Inaccurate Mosin

KillerPM

Regular
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I had my Mosin out to Silverdale last Saturday and shot a few rounds (2nd time I took it out). After firing 5 and checking the paper (on the 50 range) only one had hit. Shot 5 more and 2 had hit paper nowhere close to each other.

My question, is there anything I can do to make this rifle shoot better or is it just shot out. The crown looks good, bolt moves smoothly, rifling looks good and simi shiny and sharp with no pitting. I was thinking it could be the ammo. I am shooting MFS stuff that I bought at Al Simmons (I got the mosin there too). Its 183 grain (I think, I forget at the moment). Too heavy?

I dont expect a tack driver or anything, just something that I can hit the paper 90% of the time.

In other news, my SKS fires great. I took it over to the 200 yard gong and was hitting it very consistently. Out of 20 shots, 18 hit. Not bad for a 60 year old, $200 milsurp. I broke the Murray fireing pin, but that's another story.

What should I do with the mosin?
 
try the mosin with 147 grain ammo. then try shoting it with the boyonet on and then with it off. i think they were all sighted in with it on. you should be shooting high until 200 meters. i hope any of this helps.

cheers
angry
 
go to box of truth and check out "corking a mosin"
Basically just placing a piece of cork under the front of the barrel to hep retain tension.
 
Mosins were sighted in at 100 yards, prone, from a rest, with the left hand supporting the gun on the rest and the rear sight at 3, which is 300 meters. They aimed at the bottom of a rectangle 30cm tall and 20cm wide and fired 4 shot groups. If all 4 shots were inside a 15 cm circle, the rifle was considered zeroed This is all with the bayo fixed, as Soviet military doctrine pretty much required the bayonet to be on unless it was completely impractical. Removing the bayo will possibly change your zero as it could affect the barrel harmonics.
 
Mosins were sighted in at 100 yards, prone, from a rest, with the left hand supporting the gun on the rest and the rear sight at 3, which is 300 meters. They aimed at the bottom of a rectangle 30cm tall and 20cm wide and fired 4 shot groups. If all 4 shots were inside a 15 cm circle, the rifle was considered zeroed This is all with the bayo fixed, as Soviet military doctrine pretty much required the bayonet to be on unless it was completely impractical. Removing the bayo will possibly change your zero as it could affect the barrel harmonics.

I have heard about the bayonet and where the rifle would shoot zeroed in. The question I have here is if the bayonet is off, should it not still shoot some sort of grouping but in a different spot? Or would this throw the barrel off and make it shoot a 1 meter grouping? I don't really want to shoot the thing with the bayo on. It looks just too off the wall.

I am going to try 147 grain ammo and "corking" the barrel. I know with the rifling and barrel looking as good as it does that it should shoot way better then it is.
 
How does your crown look like?
Your rifling may look good, but with mosin nagant soldiers would clean it from muzzle end and wear the crown off. So it may affect your groups.

I have heard about the bayonet and where the rifle would shoot zeroed in. The question I have here is if the bayonet is off, should it not still shoot some sort of grouping but in a different spot? Or would this throw the barrel off and make it shoot a 1 meter grouping? I don't really want to shoot the thing with the bayo on. It looks just too off the wall.

I am going to try 147 grain ammo and "corking" the barrel. I know with the rifling and barrel looking as good as it does that it should shoot way better then it is.
 
I had my Mosin out to Silverdale last Saturday and shot a few rounds (2nd time I took it out). After firing 5 and checking the paper (on the 50 range) only one had hit. Shot 5 more and 2 had hit paper nowhere close to each other.

My question, is there anything I can do to make this rifle shoot better or is it just shot out. The crown looks good, bolt moves smoothly, rifling looks good and simi shiny and sharp with no pitting. I was thinking it could be the ammo. I am shooting MFS stuff that I bought at Al Simmons (I got the mosin there too). Its 183 grain (I think, I forget at the moment). Too heavy?

I dont expect a tack driver or anything, just something that I can hit the paper 90% of the time.

