Mosin Nagant Help

[fish0123]

I finally got around to adjusting the iron sights and loading up some 7.62x54 rounds to try. My rifle was shooting about a foot high at 50 yds with milsurp ammo so I took a piece of 1/8" brass rod stock and chucked it in my dremel and turned it down with sandpaper till it was a press fit into the original front sight hood. I left if long so I could file it down as needed.

The load I am using is 33 grains of BLC2 with dacron filler. Lyman 314299 which drops at .313, gas checked, running through .314 sizer with RandyRat lube. Water cooled wheel weights. Lapua brass with CCI 200 primers. Overall length is 2.879". The rifle slugs at .312. All measurements were taken with a micrometer, not caliper.

My problem is I can't hit an 8.5x11 piece of paper at 50 yds shooting from sand bags with this load. The bullets are also hitting the target sideways. One shot will be over the target while the next will be under. The windage is pretty good though. Can anyone provide any advice as to what to try? I have been using this mold in my 30-06 with great results and was surprised to see such poor accuracy from this load.

[338RemUltraMag]

I would try a larger boolit, the throat on mine is .316 with a bore of .311 and needs a boolit of .314-.315 for best accuracy.

[fish0123]

OK thanks for the help. Ill try putting some foil between the mold halves or just get one of those .316 NOE molds.

I was wondering if in this case loading the rounds longer until the bullet contacts the rifling would help. I'll try that because the 316 mold is out of stock and I have had nothing but trouble putting aluminum tape on molds.

[littlejack]

I can chamber a .318 paper patch boolit down the throat of my M44. The groove diameter is .313. The NOE 316299 boolits did not shoot to suit me in my rifle.
Regards
Jack

[dualsport]

Try it with something like 13 gr. of Red Dot or an equivalent load.

[truckjohn]

Keyholing....
Either going too slow and not stabilizing or something is throwing them off kilter as they leave... That's 314299 is a classic in the Mosin that always performs well... I shoot the same bullet sized the same in my MN's and they love it.... This takes me straight to the Muzzle and rifling... How's that muzzle look? Any dings? Places you see smudges/lead tracks?

The load you are running sounds fairly hot... Have you proven it out in other M/N's previous? This might take me in the direction of Leading issues.... I would load up a few or 10 with 16 grains of 2400 powder and shoot those... Do they keyhole?

T'were mine... I would start with a copper chor-boy pad and some kroil to get any accumulated lead out of the barrel....
Once you verify it's clean.. slug the throat and measure that....
Load up a few with 2400 powder and go from there....

Now.. Before you go cast up a pile of oversize bullets... measure once fired brass to make sure you can CHAMBER big boolits... as you frequently can't get them to stuff in there.... 0.314 is the largest I can get into my MN chambers on a reasonably regular basis.... I am pretty surprised you can get 0.314" bullets in Lapua (Thick) Brass into those chambers without neck turning your brass....

Thanks

[fish0123]

Ok thanks a lot guys. I'll give it a try and report back. I don't have any 2400 or similar powder on hand so it will either have to be fairly slow BLC2, WC844 or fast pistol powders like universal clays or 700x.

As far as I can tell, the rifling looks fine. The bore was scrubbed out real good with a chore boy before shooting it and there was no visible lead in there. I have not tried this load in any other MN's because I don't have access to any more. I'll follow your advise and make sure its nice and clean and slug the throat. The inside of my case necks measure .313 so I don't think I'm going to be able to cram bigger bullets into that chamber.

[Larry Gibson]

The inside of my case necks measure .313 so I don't think I'm going to be able to cram bigger bullets into that chamber.

You can probably use a .314 bullet as there will have been some spring back with the case necks.

Larry Gibson

[fish0123]

The inside of my case necks measure .313 so I don't think I'm going to be able to cram bigger bullets into that chamber.

You can probably use a .314 bullet as there will have been some spring back with the case necks.

Larry Gibson

I didn't think of that. Thanks Larry.

[Blammer]

I'd add more powder and see what shakes loose.

[plus1hdcp]

I had to step up to 316 boolits to finally stop the keyhole effect.

[Green Lizzard]

you might take a fired case, put a slight flare on it and see if the boolit you want to shoot will slip into the neck

[nagantguy]

As always sound advice give buy the good people on this site. I have to agree with truckjohn clean it real well and then really scub it out with chor boy and slug That throat and go from there those old nagants have several life times worth of curd in em also have you used a bore scope? No telling what damage or abuse that old girl has suffered over her life time.

[tomme boy]

Has the muzzle been counterbored?

[fish0123]

Unfortunately I haven't had time to mess with this project any more, but I got my hands on some .316 boolits to try. I plan to slug the throat, check the bore with a scope, and follow everyone's advice when I get a chance.

The muzzle is counter bored, however it is about 3 inches deep. I don't know if that is unusual.

[tomme boy]

Good luck getting it to shoot

[singleshot]

I have several MN's, one 91/30 was throwing boolits all over the place. It had a questionable muzzle that was counterbored, and 2 restrictions at 18" (roughly) and 26" (roughly.) I cut and crowned that one to 16.1" (and put a synthetic stock on it) and now it's happy with anything I've fed it: factory j-words, the 311RD's paper-patched, Lee TL312-160, and the 312-160 PP'd. It likes boolits PP'd to .315, but will shoot the 312-160 gas-checked with 16 grains of 2400 fine, no leading.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Mosins are counterbored because the rifling at the muzzle is ruined......so shorten the barrel. Mosins are often fussy about barrel bedding and action screw tension....so explore that topic. The rifling itself often has multiple layers of fouling and barrel corrosion such as copper, rust, etc. ...So explore electrolysis, and bore cleaning.

Many Mosins shoot very well after rehab so the effort to explore these problems often makes for great improvement.

BvT

[tomme boy]

I had a 91/30 that was severely worn about the last 8"s. I cut the barrel off and silver soldered a M44 front sight onto the barrel. Then shortened the stock to a M44 length. It ended up being one of my most accurate Mosins I have had. I ended up selling it to a friend that uses it as his truck gun on his farm. It has killed many coyotes and skunks.

That counterbore might have gotten to fresh rifling, but I don't think that the gasses going around the boolit in the counterbore is going to do it any favors. I may be wrong????