Loading for the long Ruskie

[Jack Stanley]

Like many others I bought a 91/30 ..... not that I needed a reason mind you I guess this particular one called my name . Trigger was beyond horrible so I shimmed under the sear spring and polished a burr off the sear . The pull is still very long but now it is smooth and the sear won't release when the rifle is bumped .

This rifle takes the larger .314" bullets much better than anything else , the mold I use is an older Lyman 311299 that drops them at .3155" or so . A pass through my sizer cleans them up at .3143" or so and they seem to work at least as good as ball for accuracy . I had twenty rounds of Privi brass loaded with seventeen point five grains of 2400 and a Winchester large rifle primer out today . First four rounds were on the bottom of the black on a SR1 target from a hundred ten yards out off a sand bag . Next four with the sight corrected was an X , two tens and a nine that just barely slipped out of the ten ring . Next twelve I tried both sitting and kneeling using the sling to steady the long rifle . I was pretty happy to see that all but one shot was a nine or better . the lone shot was a solid eight .

So now I guess I need to load a little more and see how bad I am from the offhand position huh? It's a neat ol' rifle , having the front sight that far away from my eye seem to be a blessing in disguise [smilie=l:

Jack

[roots911]

Jack,
I have been loading the NOE mold fat 311299 style bullet sized to .315 over 13 grains of red dot and have had great accuracy. This weekend we were shooting steel at 100 yards and a 2 inch dia swinging disc was hit with each shot. That is less than 2 minutes of angle at 100 yards. Of course I cheated a little- I removed the rear sight completely and mounted a 4x long eye relief NcStar scope on the machined 3/8 male dovetail that is under the rear sight. Used extra high Weaver 22 type rings (1 in dia) and anchored the rear one by notching it and reinserting the original rear sight lock pin. Scope has not moved in over 300 rounds. The load is strong enough to swing the 6 inch dia. steel discs on a dueling tree at 100 yards. A good number of people were amazed at how well an ancient $90 "piece of Russian #%#%%" out shot them!
Have fun with it!
Frank

[1Shirt]

It is well worth your time to try beagleing a few other 30 molds for your MN. Mine likes 311284, 311332, and don't pass up the 155 lee. Mine wants .314. Will shoot .3135, but accuracy doesn't equal .314. Good luck.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Buckshot]

...............Jack, you should check with Swede at NOE and see if he has any heavy "Fat 30" moulds on hand. Some of those 91/30's will really shoot with a bit of tinkering and a boolit that fits. I have several and a couple of'em needed a bit of attention to the bedding and some other minor wood work for'em to really show their stuff.

...............Buckshot

[Jack Stanley]

Somewhere around here I have a copy of the LEE group buy for the 311291 that went a bit fat . If I remember it runs at about 3144" or so and while I tried it in the 91/59 I haven't used it in the 91/30 . I probably should try it because I think it would have a bit more bearing surface than the oversize 311299 would . I've had a chance to load these twenty cases several times now and the results are quite good . I don't know as I want to fool with the trigger much more , it is better than it was and other than a long pull it is smooth . For me learning to overcome triggers like these helps me do better overall with military rifle I think .

I have a few thirty-one caliber barrels around here , I'm sure I will find one that just loves this mold . While I am cleaning up leftovers of bullets cast long ago , I may even find some cast in the LEE group buy mold . I'm sure I will try that in the long rifle when I start loading them for the short barrel carbine .

Jack

[Hang Fire]

The most accurate boolit have found for my MN with a .314” bore is the Lee 8mm C324-175-1R sized down to .315” from .324” using Lee push through sizing die and Lee Classic Cast press which has the leverage to do it in one pass with ease.

[Surplus Shooter]

Nice load seems to work fairly well any pictures.

[Char-Gar]

I have not loaded for mine yet, but it has a .314 X .302 barrel specs. I have several molds that will fit that well...now where is my Round Tuit?

[dnepr]

It is well worth your time to try beagleing a few other 30 molds for your MN. Mine likes 311284, 311332, and don't pass up the 155 lee. Mine wants .314. Will shoot .3135, but accuracy doesn't equal .314. Good luck.
1Shirt!:coffee:

+1 on the lee 155 tried it just for a real light load and my mosin likes it ,these were unsized and no GC, the mosin was putting them into an inch at 25 yards , they were plodding along at 1050 fps I haven;t tried them at longer ranges , may loose stability but for a fun or grouse getters these work well

[Jack Stanley]

I think the first group buy I ever got in on was the Lee six cavity that Chargar put on years ago . This 311291 style drops just over .314" and I'm sure I'll try that one for a light plinking load . Come to think of it I have some of those cast up and waiting for a turn in the tube . As I use up the different scraps of leftover bullets/alloy I'll get to them ;)should be fun too :smile:

Jack