The META Rifle! Mosin Nagant Mastery | Hunt: Showdown 1896

Intro

Hi guys, Rex here! When you hear the word “META” in Hunt: Showdown, chances are the first weapon that comes to mind is the Mosin-Nagant. And for good reason — it’s widely regarded as one of the strongest rifles in the game. High velocity, excellent damage, solid fire rate, and a quick reload makes it incredibly versatile and deadly at almost any range.

With the 1896 update, the Mosin-Nagant was separated from the Obrez family, though it still shares a lineage with the Mosin-Nagant Avtomat. In this video, we’re focusing on the standard Mosin-Nagant and the Mosin Sniper. The Avtomat will get its own dedicated video since it plays so differently, and I’ll also cover the Obrez variants — including the new Match and Match Deadeye — in a separate video down the line.

The base Mosin costs 620 Hunt dollars, the bayonet variant is 630, and the sniper comes in at 713, making it one of the priciest weapons in the game — but its power more than justifies the price.

The Mosin deals 136 damage, easily enough to one-tap a hunter missing a health chunk, and has a drop-off range of 135 meters, which is more than enough for most fights. The velocity sits at 615 meters per second, which is excellent.

For long-range fights, many players opt for Spitzer ammo. It boosts velocity up to a staggering 820 meters per second, making it almost hitscan at most ranges and greatly extending the drop-off range to 160 meters. Spitzer retains damage better over distance and has higher penetration power, but its base damage drops to 117, so it’s less lethal if your target is missing chunks. It also has a smaller ammo pool. However, it’s one of only two ammo types in the game that can penetrate multiple hunters, letting you score double kills if your aim is true.

There’s also incendiary ammo, which can set enemy hunters on fire with the first shot up to 40 meters for long ammo, and beyond that range it takes two hits instead. It doesn’t penetrate surfaces but otherwise functions like regular ammo.

Being a bolt-action rifle, the Mosin will eject a loaded round if you reload before emptying the mag. To avoid losing rounds, you can either instantly reload after firing or hold down the fire button after firing your weapon before reloading. This method is referred to as “cycle reloading”. If your magazine is completely empty, you can reload without losing any bullets, and you can even perform a clip reload — refilling the mag in one quick motion if you have at least five spare rounds. This is much faster than reloading one bullet at a time in a pinch. One thing to note regarding reloads is that the sniper variant cannot reload clips due to the scope being in the way.

On the topic of ejecting bullets, you can take the Bulletgrubber trait for four points, allowing you to recover ejected rounds automatically. But with some practice, you might not need it and can rely on manual reload techniques instead.

In this video, I’ll put the standard Mosin and the Sniper variant to the test. For the standard Mosin, I mostly paired it with the Sparks Pistol Silencer to stack long ammo. With the sniper, I often brought a Hunting Bow as a close- to mid-range option, using the Quartermaster or Gunrunner traits when possible.

Stick around until the end for my final thoughts and recommendations — but without further ado, let’s dive into it!

Thoughts & Recommendations

After playing the Mosin-Nagant and the sniper variant for a couple of days, here are my thoughts!

As expected, this rifle absolutely lives up to its META reputation. It feels amazing to use, and the kills stack up quickly once you start landing shots. I’ve never really been much of a “META” player myself, so it took me a bit to get into the rhythm of the high-velocity iron sights — but once I got comfortable, it just clicked.

The sniper variant was definitely more my style, since I play snipers regularly. The Mosin Sniper is actually one of my least-used rifles, mainly because of its steep price tag, but it’s easy to see why it’s so expensive. This thing hits hard. Even though I usually aim for headshots, it still drops enemies reliably with torso shots if they’re missing health chunks. That makes it a lot more forgiving for less experienced sniper players who might not land headshots consistently, while still rewarding skilled players who know when to take that decisive torso shot.

For this challenge, I decided not to run Spitzer ammo. I like to keep my rifle velocities around 600, since most of the rifles I play sit between 500 and 600 m/s. Sticking to one consistent speed helps me lead shots more reliably. In my opinion, Spitzer is one of those ammo types you either commit to fully or avoid altogether. Constantly switching between 615 and 820 velocity would just mess with my muscle memory — but of course, that’s a personal preference and might not apply to everyone.

Overall, the Mosin Mastery challenge was an absolute blast. Even after recording the rounds I needed for this video, I kept playing it just because I was having so much fun.

If you made it this far, I’d love to hear your thoughts! What do you think of the Mosin-Nagant and the sniper variant? Are they worth the high cost? Drop a comment down below — and until next time, I’ll see you in the Bayou!