My 1st 91/30 Mosin Nagant

[audadvnc]

Looks great. You're probably getting collector's fever now. Someday soon you'll own as many of them as I do - two!!

[BuckeyeSgt]

Nice first Mosin. I bet he has a post for his second in less than a month.

[aarbeh]

Looking at the brass stacker scope mount. Like the no-drill option. What are opinions on 91/30 accuracy range and scope magnification to best utilize it? I know scout scopes are the norm but I was hoping to shoot max 600yrd range (that might be wishful thinking) but I read that the no-sniper 91/30 is not designed for this. My goal is a setup that can hit deer/Elk in the 300yrd to 600yrd range. I'm still educating myself on hunting so be kind

http://brassstacker.com/mosin-nagant/

[Junk Yard Dog]

At that range you should consider a commercial sporter chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum. Even the PU ( the real ones) are refurbished wartime rifles with wear on them, a 300 meter shot maybe but a 600 meter shot is seriously pushing it. There is a great deal more to accurate long range shooting than just a scope. This is were the training and skill of the shooter come in to play. Anyone can handle a 100 yard shot, 200 yards would stretch the abilities of most shooters here, past that real skill comes into play. This is were minor variances in the ammo can mean wide variances in were it hits out past 200 yards. Things like wear in the bore that mean little when you are printing a 4MOA group at 100 yards mean that you are now printing one measured in feet at 600 yards. The typical 91/30 will shoot 3-4 MOA at 100 yards with surplus ammo, it's not likely they shot that much better when new. I would not recommend them for anything more than casual plinking at paper targets at ranges past 200 yards. You could end up with an injured animal, or more likely a miss at long ranges using these rifles. There is a reason why commercial sporters and sniper rifles are as expensive as they are, they are a fine tuned instrument, special triggers, pillared and bedded actions, attention to detail far beyond what a wartime arsenal takes when assembling an infantry rifle, and of course they are purpose made to accept the finest scope mounts for the expensive scopes they use. Then we have the most important factor in long range shooting, the shooter, military and law enforcement snipers and well as long range competition shooters are highly trained, and train constantly to keep their skills sharp, yes, they have the tools for the job, but the tools are useless in the hands of someone not trained to use them. This is not the sort of thing we could teach on the forum, this is the sort of training you get in the military if you pass their requirements for sniper training, or you pay a good deal of money to learn from professionals you can find through the NRA.

[aarbeh]

WEll that crushed my dreams LOL but a good dose of reality is always beneficial. Well I guess that changes my question. Sounds like with allot of practice I could ethically and with some level of certainty take down an animal at 200yrds (w/practice). What scope power covers this range ? I am new to scopes so forgive the ignorance. I certainly want to get the most shooting/work out of my 91/30 but I want to keep my expectations in reality. Thanks for the feedback, learning allot.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Pretty much any scope should cover 200 yards without trouble, but of course some are better than others, I will leave that to folks who use more scopes than I do, I shoot iron sight with the milsurps. I have learned that with scopes you get what you pay for, buy cheap and that's what you get, crap. I would expect to pay in the $200 range for something with decent optics. Recommendations anyone? Give them some time to see this and respond.

[aarbeh]

Cool thanks. I have a few scopes laying around but not sure what to use. Sounds like 200yd would be a risky shot but I wonder if it would be good to over scope then under?

BTW: I don't think rifle's barrel was ever cleaned ......EVER

I have been brushing and patching with butches all freaking morning. At first I thought I had the wrong brush was just so guked up. Don't see any major pitting but doesn't look pretty either. The brown color on the patches is going away, replaced by black. Will these patches ever come out clean ?

[Junk Yard Dog]

I am a strong believer in over scoping, then again I got glasses thick as coke bottles these days so I need all the help I can get. The refurbs always have that kind of crud in the bore Trust me, it can be worse

[aarbeh]

Plan is to clean for 20 min then drink a beer and repeat

I will get the barrel clean or I will get drunk ..........or both

not a bad sat either way

[Fred_G]

Plan is to clean for 20 min then drink a beer and repeat

I will get the barrel clean or I will get drunk ..........or both

not a bad sat either way

Guns and beer... Just make sure you keep the ammo in another room! Nice looking rifle! My only Mosin so far is also a 1930 Tula hex. Lots of fun to shoot.
As far as the barrel getting totally clean, I don't think they ever do... You might try pouring some boiling water down the barrel, might help loosen up the gunk.

