Hey guys,
Recently I acquired a Mosin Nagant 91/30 repro PU sniper and today was the first chance I had to really shoot and sight in the rifle. Several people have been asking me for a review on the rifle, and since I had some spare time this afternoon, here it is...
The rifle I purchased (off a fellow board member) is a 1942 Izhevsk rifle, with all matching parts. Rifle is a standard refurb with a REALLY nice, clean, shiney barrel with strong rifling. The scope is a modern repro of a standard PU with proper PU mount. From what I have read, the scopes ARE made in Russia in the same factory (in most cases) as the originals. The only difference is the scopes are infact, new. I have heard of some mounts being made of aluminum, others having shimming issues, some coming loose, and others being just plain junk. Im happy to say that the rifle far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality and workmanship. So far so good.
Some initial pictures of the rifle - yes I did the wrap job, I like it.
The rifles themseleves are very tight and are assembled very professionally. My first impression of both the rifle and the optics was promising, as the optics were clear, sharp, and the mounts EXTREAMLY sturdy. The rifle itself seemed to be tightened up from a standard 91/30 in the sense that there was NO movement anywhere on the rifle, no loose wobble or play anywhere. This rifle has a pre/early war stock which was in excellent shape,still bearing part of the arsenal stamp on the butt. Overall the rifle seemed to be in really good shape, and I was happy. Now time for the real test of a rifle - firing.
Some shots of the scope/mount - Excellent construction
Over the last few days I decided to work up a load for the rifle using 150gr .312 Hornady SP ammo, with 46-48 gr of Reloader 15 powder. Im using Prvi brass and standard Winchester large rifle primers. Here is a shot of the ammo on the bench. Pretty standard load for my 91/30's.
Today I packed the rifle up and the ammo and headed up to the range to see if the rifle would be everything I thought it would be, and Im happy to say I was not dissapointed. The temperature was about 2-4 degrees here, overcast, very damp out but with little wind. I decided to sight the rifle in at 100m to get started before attempting any sort of distance shooting. At 100m the 3.5x power PU proved to a great aid in aiming and acquiring targets. I fired the rifle off a front rest with a sandbag while sitting. Not a 'true' bench set up, but worked great - I was here to test the rifle, not me! After "bore sighting" the rifle/scope I was ready to go. To bore sight the rifle, I removed the bolt, and while looking through the barrel, focused on a target 100m away. I then looked through the scope to see if the scope was roughly where the barell was pointing... it was WAY off, so after some rough adjustments, I was roughly on. I then fired two shots, adjusted, two more, adjusted etc... After about 8 shots I was in the bull VERY consistently with no trouble. The rifle held its zero with no issues. The trigger pull was decent, not to heavy, but by no means a hair trigger. The rifle cycled and fed perfectly.
Here are a few pictures.
The optics
Of course the iron sights are still usable.
And of course, the results...
The best group of the day, measuring a hair under 1inch. Just a note, the gr was actually 47, not 48
Overall the rifle performed flawlessly and I highly reccomened it to anyone looking for a Mosin 'sniper' who isnt prepared to drop 1300$+ looking for what MAY be the real deal. These rifles are as close as the average person will get to a WWII sniper rifle, and they perform excellently! These rifles are available from a variety of sources (site sponsors) and are well worth a second look when considering a scoped milsurp - without the hacksaw and dremel of the bubba!
Any comments/feedback appreciated
Thanks for looking!
Recently I acquired a Mosin Nagant 91/30 repro PU sniper and today was the first chance I had to really shoot and sight in the rifle. Several people have been asking me for a review on the rifle, and since I had some spare time this afternoon, here it is...
The rifle I purchased (off a fellow board member) is a 1942 Izhevsk rifle, with all matching parts. Rifle is a standard refurb with a REALLY nice, clean, shiney barrel with strong rifling. The scope is a modern repro of a standard PU with proper PU mount. From what I have read, the scopes ARE made in Russia in the same factory (in most cases) as the originals. The only difference is the scopes are infact, new. I have heard of some mounts being made of aluminum, others having shimming issues, some coming loose, and others being just plain junk. Im happy to say that the rifle far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality and workmanship. So far so good.
Some initial pictures of the rifle - yes I did the wrap job, I like it.
The rifles themseleves are very tight and are assembled very professionally. My first impression of both the rifle and the optics was promising, as the optics were clear, sharp, and the mounts EXTREAMLY sturdy. The rifle itself seemed to be tightened up from a standard 91/30 in the sense that there was NO movement anywhere on the rifle, no loose wobble or play anywhere. This rifle has a pre/early war stock which was in excellent shape,still bearing part of the arsenal stamp on the butt. Overall the rifle seemed to be in really good shape, and I was happy. Now time for the real test of a rifle - firing.
Some shots of the scope/mount - Excellent construction
Over the last few days I decided to work up a load for the rifle using 150gr .312 Hornady SP ammo, with 46-48 gr of Reloader 15 powder. Im using Prvi brass and standard Winchester large rifle primers. Here is a shot of the ammo on the bench. Pretty standard load for my 91/30's.
Today I packed the rifle up and the ammo and headed up to the range to see if the rifle would be everything I thought it would be, and Im happy to say I was not dissapointed. The temperature was about 2-4 degrees here, overcast, very damp out but with little wind. I decided to sight the rifle in at 100m to get started before attempting any sort of distance shooting. At 100m the 3.5x power PU proved to a great aid in aiming and acquiring targets. I fired the rifle off a front rest with a sandbag while sitting. Not a 'true' bench set up, but worked great - I was here to test the rifle, not me! After "bore sighting" the rifle/scope I was ready to go. To bore sight the rifle, I removed the bolt, and while looking through the barrel, focused on a target 100m away. I then looked through the scope to see if the scope was roughly where the barell was pointing... it was WAY off, so after some rough adjustments, I was roughly on. I then fired two shots, adjusted, two more, adjusted etc... After about 8 shots I was in the bull VERY consistently with no trouble. The rifle held its zero with no issues. The trigger pull was decent, not to heavy, but by no means a hair trigger. The rifle cycled and fed perfectly.
Here are a few pictures.
The optics
Of course the iron sights are still usable.
And of course, the results...
The best group of the day, measuring a hair under 1inch. Just a note, the gr was actually 47, not 48
Overall the rifle performed flawlessly and I highly reccomened it to anyone looking for a Mosin 'sniper' who isnt prepared to drop 1300$+ looking for what MAY be the real deal. These rifles are as close as the average person will get to a WWII sniper rifle, and they perform excellently! These rifles are available from a variety of sources (site sponsors) and are well worth a second look when considering a scoped milsurp - without the hacksaw and dremel of the bubba!
Any comments/feedback appreciated
Thanks for looking!
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