what is the difference between MN 91/30 and 91/30 sniper?

[westrifle_sks]

7.62x54 surplus

First of all I do not think that m43 or m44 was ever a sniper rifle. When you try to shoot from m44 the amount of fire and bang coming out is so huge that any sniper would be spotted from mile away.
As for scope and a mount if someone tells you that they got original 1941 or 1045 scope and mount it is a lie. Glass in those scopes would be made from a simple window melted down and made into mounts. I have seen old scopes stored away. You can look and see something past 100 meters. Original producers of those scopes is NPZ (Novosibirsky Patronii Zavod) Original will have that stamp NPZ in Russian.
As to Catridge what surplus are we talking about because there is many available from ex ussr. New production 7.62x54r is at this site

http://www.lveplant.ru/pages_en.php?id=12

Surplus below .

# 7,62 mm rifle cartridge with steel core bullet, designation 57-H-323C
# 7,62 mm rifle cartridge with modernize tracer bullet T-46M, designation 7T2M
# 7,62 mm rifle cartridge with armour-piercing tracer bullet БT, designation 7БT1
# 7,62 mm rifle cartridge with armour-piercing incendiary bullet Б-32, designation 7-БЗ-3
# 7,62 mm rifle cartridge with armour-piercing bullet БП, designation 7N26
# 7,62 mm blank rifle cartridge, designation 57-X-340
# 7,62 mm training rifle cartridge, designation 57-HE-УЧ
# 7,62 mm rifle sniper cartridge, designation 7H1
# 7,62 mm rifle sniper cartridge with armour-piercing bullet, designation 7H14

I'm gonna pop my head up for a minute now.

Friend, the ONLY way to get TOP accuracy from your Moisin-Nagant is to handload for it. When the military ammo hits the shops, it generally is old machine-gun stuff that had a LOT of dispersion built into it when it was made..... 40 or 50 years ago. It is 'surplus' for a REASON. Remember, Russia and several other countries are still using this as their sniping and medium machine-gun ammo, so they aren't disposing of it because they don't need it any more. They are disposing of it because they don't WANT it... and they can get us to pay evil Yankee $$$ for the privilege of taking their garbage off their hands.

With handloading, YOU are in control of the ammunition-manufacturing process and you can tailor a load which will work wonders in YOUR rifle.

That, and a bit of careful work on the bedding, woodwork and trigger and you can make an old MN 91/30 shoot well enough that you are going to WANT a scope. When that day comes, re-read what louthepou said about a scope mount. Lou is bang-on as usual. You can add a most UNsatisfactory mount to a stock MN for a lot of dollars. For LESS dollars, actually, you can put on an S&K mount and a LER scope which is 10 times BETTER and HALF the price of the ones 20 years ago.

For historical accuracy, the MN should be shot with the bayonet ON. That's what they were factory-sighted to do, with a 150-grain bullet.

And there is always what you were asking about: a more-or-less genuine MN sniper rifle, done up exactly the way that Vassily Zaitsev's rifle was done. The optics might LOOK funny from our perspective but they DO work and they ARE clear and, for the purposes they were designed for, they ARE worthwhile. MANY of these were done on the 'high-wall' receiver: left-hand rail was higher and more solid than the standard rail, affording a better mounting surface for the scope base. Others were done on standard frames. The guys in this forum KNOW what they are talking about; most of them WILL give you good advice.

As for Bubba, I'll give you one tiny example that you might appreciate. I picked up a Moisin-Nagant that Bubba had got his hands on. It was a FINNISH Dragoon rifle with a new PEACETIME inter-war barrel on it. It was about a $500 rifle when it started, but I got it for 50 bucks because it was beyond repair. I repaired it, with its own wood. Shoots real nice, too. But it is still only a $250 gun. That's why everybody detests Bubba.

You're having fun with your old MN now. Check out what the local clubs are doing. Around here, we have regular matches for old military rifles and they are fun. Some guys even turn out for Running Deer and other fairly-precision shoots with old military rifles and shoot against the modern stuff. It is quite amazing just how well these old-timers can score.

And, by the way, you will ALWAYS get better accuracy from a 91/30 with a .311 or even a .312 bullet. I have several that really like their Hornady 150 SPs.

And, whatever you do: have fun!

Okay, guys, I'm back in the trench; you can let fly any time now!

 

[Pete04]

I have an original from 1952. The scope, mount and rifle are all numbered the same.
I don't know what surplus ammo I shoot (I bought a whack of it, steel cased, blue pkgs. in a non-discriped, cardboard box), but with the iron sights alone, it shoots way better than I can. This would lead me to believe, the real sniper rifles were hand picked for accuracy.