In other news, my SKS fires great. I took it over to the 200 yard gong and was hitting it very consistently. Out of 20 shots, 18 hit. Not bad for a 60 year old, $200 milsurp. I broke the Murray fireing pin, but that's another story.

What should I do with the mosin?

I shoot regularly at Silverdale (aside from the past several weeks, as I'm busy with school right now) but did get my 91/30 our a couple times earlier in the season. For comparison, mine has a decent bore but with obvious signs of use in it's 86 years of life. On a good day, I could get all or at least 90% of my shots on a standard target firing freehand at 100 yards. I get 90-100% hits on the gong from the bench, sitting on the ground (with or without shooting sticks) and prone. I might need to shoot a group on the 200yard targets to figure our my sight picture (one or two shots might miss vertically or horizontally, but that probably has more to do with my eyes than accuracy).

Before doing anything radical, I'd suggest checking your rifle over to ensure that everything is tight, as the rear action screws on these rifles are often loose, which can cause a fair bit of stock movement. It's also possible that the rifle will consistently shoot to the right if it was sighted in for use with the bayo. I'd try boresighting the rifle to see if the sights are reasonably aligned with the bore, which is easy enough to do so long as you've got a couple sandbags or a basic rest to steady the rifle.
 
My 1944 Tula ex sniper shoots way high and to the right without the bayonet. (almost off the paper). With it attached, she still shoots a bit to the right, but I get dime sized groups in the 9 ring at 100 meters.
 
Just an update.

I switched to lighter ammunition (Barnaul 174 grain stuff, Russian, non corrosive, brass plated) as well as "corked" the front of my stock as suggested above.

I can now hit the paper consistently. I might bed the entire stock to the barrel/receiver if I am feeling ambitious one day.

The next problem I need to tackle is the front sight. It was loose and I shimmed it and aligned it to its proof mark. Are there any better front sight options? I know this rifle can do better.
 
My 1944 Tula ex sniper shoots way high and to the right without the bayonet. (almost off the paper). With it attached, she still shoots a bit to the right, but I get dime sized groups in the 9 ring at 100 meters.

Thought it was just me, my 1943 shoots high and right,, I’m heading out today to try a number of different loads, with .308 150gr bullets and .310 123gr bullets. I think my MN is in good to excellent condition,, check it out,,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeSY9DiJfRM&feature=youtu.be
 
Don't forget, your mosin has been out of service for many years. I would bet that the stock has shrunken away from the action a bit and the action is moving in the stock during firing. A little bit of bedding compound can stop it moving so much, or you can use little shims like the Finns did. If you reload, load up some hornady .312" bullets they tend to work well in MN's. I have had good luck with hornady 123gr bullets as well.
 
I did a ton of research and ended up shimming my action with cut from a surplus spam can. I put oiled felt under the chamber and wrapped the barrel inoiled canvas. Great improvement. I couldn't hit anything with mfs 203 gr.
 
Just an update.

I switched to lighter ammunition (Barnaul 174 grain stuff, Russian, non corrosive, brass plated) as well as "corked" the front of my stock as suggested above.

I can now hit the paper consistently. I might bed the entire stock to the barrel/receiver if I am feeling ambitious one day.

The next problem I need to tackle is the front sight. It was loose and I shimmed it and aligned it to its proof mark. Are there any better front sight options? I know this rifle can do better.

There's some pretty cool adjustable sights that you might what to check out

http://www.smith-sights.com/
 
Been messing with my Mosin, started without the bayo, MFS 205gr SP, couldnt touch the paper @ 100. With the bayo on, a small windage adjustment, she is about 6 inches high @ 100 but coming in on centre.
 
Part of the problem with Mosins shooting high is muzzle jump. The barrel is so long, the recoil is pushing the muzzle up before the projectile has left.

Had the same problem with my mosin shoot off hand. If I shoot it from a rest, and pull tension on the sling to keep it hard against the rest, it'll shoot on.
I found 150g rounds fended better for muzzle jump, generating less recoil, and moving out the barrel faster.
 
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