Hey guys,
I have done a few "range reports' in the past while, and have recieved lots of positive feedback, so I was thinking I'd keep it going.
Well today I was out again at my range so I figured I may aswell take another one of my surplus rifles out and do a range report. Today I had with me my bolt and reciever matched 1901 dated Sestroryetsk M1891 Mosin Nagant rifle. The rifle is built on an 1897 reciever - which I found cool. The rifle sure has been through a lot but is in great shape dispite its age.
The rifle itself is still in its original Russian stock, which has been ungraded at one point in time with an upper handguard, a crossbolt and the Konovolov rear sight, which is marked in Imperial Russian arshini - which today proved a problem finding which elevation to be at until I looked on the other side and realized the Finns restruck the sight in meters
The rifle
Finn struck out arshini
The rifle is an interesting piece of history in itself, the stock is marked with the German WWI capture mark commonly known as the "Deutchreich" stamp, an Austrian "A" on the stock, a Bulgarian "Pinecone" stamp and the Finnish army [SA] stamp. The rifle also still has its original Imperal Russian Czar II crests intact and the PK or "Probaya Kommissia" - proof commision marks on the barrel. One thing is for sure, the rifle has been around, and seen a few things, which of course is why its lovingly referred to as the "Sl*t of the third world".
German capture mark
HISTORY:
Of course there is no way to tell the history of any given milsurp, however I think I have a general idea as to where it has been and when. The rifle was made in 1901 at Sestroryetsk arsenal, which at the time was located just 16 miles from Leningrad/Petrograd/St. Petersburg on the Sestra river. The rifle may or may not have served in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. During 1908 changes and updates were introduced to these rifles, some of which being the introduction of the new "Konovolov" rear sight, which is marked in Arshini, an Russian Imperial unit of measurement calibrated by paces of the Czar This new sight was calibrated around the new spitzer bullets, as prior to this the M1891 series of rifles were chambered for black powder roundnose bullets. The addition of a metal crossbolt and an upper handguard were also introduced, among other small improvements. The rifle then I am sure of served with the Russian army in WWI, whereby it was captured at some point - perhaps in combat/other. This is evident by the German Army WWI "DeutchReich" capture mark on the stock. The rifle then (I believe) ended up in Austrian hands somehow, perhaps given by Germany as aid to an ally. It is well documented that prior to WWII Germany sold/gave many Mosin Nagant rifles to Finland to arm her soldiers prior to the Winter and Continuation War. My rifle bears the [SA] and D Finn stamps, which I believe fit in with the timeframe of events. This particular rifle also has Finn added shims under the stock, and has been opened up to take the Finn D166 heavy ball cartridge. These rifles were then used agaist their former owners in the wars between Finland and Russia. After this I have no idea where was, and I am really clueless as to how the rifle ended up in Ontario. Anyway thats what I roughly assume my rifle has been through, of course this is speculation and there is no way to know for sure. If I am wrong with any of the above facts PLEASE correct me! I am always interested in learning about these rifles.
One thing I find very interesting about this rifle is the number of correct era parts, such as the early copper rivets, the early barrel bands, the original Sestroryetsk trigger and Imperial era cleaning rod and screws. One thing I have noticed is almost no blueing remains, however a very nice patina has set in, really adding to the history and "been there, done that" look.
Anyway, down to what really matters - the shooting.
Today was fairly nice in terms of weather, around the freezing mark with some fairly light winds coming straight at the firing line. The sky was clear and sunny, and overall was decent weather to shoot in.
For the purposes of this I was using my reloads, which are 150gr .311 FMJBT bullets, with 48gr of Reloader 15 powder, and Federal primers. I found this combination to not feed to well in this rifle, however I am sure this is due to the rifle being designed around black powder roundnose bullets. The rifle does feed, it just needs a help every few rounds. To me this isnt a problem, im not going to be using this in combat.
ammo
The rifle has a decent sight picture, much different from that of the standard 91/30s, M38s and M44s. The sight picture is very fine and pinpointing a spot on a target is easy. The rifles extra weight and length really eat up the recoil, and felt recoil is very mild. The rifle has a very long, but consistant trigger pull, which I found pleasent enough to shoot. Not the best for precise target work, but for combat 109 yrs ago im sure it was just fine
The rifle extracted all rounds about 5 ft to the right, and has probably the most aggressive extractor I have ever seen...I like it, it works, and will always work. I had no fails to fire or jams of any sort, aside from the funky feeding. A note - the rifle was fired off a front rest.
Pictures
Me shooting
I fired several groups with the best results being two touching at 50m, and a 2ish inch grouping at 100m, I am VERY happy with the results for this rifle, as many were half expecting it to fall apart (which by the way, is completely unture, this rifle is SOLID through and through, no movement or play anywhere).
The targets:
50m - well centered point of aim group. This was shot with a different load, written down somewhere, escapes me right now.
The loads today
50m
100m
Overall this rifle was a real joy to shoot and I am fascinated by the history involved with it. I consider myself very lucky to be able to own, hold and use this real piece of world history. The rifle was a very pleasent shooter, and will be getting some more range time in the future, although I do take it easy on her, after all, shes gettin old
as they say "shes old, but she'll hold"
Thanks for reading, any and all comments/feedback/corrections VERY much appreciated!
