Which of your Milsurps can you shoot the best with?

Which of your Milsurps can you shoot the best with?


I have many Milsurp rifles and enjoy shooting many of them for different reasons other than just groups. I love my Mausers because it feels solid in my hands. I love the SKS because it handles, beads, and loads fast. I love my LE because it always shoots true. I love my Mosin because it carries well for such a crudely built long rifle and bang/flops whitetails with 203 grain ammunition. I love hunting with my East German M44 because its short, fast handling in the bush, and everything I point it at simply falls over dead.
 
Not so much which is your most accurate, because everyone would say their K31 is, but I'd like to hear from everyone which if their milsurps they can shoot the most consistently and accurately with.

For me, I'd have to say my full wood Eddystone P17. For being one of the oldest Milsurps I have, I am always blown away with how well I can shoot this one. And not just the odd fluke, I mean every group I shoot surprises me.

That depends a lot on the shooting position. Are we talking prone, semi-supported, from the bench, standing, snap?

Let's look at each.

From the bench, I've always shot best with Swedish M96 mausers, 1903 Springfields and Swiss K31's.

Prone, I've always shot the best with the M1 Garand. Those sights and the M1907 leather sling make prone shooting almost an auto-pilot sort of thing.

Semi-supported, I like the No.4 rifle. You get sights as good as the M1, but the rifle balances so much better seated or kneeling.

For snap, honestly, I've shot REALLY well with unissued SKS rifles and M1 carbines. For obvious reasons. They are light and you can aim and fire them very quickly with acceptable accuracy.

For plain standing, I think I've have to go with the No.4 rifle. The shape of the Lee Enfield magazine allows you to adopt a modified Shuetzen stance, palm-balancing the rifle with a shortened HASTY sling arrangement.

Your mileage may vary.
 
My 1946 FN 98 7x57 Mauser (aka. Venezuelan Short Rifle). In fact, it's the best shooting iron-sighted rifle, new or old, military or commercial, that I ever fired. Second is an ugly, well used, frankenpinned 1952 laminate refurb SKS with a force-matched gas tube. It always delivered the most accuracy of any SKS I ever fired and was 100% reliable.
 
For now it's a close race between a somewhat beat up 43 Mosin Nagant and a sporterized (unfortunately) P14. I've managed 2 inch and smaller groups at 100 yards with both of them. I shimmed the sear and polished it lightly on the Mosin. The only thing I had to do to the P14 was soak the barrel in copper remover. I was worried the rifling was toast in it but it cleaned up acceptably well.
There's a K31 and two more Mosins in the mail so we'll have to see if there's a new champ in there somewhere.
 
Most accurate is my Remington P14, followed believe it or not, one of my 1943 91/31 Mosins. For close in up to 50 yards snap shooting my Mosin 91/59 followed by an SKS.
All of my rifles are fun to shoot. So if it's fun factor your'e looking for, I've got close to 30 milsurps and never enough time to shoot them all.
 
I think it's pretty much what my Grandfather told me: fast shooting, the SMLE; ACCURATE shooting, the Ross.

Worked for him in the Trenches, works for me on the Range.

Garand is very, very good also. I don't shoot it a lot because it gets so VERY hungry. 1953 Springfield, about 400 rounds through it since new. Nice.

And I have a P-14 and a P-17, both sporterised (the 17 by BSA in their Custom shop). For deliberate shooting, I would not want to be 600 yards downrange from either one.... unless I were in a Tank.
 
I have to vote for my 45 longbranch no4 Was shooting a 10 x 12 gong at 300 on the weekend and got hit after hit. Then took a crack at a whitetail later in the afternoon and missed. If only the operator could shoot it right. Going out for some practice this weekend. My second most fun one would be my garand.
 
Most accurate is my Remington P14, followed believe it or not, one of my 1943 91/31 Mosins. For close in up to 50 yards snap shooting my Mosin 91/59 followed by an SKS.
All of my rifles are fun to shoot. So if it's fun factor your'e looking for, I've got close to 30 milsurps and never enough time to shoot them all.
I kind of feel the same way you do about all of my rifles.My eyes aren't what they used to be back when I first got going with these babies so I class "shoot the best with" as a combination of fun and being able to put the rounds in the vicinity of what I aim at.Sometimes that may be old pop cans or Javex jugs but I'm certainly not looking to put bullets into cloverleafs anymore though that is cool on the rare occasions it happens.I'm a fan of the M96 Swedes but also really like shooting my other Mausers,I have a Portuguese M98 and an Israeli M98 that almost always accompany me on shooting ventures up north.I also really like shooting an old M71 Mauser we have for the nostalgia factor.Hell,I can't pick a single one of my guns as a particular "best",love em all.
 
Prone shooting with my M1D just using iron sights is my best piece, and sitting with my No4 Long Branch/Fazakerly 1/3 Target rifle with a PH-4 and wide canvas sling is wicked!
 
I kind of feel the same way you do about all of my rifles.My eyes aren't what they used to be back when I first got going with these babies so I class "shoot the best with" as a combination of fun and being able to put the rounds in the vicinity

Same with me. Aiming at that 200 yd target gets more difficult with the passing years. So it is more the fun than the competition now.
 
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