Nicely done! Wonder how the ammo does in a straight out of box Nagant.
keep the reports coming!
Sirhr
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MOA with Mosin Nagants?
- Thread starter Sam Dunham
- Start date
keep the reports coming!
Sirhr
To me trying to make them shoot as well as they can is the fun part. I don't want to replace triggers and such, I want them box stock but very interested on just where you can get with some hand loading. I have brought groups down from minute of basketball to minute of softball, that is very cool, they can shoot well. Never judge an entire....guess I will say gun line....think lump all mosins together, all carcano, all this or that in one bucket. Many of these guns are 100 years old or at least knocking on the door. Who know how they have been stored.
I don't mind a heavy trigger if it is a good trigger. A heavy clean trigger is workable, it's the ones that are just crappy that I hate. Uneven breaks, gritty, long drags suck.
To me the old guns are to experience in a very small way just what that gun was like new, what that gun was like to hunt/fight/plink with. Last summer I did two early auto loading sporting rifles, a model 8 & 81. The 8 is in 30 rem and the 81 is 300 savage. I was not able to find new factory 30 remington, so loaded to some old manuals using modern 3030 bullets. It is very nice shooting rifle. The 81 on the other hand is just evil, at modern factory loads it is 3 steps past punishing. Download to where it does not shake teeth loose and you have a single shot. Very thick, dense, meaty guns I guess I will say, and the mechanicals are on another level. At the other end of last summers follies was a trapdoor. All my loads are kept in the mid teens or below CUP wise, and the old gun does shoot minute of torso at 100, I think I can get better and want to work up some BP loads for it. I can just imagine having to haul that big thing across south dakota. It was another time, and very interesting.
In post #50 I said:
I tested my rifle in a lot of iterations including with the original barrel. When I slugged the original barrel after a particularly disappointing trial the slug fell through the middle third of the barrel , got tight about 6" from the muzzle and then fell out the end. The barrel wasn't counterbored, it was just a wonky 1943 issue. I pulled the barrel and turned a McGowen blank for the rifle. While I was at it I moved the bolt handle rearward and built a bridge on the receiver for a proper scope mount. I also made a chassis to hold it all together. I can't remember which trigger I used, it was either a Timney or a Bold. The rifle had already been hacked on before I received it so I didn't have to worry about keeping it original.
Or at least lust. Looks like the safety is original. I've also been looking at the Ukrainian sniper models.
During the accurization process where did you add shims? Did you torque the action screws to specific inch lb? Did you add cork to the barrel channel at the front barrel band? I assume you sanded out the barrel channel to make sure there was no stock to barrel contact, did you sand the hand guard channel as well?
In post #50 I said:
I tested my rifle in a lot of iterations including with the original barrel. When I slugged the original barrel after a particularly disappointing trial the slug fell through the middle third of the barrel , got tight about 6" from the muzzle and then fell out the end. The barrel wasn't counterbored, it was just a wonky 1943 issue. I pulled the barrel and turned a McGowen blank for the rifle. While I was at it I moved the bolt handle rearward and built a bridge on the receiver for a proper scope mount. I also made a chassis to hold it all together. I can't remember which trigger I used, it was either a Timney or a Bold. The rifle had already been hacked on before I received it so I didn't have to worry about keeping it original.
Wtf?
Not sure what adjective to use for that thing but bitchin is the first one to mind.
After my m39 on an antique receiver got stolen I decided to turn my first ever centerfire rifle (a Russian Moani) into something awesome. What my distant relatives would have done at the tikkakoski plant in the 30’s. Have never started the project . Now I got something to shoot for
Sorry to resurrect, but as an update, I broke a new personal record yesterday with a succesful hit at an old helmet at 800m (The big bump that did not go through) and kind of consistant hits at the plate also at 800m. 
Also a view through the scope at 500m and a view through the spotter at the 800m targets.
Also a view through the scope at 500m and a view through the spotter at the 800m targets.Attachments
I was just reviewing this old thread that I posted in a couple years ago and saw that I missed giving an update. My son and I took the M44 and a few other old military rifles to C3 range on what turned out to be their last week of operation. Sadly. I miss that place. He and I both were able to consistently get hits out to 600 yards on 2moa steel. I cleaned the M44 up and put it away. Mission accomplished. Good memories made with my son and that old rifle. Will pass it down someday.
I know this is an old thread, but can anyone help me identify what this is? I'm suspecting it might be for a Mosin Nagant, but that's just a guess. Thanks!
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While I'm here, I have an "MOA" Mosin Nagant. At least once anyway.
I've owned a few off and on over the years, but the only one I ever kept was the first one I bought, because it's the worst looking (as in badly manufactured) one I ever ran across. I bought a bunch of surplus ammo with it when I got it. At 100 yards if you shot carefully you could keep all the rounds on a torso sized target. So needless to say it didn't get shot a lot, it became a novelty gun I just let people shoot from time to time who'd never seen or fired one. As such that original batch of ammo lasted many many years. Eventually I bought more, again surplus stuff.