I have done a few "range reports' in the past while, and have recieved lots of positive feedback, so I was thinking I'd keep it going.
Well today I was out again at my range so I figured I may aswell take another one of my surplus rifles out and do a range report. Today I had with me my bolt and reciever matched 1901 dated Sestroryetsk M1891 Mosin Nagant rifle. The rifle is built on an 1897 reciever - which I found cool. The rifle sure has been through a lot but is in great shape dispite its age.
The rifle itself is still in its original Russian stock, which has been ungraded at one point in time with an upper handguard, a crossbolt and the Konovolov rear sight, which is marked in Imperial Russian arshini - which today proved a problem finding which elevation to be at until I looked on the other side and realized the Finns restruck the sight in meters
The rifle
Finn struck out arshini
The rifle is an interesting piece of history in itself, the stock is marked with the German WWI capture mark commonly known as the "Deutchreich" stamp, an Austrian "A" on the stock, a Bulgarian "Pinecone" stamp and the Finnish army [SA] stamp. The rifle also still has its original Imperal Russian Czar II crests intact and the PK or "Probaya Kommissia" - proof commision marks on the barrel. One thing is for sure, the rifle has been around, and seen a few things, which of course is why its lovingly referred to as the "Sl*t of the third world".
German capture mark
HISTORY:
Of course there is no way to tell the history of any given milsurp, however I think I have a general idea as to where it has been and when. The rifle was made in 1901 at Sestroryetsk arsenal, which at the time was located just 16 miles from Leningrad/Petrograd/St. Petersburg on the Sestra river. The rifle may or may not have served in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. During 1908 changes and updates were introduced to these rifles, some of which being the introduction of the new "Konovolov" rear sight, which is marked in Arshini, an Russian Imperial unit of measurement calibrated by paces of the Czar
This new sight was calibrated around the new spitzer bullets, as prior to this the M1891 series of rifles were chambered for black powder roundnose bullets. The addition of a metal crossbolt and an upper handguard were also introduced, among other small improvements. The rifle then I am sure of served with the Russian army in WWI, whereby it was captured at some point - perhaps in combat/other. This is evident by the German Army WWI "DeutchReich" capture mark on the stock. The rifle then (I believe) ended up in Austrian hands somehow, perhaps given by Germany as aid to an ally. It is well documented that prior to WWII Germany sold/gave many Mosin Nagant rifles to Finland to arm her soldiers prior to the Winter and Continuation War. My rifle bears the [SA] and D Finn stamps, which I believe fit in with the timeframe of events. This particular rifle also has Finn added shims under the stock, and has been opened up to take the Finn D166 heavy ball cartridge. These rifles were then used agaist their former owners in the wars between Finland and Russia. After this I have no idea where was, and I am really clueless as to how the rifle ended up in Ontario. Anyway thats what I roughly assume my rifle has been through, of course this is speculation and there is no way to know for sure. If I am wrong with any of the above facts PLEASE correct me! I am always interested in learning about these rifles.One thing I find very interesting about this rifle is the number of correct era parts, such as the early copper rivets, the early barrel bands, the original Sestroryetsk trigger and Imperial era cleaning rod and screws. One thing I have noticed is almost no blueing remains, however a very nice patina has set in, really adding to the history and "been there, done that" look.
Anyway, down to what really matters - the shooting.
Today was fairly nice in terms of weather, around the freezing mark with some fairly light winds coming straight at the firing line. The sky was clear and sunny, and overall was decent weather to shoot in.
For the purposes of this I was using my reloads, which are 150gr .311 FMJBT bullets, with 48gr of Reloader 15 powder, and Federal primers. I found this combination to not feed to well in this rifle, however I am sure this is due to the rifle being designed around black powder roundnose bullets. The rifle does feed, it just needs a help every few rounds. To me this isnt a problem, im not going to be using this in combat.
ammo
The rifle has a decent sight picture, much different from that of the standard 91/30s, M38s and M44s. The sight picture is very fine and pinpointing a spot on a target is easy. The rifles extra weight and length really eat up the recoil, and felt recoil is very mild. The rifle has a very long, but consistant trigger pull, which I found pleasent enough to shoot. Not the best for precise target work, but for combat 109 yrs ago im sure it was just fine
The rifle extracted all rounds about 5 ft to the right, and has probably the most aggressive extractor I have ever seen...I like it, it works, and will always work. I had no fails to fire or jams of any sort, aside from the funky feeding. A note - the rifle was fired off a front rest.
Pictures
Me shooting
I fired several groups with the best results being two touching at 50m, and a 2ish inch grouping at 100m, I am VERY happy with the results for this rifle, as many were half expecting it to fall apart (which by the way, is completely unture, this rifle is SOLID through and through, no movement or play anywhere).
The targets:
50m - well centered point of aim group. This was shot with a different load, written down somewhere, escapes me right now.
The loads today
50m
100m
Overall this rifle was a real joy to shoot and I am fascinated by the history involved with it. I consider myself very lucky to be able to own, hold and use this real piece of world history. The rifle was a very pleasent shooter, and will be getting some more range time in the future, although I do take it easy on her, after all, shes gettin old
as they say "shes old, but she'll hold"
Thanks for reading, any and all comments/feedback/corrections VERY much appreciated!
