Almost done my entire Bubba Mosin! Purists need not open this thread!!! (pic heavy)

MuthaFunk

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Target Bubba Mosin! Purists need not open this thread!!! (pic heavy)

So I bought this Mosin of the EE and it shot really well. It was already cut and bedded with a shiny bent bolt in a green painted Monte Carlo ATI stock. The stock felt good but I never liked the look of it. After essentially falling in love with the rifle and becoming my main range rifle I decided more bubba work was warranted.

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I ordered some Mosin pillars up from the states and used JB Weld to get them mounted.

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While I had the action apart I did a sweet trigger job! I'm very pleased with how light and smooth it came out.

First I polished the inside surface of the trigger.

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Then the mating surface on the sear.

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After that the most important area to polish up to a mirror finish is the actual sear portion that engages the hammer and the hammer.

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I made my own trigger take up spring out of a paper clip by wrapping it around the actual trigger roll pin.

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This was my first spring made out of a pen spring, but it was too light for the application.

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Now I've been warned against using washers under the sear and for what reason I cannot say. As far as I can tell, they are an easy way to reduce your trigger pull and the amount of work needed to get the sear down to where it's usable without a lot of grinding and hence softening of the sear metal itself.

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The only trick to doing this is to make sure upon final torquing of the sear you don't skew the sear to contact the actions edge. Make sure you still have clearance on both sides of the sear through the action.

Don't do this:

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It should look like this:

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Next I made some shims out of a beer can to take up some slack on the trigger sides.

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Now it's not super easy to get all this stuff back together properly but a neat trick I learned was to use floss to pull the spring into place.

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Next bend and trim the take up spring so it doesn't interfear with the movement of the sear or anything else.


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The blueing on this particular Mosin was quite worn. I simply used High Heat paint to freshen it up. It looked decent right out of booth but I'll be honest, it hasn't held up well at all. The cleaners I use wear it off quickly. I tried to cold blue the action but for reasons beyond me, it wouldn't take. I did my best to clean all the contaminants off of it prior to cold bluing but I just couldn't get it to work. Any advise on a better way to treat the barrel and action??

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The Boyds stock didn't come with a cut out for the bent bolt so I used a dremel to get the bulk of the work done. I used a long pen handle attachment to get a sanding wheel right up against the body of the stock to eat away at the area. It was really easy! The finishing cut was still performed with a set of files though.

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The crown that came on this from the EE looked very rough and uneven. It was obviously done by hand with a hack saw and files. You know what, it still shot really well! I don't think the crown really effects accuracy as much as people think until they get into really long range and match ammo. This is a milsurp machine. :)

Still, that being said, I bought a .311 barrel guide and target cutter from Brownells. The existing crown as very uneven. I could clearly see once I got the cutting tool mounted into the barrel and cut what looked like 1/4" off of one side before the whole surface was being cut by the tool.

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The cold blueing really took well to the cut end of the barrel.

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Now after all this was said and done. Here she is at the range!

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And here's some targets. My rifle holder mounts much too high to see the targets at my range so these were all shot with my somewhat untrained hand and off a sand bag. I've only been shooting rifles for about a year and the first 3-6 months of which was all SKS so accuracy wasn't something I really cared about. I'm still new to this type of thing. I'm really loving the challenge now though...

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I seem to hit a lot of 1.5" groups with it including the typical 1 flyer that I can either credit to myself or the ammo. The above were all shot in what felt like 90 Km winds with Milsurp ammo. I'm looking forward to getting it out again with some hand loads.

These are some targets from prior to the mods. Again, much of these flyers are due to my rookie skills however I can't blame wind on these targets...

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If you made it down this far I appreciate your time! I want to thank all of the community here on CGN which drove me deep deep deep into this hobby without me ever knowing it was happening. :)

The final step for me is to put a nice deep gloss on the stock to really get those lines to POP! Any suggestions on what would work best?
 
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Had you not made the mouse trap spring to keep the trigger in contact with the sear you would have figured out why it was a bad idea to use the washers. Excessive shimming of the sear can lead to drastically reduced sear/cocking piece engagement and since the trigger is what keeps the bolt from sliding out all the way, it can also lead to wacking yourself with the bolt on cycling the action.
 
Had you not made the mouse trap spring to keep the trigger in contact with the sear you would have figured out why it was a bad idea to use the washers. Excessive shimming of the sear can lead to drastically reduced sear/cocking piece engagement and since the trigger is what keeps the bolt from sliding out all the way, it can also lead to wacking yourself with the bolt on cycling the action.

Has also been known to cause accidental discharges when dropping the firearm.
 
I think that looks good. Bead blasting the metal in a sandblasting cabinet and then cold bluing with Birchwood Casey Super Blue works well.
 
That rifle looks great. Thanks for the effort in writing that up with pictures, wonderful job.

How much does it weigh, and how is the recoil now? I'm sure that nice pad helps. I hope you bag whatever you're hunting for this fall.
 
Well done. Looks like a "modern" rifle.

I'd buy one like that.

Doesn't look "bubba" to me. Looks like what a MN would be if it came out today.
 
Awesome work and thank you for sharing.

Looks like you put in a ton of work and it resulted in some good groups :D

I've got a "Bubba" Mosin set-up too, an ArchAngel stock, scout scope and a Timney trigger to boot.

While not for the purists, it is a very enjoyable rifle. Hard to argue with ten rounds of 7.62X54R flying downrange ;)
 
its like the ugly girl at work got dressed up for the Christmas party ! lol looks good at first and on the outside, till you really get into her guts and get her naked. Then you realize your mistake !

In all seriousness not a bad bubba job hahaha. I'd shoot it.
 
Looks good.how long is the barrel these days? Looks pretty long still?

This one is 24"

Needs a Brass Stacker Safety ring.

I looked into something like that but for me, this is a range only gun. I'm ok with the stock system.

Has also been known to cause accidental discharges when dropping the firearm.

Every time I do a trigger job I do many drop tests. I also do plenty of different angle rubber mallet hits. The most important thing for any trigger job is that it remains safe.

I think that looks good. Bead blasting the metal in a sandblasting cabinet and then cold bluing with Birchwood Casey Super Blue works well.

Hmmmm. Might be hard for me to find a sandblasted big enough to take the whole rifle. I might be able to sand it down though.


That rifle looks great. Thanks for the effort in writing that up with pictures, wonderful job.

How much does it weigh, and how is the recoil now? I'm sure that nice pad helps. I hope you bag whatever you're hunting for this fall.

To be honest I don't know what it weighs now. I did notice a lot less recoil now. I also bought a break and the matching die with a barrel guide to make sure it goes on straight. I don't think I'll install it now that I've felt the reduced recoil.

Forgive me if you catch me ooogling your Mosin if i see you at Silverdale there brotha :) nice job....

Please do!! It's always great to talk to other Red Rifle enthusiasts at the range. :)
 
muthafunk,
When using the one piece rest if it is a little to high, get 3 pcs of 2X6 cut to width of seat, nail together, carpet to prevent "splinters" and this will give you enough lift to use the one pc rest. I did this and it works great.
 
Looks really nice! Great job!

I thought that the whole "bubba thing" was the ugly tapco plastic stock stuff? Which generally I do dislike. I don't consider this a "bubba" haha.
 
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