
    I have a scoped 30-06 that does 1/2 mile shots with ease, had no use for a standard Ruski rifle. Had an SKS too, it went away a while back.
    Its now a main arm for a young man.

    Load yer truck up and move the flock off the west coast. Your people deserve better. Now with 2 million new voters, So Cal going to be a worse sewer hole.

    For 50 years my Mother would say (How bad they had it during the war)
    here in the US.
    Between the movie "Enemy at the Gates) And my in-laws who survived the Japanese occupation of Asia during WWII.

    She never uttered those words again.

    True story

  2. Those were the days my friend.
    Wish I could thank my Dad for all the mil surp he stashed for us back then. M1 Carbines - Mk 4 enfields - 03’s and the like.
    When I had shown him a Shotgun News ad that had AK’s for $300 [1980 IIRC] he bought one for each of us.

  3. $300 was a rip in the 80s, I bought a case of 12 for $1300.
    Then my boat sank :frowning:

  4. That is the plan.

    I only saw images of those ads. Never wished more for a time machine.

    Some people are just not good with boats. I bet you sank more than one. :wink:

  5. Avatar for Jtr Jtr says:

    Back in the day we could buy an sks for under 40 bucks . Wish I had bought a semi load now .

Continue the discussion at the Full30 forum forum.full30.com

5 more replies

Participants

Avatar for Preyhunter Avatar for ArmedEyeDoc Avatar for Jtr Avatar for Quick_Draw_Mcgraw Avatar for Mosinvirus Avatar for system Avatar for mjrfd99 Avatar for WV460Hunter

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