I brought it to the range one day for a friend to shoot and he was. At one point he says to me "I don't know if I'm even on paper". Knowing the rifle I suspect he probably isn't, my friend was a good shooter considering he was a very occasional shooter, maybe a few times a year. Anyway I'm looking at the target through the spotting scope and I don't see what I'm expecting. I ask if he's shooting at the right target? Then I start to question whether I'm looking at the right target? I double check again, counting the benches, then counting the target stands. I look again expecting to see holes scattered all over, if any at all. Then I think he's screwing with me and I call him on it. He had a scoped Browning .30-06 with him, figured he was shooting that and is just messing with me since I told him what to expect from the Mosin. But nope, that's not it, it's still in the case. I couldn't believe it. He had a 5-6 shot group about the size of a quarter @ 100 yards that he'd fired with the battle sights, out of a rifle that looked like it was crafted with a horseshoe rasp. I was stunned. What a difference a batch of ammo makes.
(Ironically it shot better than his A-Bolt)
I've owned a few off and on over the years, but the only one I ever kept was the first one I bought, because it's the worst looking (as in badly manufactured) one I ever ran across. I bought a bunch of surplus ammo with it when I got it. At 100 yards if you shot carefully you could keep all the rounds on a torso sized target. So needless to say it didn't get shot a lot, it became a novelty gun I just let people shoot from time to time who'd never seen or fired one. As such that original batch of ammo lasted many many years. Eventually I bought more, again surplus stuff.
I brought it to the range one day for a friend to shoot and he was. At one point he says to me "I don't know if I'm even on paper". Knowing the rifle I suspect he probably isn't, my friend was a good shooter considering he was a very occasional shooter, maybe a few times a year. Anyway I'm looking at the target through the spotting scope and I don't see what I'm expecting. I ask if he's shooting at the right target? Then I start to question whether I'm looking at the right target? I double check again, counting the benches, then counting the target stands. I look again expecting to see holes scattered all over, if any at all. Then I think he's screwing with me and I call him on it. He had a scoped Browning .30-06 with him, figured he was shooting that and is just messing with me since I told him what to expect from the Mosin. But nope, that's not it, it's still in the case. I couldn't believe it. He had a 5-6 shot group about the size of a quarter @ 100 yards that he'd fired with the battle sights, out of a rifle that looked like it was crafted with a horseshoe rasp. I was stunned. What a difference a batch of ammo makes.
(Ironically it shot better than his A-Bolt)
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Awesome. Thank you cas6969. A friend just gave my brother a very nice Mosin Nagant or at least what he called a "battle ready" rifle, along with those spam cans. But he gave him a bunch of other stuff and what asked what those cans contained, he just smiled and laughed and said "enjoy! I'm still waiting for a picture of the rifle and I'll post it if anyone is interested.
Thanks Hetzer! See my response to cas6969... I'll post the rifle pics if there is interest.
Not the best pictures, but here is what he sent me!
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Remember that stuff is corrosive as all hell.
Story time:
I was out shooting with a buddy, the wives decide to meet us for lunch. We toss the stuff in the trunk and eat. About 3 hrs later and I am home and the rifle is FULL OF RUST. That fast. This was a Missouri summer with humidity in the 90's easy. Now I just pour some water down her nose and all is good.
To tell the truth i don't shoot surplus any more, it is amazing how the wake up with hand loads. Did the same with a carcano and the difference is night and day
Story time:
I was out shooting with a buddy, the wives decide to meet us for lunch. We toss the stuff in the trunk and eat. About 3 hrs later and I am home and the rifle is FULL OF RUST. That fast. This was a Missouri summer with humidity in the 90's easy. Now I just pour some water down her nose and all is good.
To tell the truth i don't shoot surplus any more, it is amazing how the wake up with hand loads. Did the same with a carcano and the difference is night and day
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This! Barrel and boltface flush after every use
Hell, I remember when those spam cans were dirt cheap (probably now worth more than factory ammo to a collector) and rifles by the crate...
I get about 1 1/2 MOA out of my Mosin Sniper with handloads.
We have these vintage sniper shoots in my area We go out to 600. So I needed to work up a load for it. Getting bullet diameter matched to the specific rifle is important. Mine needed .312 bullets to get decent accuracy out of it. A lot of them do well with .311s.
For so long factory ammo was so cheap that most people didn’t bother loading for them.
We have these vintage sniper shoots in my area We go out to 600. So I needed to work up a load for it. Getting bullet diameter matched to the specific rifle is important. Mine needed .312 bullets to get decent accuracy out of it. A lot of them do well with .311s.
For so long factory ammo was so cheap that most people didn’t bother loading for them.
And I think that has to do with the reputation the rifles have, being horrid shooters. You can't judge them by shooting 80yr old commie ammo. The right stuff makes the world of difference, same with carcano, get a "nice" one and the right sized bullet and you can hit with it.
With decent reloads both of the PU's i've had were moa shooters.
They can be a challenge to shoot well though , the trigger is probably the the main factor there. I replaced my sears with Finnish ones and it made a world of difference.
Here is some groups from 100m. Mix of reloads and 180 grain sellier and bellot.
They can be a challenge to shoot well though , the trigger is probably the the main factor there. I replaced my sears with Finnish ones and it made a world of difference.
Here is some groups from 100m. Mix of reloads and 180 grain sellier and bellot.
