7.62X54R question

[311-200]

Hi guys,
I friend of mine has an Russian M91- 7.62X54R rifle. He has bought a new riflescope for this rifle, but we couldn't make a group of shots on the target with jacketed bullets factory made. I suggested that the barrel is worn out from the jacketed bullets. Every bullet has it's own trajectory - from 10 shots on 100 m we made a group 7-8", which is not acceptable!
And here is the question - If I cast, size and reload for him some cartridges with 314299 or 316299 mold (I did not slug his barrel yet!) - will those boolits improve the accuracy of the rifle? I'm thinking that the cast boolit will pass better through the barrel groves and this will help for better accuracy. Is this right or wrong?

[Crawdaddy]

If the barrel is worn out I doubt accuracy is going to change with a cast boolit.

I would reccomend checking the bore for pitting and check the condition of the rifling.

If those are ok I would make sure the scope did not work loose. What brand scope did he buy?

[Dorado]

Like Crawdaddy said, Check the bore, and the rifling. I have a M44 that looks like ****, but has great rifling and is very accurate, I can consistent get a 3-4" pattern @100yrds with open sights. If the rifling is good, slug the barrel and find a bullet with an appropriate diameter. These guns diameters vary a lot from gun to gun, I've seen some slugged from .309-.314, mine is .311 I believe that was supposed to be the standard.
Now, if all that is good, Check your ammo. If you are using surplus ammo, some of it may be bad. I have had some that every other round would misfire or wouldn't fire at all. I've also had some new factory ammo that gets stuck in the chamber.
Good luck and have fun. These are a lot of fun to shoot.

[Hang Fire]

You don't say what kind of scope and where mounted, but may not be the rifle at all. If it is one of the scout scope mounts, many of them are notorious (the cheaper the worse they are) for inaccuracy, for they can't hold a zero and throw bullets all over the place.

[311-200]

Thank you guys for the fast reply.

What brand scope did he buy?

The scope is Bushnell 1.5-6X44 Trophy
Dorado - " If you are using surplus ammo, some of it may be bad"
Yes, we tried with surplus and hunting ammo!
I'll check the bore and the rifling this weekend.

[Milsurp Junkie]

Check the crown and the rifling around the crown.

[Mooseman]

There are many reasons for this to be happening and the above are the most common.
As was mentioned a Cheap mount and rings is the most common problem, the aluminum bar scout scope mount that replaces the rear sight is the worst one I have encountered. Pure Junk IMHO !
Gold Bear and Wolf hunting ammo is not real consistent as far as groups go.
Also Barrel to stock contact can come into play.
Trigger pull / letoff can factor in.
Are you Benchresting the rifle or shooting offhand ?
Are the Action screws tight ?

[Pigslayer]

Hi guys,
I friend of mine has an Russian M91- 7.62X54R rifle. He has bought a new riflescope for this rifle, but we couldn't make a group of shots on the target with jacketed bullets factory made. I suggested that the barrel is worn out from the jacketed bullets. Every bullet has it's own trajectory - from 10 shots on 100 m we made a group 7-8", which is not acceptable!
And here is the question - If I cast, size and reload for him some cartridges with 314299 or 316299 mold (I did not slug his barrel yet!) - will those boolits improve the accuracy of the rifle? I'm thinking that the cast boolit will pass better through the barrel groves and this will help for better accuracy. Is this right or wrong?

Slug the barrel. Only way you're going to know. Some of those bores slug really large. Mine slugged .313. I cut bullet holes at 25 yds & a little less than 2" at fifty with surplus ammo & open sights. Don't guess at it, take the time to do the math!
I'll do 100 yards next week. What jacketed bullets are you using and what is their diameter? My jacketed were .311 in a .313 bore and shot O.K.. I'm looking for better with cast. Good luck & don't get discouraged!! Those rifles are cheap right now & I'm going to get another. I'll take a cleaning & slug kit with me & maybe a headspace guage.

[311-200]

My friend use the rifle for hunting.That's why the scope range is 1.5-6 He is hunting with his dogs in the wood where the distances are 30-50 m , some times even 10-15 m, but he wants to know that if he see an wild boar on the field 100-150 m away , he will have the opportunity to take the game! I try to help him with this question.

[blackthorn]

Have you cleaned the rifle REALLY well? That is where I always start with any used rifle.

[homesteading1]

Hello,
My experience with the mosin is that they all had extremely dark bores and I had to use my cleaning rod attached to a drill with a soping wet patch of kroil to get it clean and shot some and clean again and repeat several times.
My accuracy improved over time. I would remove the scope and use the iron sights at 50 yards to zero it and then remount the scope and retest.

Best of luck,
Dave

[311-200]

Thank you guys!

[1Shirt]

It is my experiance with Mosins, particularly of the WWII era, that they are extremely fouled from jacket material. Many many cleanings MAY help. My 91 required numerous applications of a foam bore cleaner before it stopped turning blue. After that a few cleanings with BoreTech and the bore looks pretty good and shoots very well. I doubt that the average Russian soldier did much cleaning of his rifle. In field use, it was probably at best a couple of patches with a poor solvent, maybe followed possibly by one or two with oil. The advice on the mounts and the quality of the scopes for forward mounting is very good. For the type of hunting that you are talking about, I would stick to issue sights and forget the long range. You would probably have much less consternation, and much more sucess. Good luck!
1Shirt!

[390ish]

I bet it has a lot of copper in the barrel. Buy something ammonia based and follow the directions. Nagants will generally shoot well with cheap ammo.

[Boolseye]

while we're on the subject–does anyone have an opinion about the cleaning jag and rod that come with the gun? I've been using them and they work great, but I don't want to damage the bore if they're too primitive (too much steel).

[311-200]

Thank you guys!
Marry Christmas and a successful New Year!