- Location
- Beaverlodge, Alberta
Back in 2012-13 timeframe when the waves of Russian Molot snipers were landing in Canada I picked one up from P&S. Lovely ‘44 Tula with an SVT scope if I remember correctly. I remember it being a pretty rifle, but cumbersome to shoot and cycle, and not particularly accurate with surplus light ball. At that time I wasn’t looking to reload for another caliber. In 2014 I sold off most of my collection to go back to school, and sold the Mosin.
Well, flash forward nearly a decade and a half, and I’ve been thinking about that old rifle. What once was a dirt cheap $750 WWII sniper has now doubled in value. I worked out a deal for a trade with a fellow on GP for a Ross I had restored (I only keep originals and select restored military rifles these days) for a ‘42 Izhevsk with a matching mount and post war repro scope. The rifle is complete with sling and action cover (both missing with the Tula). I set my hopes low for accuracy with this one and headed to the range with it upon arrival with a couple boxes of 80 year old surplus light ball.
The Tula rifle had a horrible, mushy and crunchy trigger, with enough notch, rough creep that I still distinctly remember it. Not so much with this one. The trigger rivals anything Ross put out, and breaks lighter than even my factory sporting rifles.
The first groups were about 6” low and 9” right. I used the turrets to dial them in, and each successive group amazed me. Except for the occasional cheap like Borscht surplus flyer, this thing was consistently pushing on MOA accuracy as delivered!
I took it home, gave the stock another shot of BLO after boiling the salts out of the bore and giving it a good Hoppes wipe down and out. Someone had previously stripped the red shellac off the stock and sanded it. Only a detractor if I had bought it as a collector (it’ll be shot a lot). The birch stock is surprisingly beautiful refinished, and looks stunning compared to the slopped on refurb candy Apple red shellac.
A few days later, I decided to take it out again, this time bringing tools, an empty aluminum can, and some fresh targets. Before leaving the house, I re checked scope level using the rear sight ears as a level reference, and found the scope quite canted. After a quick re align it was off to the range.
I reset the windage turret to zero, and the elevation turret to 1. The first shots showed elevation was now on, and windage was 6.5” right. Two beer can shims ought to fix that! I was surprised to find the brass shims under the base were packed full of cosmoline and must have been done at refurb. I added 0.006” of shim, and retightened everything down. The first group was bang on! Now it’s time to work up a load, so I fired a few groups through the chrony for fun. Average speeds were between 2750 and 2800fps. Now there’s a speed to aim for.
7.62x54R light ball is still available locally, and I have a bunch left. So I’ve ordered a hundred new PRVI brass and bought a set of dies. I’ll break the ammo down and average the charge weight and re load it into the new cases at the same length as the surplus with non corrosive boxer primers, and see if that tightens things up. I’ll also try some 150gr 311 hunting bullets I have, and may go after a wolf or two with it this winter. I’m now a big fan of the Mosin platform!
Well, flash forward nearly a decade and a half, and I’ve been thinking about that old rifle. What once was a dirt cheap $750 WWII sniper has now doubled in value. I worked out a deal for a trade with a fellow on GP for a Ross I had restored (I only keep originals and select restored military rifles these days) for a ‘42 Izhevsk with a matching mount and post war repro scope. The rifle is complete with sling and action cover (both missing with the Tula). I set my hopes low for accuracy with this one and headed to the range with it upon arrival with a couple boxes of 80 year old surplus light ball.
The Tula rifle had a horrible, mushy and crunchy trigger, with enough notch, rough creep that I still distinctly remember it. Not so much with this one. The trigger rivals anything Ross put out, and breaks lighter than even my factory sporting rifles.
The first groups were about 6” low and 9” right. I used the turrets to dial them in, and each successive group amazed me. Except for the occasional cheap like Borscht surplus flyer, this thing was consistently pushing on MOA accuracy as delivered!
I took it home, gave the stock another shot of BLO after boiling the salts out of the bore and giving it a good Hoppes wipe down and out. Someone had previously stripped the red shellac off the stock and sanded it. Only a detractor if I had bought it as a collector (it’ll be shot a lot). The birch stock is surprisingly beautiful refinished, and looks stunning compared to the slopped on refurb candy Apple red shellac.
A few days later, I decided to take it out again, this time bringing tools, an empty aluminum can, and some fresh targets. Before leaving the house, I re checked scope level using the rear sight ears as a level reference, and found the scope quite canted. After a quick re align it was off to the range.
I reset the windage turret to zero, and the elevation turret to 1. The first shots showed elevation was now on, and windage was 6.5” right. Two beer can shims ought to fix that! I was surprised to find the brass shims under the base were packed full of cosmoline and must have been done at refurb. I added 0.006” of shim, and retightened everything down. The first group was bang on! Now it’s time to work up a load, so I fired a few groups through the chrony for fun. Average speeds were between 2750 and 2800fps. Now there’s a speed to aim for.
7.62x54R light ball is still available locally, and I have a bunch left. So I’ve ordered a hundred new PRVI brass and bought a set of dies. I’ll break the ammo down and average the charge weight and re load it into the new cases at the same length as the surplus with non corrosive boxer primers, and see if that tightens things up. I’ll also try some 150gr 311 hunting bullets I have, and may go after a wolf or two with it this winter. I’m now a big fan of the Mosin platform!
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