This one has a tang crack but is in original 7 x 57 chambering. I have shot 4 rounds thru it and prints pretty fine for a milsurp. Everything else on gun appears original
Joneshot, One reason a lot of milsurps don't shoot well is because most people don't know how to use iron sights properly.
I came from a time and place where scoped rifles were unusual to non existent. Don't get me wrong, I use scopes on all of my hunting rifles.
As for that cracked tang inlet, fix it before it turns into something nasty. A few years ago a fellow came to me with a similar milsurp that had been cut down to a 20 in bbl and the wood had been slimmed down way to far for my tastes and the little rifle, although accurate kicked like a mule, even with off the shelf ammo. It had started to lose accuracy. It was a normal MOA or less shooter, when loaded with 175 grain bullets. Always dependable and deadly in the hands of the old boy that it had been given to as a birthday present from his father, back in the early sixties, for his 12th birthday. Milsurps were considered ugly rifles, designed to kill people, not appropriate for hunting by his father and his job, was to have the rifle looking like a decent sporter by the time hunting season started.
Eventually, the brutal recoil on the little, still iron sighted rifle, caused the bone dry stock to split behind the tang. The rifle had been losing accuracy and its very proud owner thought he had likely shot out the bore. I first saw this rifle, a Spanish 93 with 29in bbl at his 12th birthday party. I can remember being happy for him but very jealous. The rifle was new in the grease and still wrapped in wax paper and yellow stained ribbons. It was beautiful.
His father, laid the law down to him and told him no ammo until it was presentable.
That was around 1963, I don't think the rifle has seen more than 10 rounds per year since then. Maybe, 600 rounds. The bore is still pristine.
The rifle had been cleaned normally at the end of every hunting season. Ralph, being a penny pinching man, felt that range time was a waste of good ammo and especially money. His wife is even worse and puckers at both ends she is so frugal.
Ralph could easily afford a lovely fully dressed and scoped Cooper or Kimber, without batting an eyelash, likely out of pocket money he always carries.
Anyway, even though he cleaned the rifle religiously every fall before putting it back into the little safe in his bedroom closet, he hadn't taken the action out of the stock since he refinished it in 1963. He had applied a heavy coat of shiny spar varnish back then, inside and out and felt it should be well sealed forever. He was close to being right. He had applied several coats of spar varnish, which is quite different from the Russian brand. It was so thick, it had acted like bedding. Hey, this was mostly on the inside, unseen.
I looked at the rifle and noticed a hairline, almost un discernible crack, just behind the tang. When Ralph saw this, he mentioned that the rifle had a bit of a "wiggle last fall," so he gave each of the trigger guard screws a half turn until it tightened up again. The stock had obviously shrunk over the decades and the heavy recoil had taken its toll.
We took the barreled action and trigger guard off and it was much worse than it looked on the outside. The crack reached all the way forward, beyond the recoil lug area. We inletted some cross braces into the receiver area and just glass bedded the whole receiver area to just under the barrel shank. Let it sit for a couple of weeks to cure completely, popped it open again to clean up the release agent, put it back together and took it to the range. It was back to being a consistent MOA shooter.
What I'm getting at here, is those old war horses, if untouched, will usually have some sort of bedding issues. Some are soaked in cosmoline and then a well meaning individual gets ahold of it, cleans it up and liberally applies a coat of his/her favorite oil to the bedding area. This is just creating another issue that will raise its ugly head a few years down the road. The oil, will not only soften the wood but it will also provide lubrication for the receiver to move around in its bed. This leads to tightening the receiver screws and it starts to snowball from there.
The same thing happens to a rifle that has been in storage for 50+ years or less. If everything in the rifle, especially the bore looks good, likely it will be a good shooter. I have several milsurps that are MOA shooters. I have seen plenty more. Especially when they are fed ammo they like and the shooter has the skill set to get the best out of them.
Milsurp ammo is not always the best ammo for accuracy. Neither is off shelf preloaded ammo, although it's a lot better now than it was even 10 years ago.
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