Josh Smith
03-19-2011, 11:48 PM
Hello,
I got tired of trying to decide between an AR rifle and a few others -- I'll still be getting the AR, don't get me wrong, but I needed a long gun now that wasn't a muzzle stuffer.
I went to Dunham's and talked the manager down to $79 for a non-laminated M/N 91/30 made in '39.
It does not appear to have been fired. I'm sure it must have been sometime in the past, but my old M44 (which I no longer have) had a brown bore. This bore looks new, as does the stock and danged near everything else.
What are the chances of finding one that's maybe not been fired?
I would rate this one in 95% condition. This is ONLY because it's had its markings (serial number, sight graduations, etc) painted red.
Here is what I ended up with:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Mosin%20Nagant/MN.jpg
New or refurb, it's nice. The first thing I did to it was clean the cosmoline out. I just wiped off what I could see, ran a few patches down the bore, wrapped everything in paper towels, and let it bleed out by a heater overnight.
I then polished the chamber to get rid of any that might have been left over from swabbing it out, when it cooled, then shimmed the receiver (just a standard thing I do with certain types of rifles) and shimmed the barrel.
I also bought a few rounds of "88" marked (probably) Russkie (probably) 148grn ball. I fired five, and this is the result:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Mosin%20Nagant/targetmeasured.jpg
It's shooting high.
Shots were about 7" above point of aim, which I was afraid might happen, so, I pulled the shims from the barrel. It's floating now, which experience tells me will make it start shooting in circles, so I'll figure something out. I don't want anything permanent.
The flier marked "called" was the first shot, and it's right where I put it -- but I noticed my group wasn't going to be centered, so I shifted my body a bit to bring the remainder onto the center of the target. One of these shots was an unexplained flier. It was right off the paper and about centered between the group I called and the first shot. I know it wasn't me; I'm going to say it was probably the surplus ammo.
After shooting it tomorrow to make sure it still shoots high and check the group without the shims, I will reinstall the shims (if the group is larger than today's; if not, I won't mess with 'em) and install an adjustable front sight. The one thing about the M/N that has always bothered me is the lack of fine sight adjustment, so I bought a front sight a while back and started drilling it. It's now ready for a post I'll make from drill stock, and a 4-40 set screw to hold it, ala the M1 Garand. I should still be able to install the bayonet as nothing will protrude. The stock sight will be kept put up, safe, so I can return it to stock whenever I feel like it.
This is a surprisingly nice rifle that shoots nicely, especially considering what it is.
Josh
I got tired of trying to decide between an AR rifle and a few others -- I'll still be getting the AR, don't get me wrong, but I needed a long gun now that wasn't a muzzle stuffer.
I went to Dunham's and talked the manager down to $79 for a non-laminated M/N 91/30 made in '39.
It does not appear to have been fired. I'm sure it must have been sometime in the past, but my old M44 (which I no longer have) had a brown bore. This bore looks new, as does the stock and danged near everything else.
What are the chances of finding one that's maybe not been fired?
I would rate this one in 95% condition. This is ONLY because it's had its markings (serial number, sight graduations, etc) painted red.
Here is what I ended up with:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Mosin%20Nagant/MN.jpg
New or refurb, it's nice. The first thing I did to it was clean the cosmoline out. I just wiped off what I could see, ran a few patches down the bore, wrapped everything in paper towels, and let it bleed out by a heater overnight.
I then polished the chamber to get rid of any that might have been left over from swabbing it out, when it cooled, then shimmed the receiver (just a standard thing I do with certain types of rifles) and shimmed the barrel.
I also bought a few rounds of "88" marked (probably) Russkie (probably) 148grn ball. I fired five, and this is the result:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Mosin%20Nagant/targetmeasured.jpg
It's shooting high.
Shots were about 7" above point of aim, which I was afraid might happen, so, I pulled the shims from the barrel. It's floating now, which experience tells me will make it start shooting in circles, so I'll figure something out. I don't want anything permanent.
The flier marked "called" was the first shot, and it's right where I put it -- but I noticed my group wasn't going to be centered, so I shifted my body a bit to bring the remainder onto the center of the target. One of these shots was an unexplained flier. It was right off the paper and about centered between the group I called and the first shot. I know it wasn't me; I'm going to say it was probably the surplus ammo.
After shooting it tomorrow to make sure it still shoots high and check the group without the shims, I will reinstall the shims (if the group is larger than today's; if not, I won't mess with 'em) and install an adjustable front sight. The one thing about the M/N that has always bothered me is the lack of fine sight adjustment, so I bought a front sight a while back and started drilling it. It's now ready for a post I'll make from drill stock, and a 4-40 set screw to hold it, ala the M1 Garand. I should still be able to install the bayonet as nothing will protrude. The stock sight will be kept put up, safe, so I can return it to stock whenever I feel like it.
This is a surprisingly nice rifle that shoots nicely, especially considering what it is.
Josh