I REALLY wish somebody besides me would take one of these things apart and actually COUNT the ferschlugginer SIDES. It has EIGHT sides and therefore is OCTAGONAL and not 'hex'. 'Hex' is either a lazy fellow's way of attempting to say 'hexagonal' (meaning six-sided') OR it is a witch's curse.
The original 91 receiver was machined from octagonal bar stock. Apart from the obvious difference in shape, it weighs more and so should flex less. The eight sides just act as stiffenng ribs. The result is a receiver with much less inbuilt flex than any other on the market..... until you get up to those super-expensive benchrest receivers, which also have stiffening ribs and are machined from dimensional stock.... and have very small (if any) magazine openings, much the same as the original Moisin-Nagant.
YES, the Finns are still using the old-type octagonal receiver on their new sniping rifle. They understand that a sniping rifle should have a stiff receiver, so they are using the stiffest one around and ignoring the mass-production late model ones which were made from round bar stock, are more difficult to bed and have more inherent flex. The Finns definitely are NOT dumb when it comes to building good rifles.
I KNOW that nobody wants to take my word for this, so I just ask you to pick up a copy of 'Precision Shooter' and check out the nice, shiny, expensive, new bench-rest receivers being offered for sale. They are machined from bar stock of such a shape that it gives stiffening ribs full length, they are easy to bed and if they have a magazine opening at all, it is as small as it can be made.
.