[aarbeh]

Gah! I just hate the idea of water and fire arms but I have read that it works for some. Made a mistake before, should have been vodka. Well back to bore cleaning.

Thanks All ! post pics from the range tomorrow

[Fred_G]

NO! You got it backwards! Vodka is for the cleaner (meaning the person cleaning the gun), not the gun!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Gah! I just hate the idea of water and fire arms but I have read that it works for some. Made a mistake before, should have been vodka. Well back to bore cleaning.

Thanks All ! post pics from the range tomorrow

Water was the first firearm cleaner, for salt it is the best, your Mosin is tough, water will not harm it. We use boiling water so the heat transfers to the metal and steams off any leftover water. You are cleaning with bore solvents and oil right after so there is no time for any rust to take hold.

[Fred_G]

It still freaks me out to pour water down a barrel, but so far it works great! And like JYD said, if you use enough hot water, the gun will be too hot to touch. I just run a couple of patches down the barrel after the water treatment, and leave it alone until it cools. Hit it with some cleaner, and it is good to go!

JYD, do you oil the barrel after cleaning? That I don't do unless a gun is going into long term storage. Am I missing a step? Talking about the inside of the barrel, to be more specific, I give the outside a light coat.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I always oil the bore when I am done, in the summers humidity rust can start to form on dry metal in hours. I just run a clean patch down the bore before shooting to remove the oil. I cosmoline the bores when I put the rifles into storage.

[Fred_G]

Good to know. I checked the old guns today, all is well in the barrels, but gun oil is cheap. I will apply a light coat in the AM.

[aarbeh]

Thanks guys ! Ran a pot of boiling water down the barrel. only complaint is its a little messy and got to be careful but I think I just need some rubber tubing on the funnel end to keep the H2O in the barrel and not running all over. Helped a good deal. Seemed like the brass brush scrubbing went much easier after. Still took some elbow grease but eventually got "clean" patches to come out with less than 10% light color. I read firing some lead down the barrel and cleaning right after will take care of the rest. I soaked some patches in Balistol oil and ran them through after to give the barrel some oil. I checked and re-checked and Balistol is appropriate for that use, although others have different preferences. Bla Bla Bla taking it out to shoot tomorrow ............should be a blast. this will be the biggest caliber rifle I have ever fired. Exciting

I shall kill large sheets of paper ! For the motherland !

[Fred_G]

The motherland awaits a range report! Fire the dang thing already! And take pitchers!

[aarbeh]

Range report.

Thats a kick! Biggest gun I have fired yet. The 30-30 a close second. Felt good but I can see why people add the extra but pad on the end. I'm long armed so that will be the second adjustment to the gun. First is a dang stipper clip ! The little metal strip for re-loading ya. I kept getting the ammo jammed up inside the loading space. Got about 25 rounds down the range but at the end two got so jammed up in there I couldnt figure out how to get them out. When I got home I realized that on the inside opposite the bolt handle is a small leaf spring that sticks out. The shell ends kept getting stuck in the hole underneath it. I will take pics of what I'm talking about later. Got them out with little trouble. Now for the performance evaluation on accuracy.
At 50 yrds was not bad, at least 70% chance I could down a man size or bigger target but it shoots high and to the right significantly ........almost obnoxiously. Two guys with 91/30's showed up and had the same problem. One guy thought it was because you're supposed to shoot with bayonet on because it changes the harmonics of the barrel. Not sure I buy that. I would rather just order my brass stacker scope mount and sight it in with a scope. Hitting anything past 100yrds with iron sights as is will be 50/50 at best. All in all, it was as fun as I hoped and will take some time to work out the bugs. I feel I have a very good chance of hitting a target at 200 yrds with a decent amount of accuracy once I mount a scope.

Any advice, opinions or thoughts are welcome.

[Fred_G]

Mine shoots high also. But keep in mind, if I am not mistaken, they made these to shoot around 200 or 300 meters! The Elby Sight Tool will let you adjust your sight for L/R problems. Look at the banner add above.

They are fun guns! if you shot surplus ammo, make sure you give it a good cleaning, that stuff is corrosive. I am a wimp, put a LimbSaver on mine, love it. Now, where are the pitchers?