Bob01605
NES Member
I have 5 Mosin M39's that I purchased over the years that I shoot regularly at my local range. All 5 had new barrels in cosmoline. I want to state up front that I am NOT a military gun "collector". I don't really care if the stock has scratches, marks etc. and I don't care if the numbers on the bolt, barrel and receiver match as long as the headspace is good. I only really care that the barrel is good and as stated before, all five came with a new barrel. I have fired all five many times and I want to state that they ALL shoot really well. None of them has ever seen any 7.62 X 54R military surplus ammo. I have a good supply of Lapua brass that I reload. I use mostly 4064 powder and either the Remington 170 grain .310 round nose bullet or the Hornady 150 grain .312 spire point or the Hornady 170 grain .312 round nose bullet. All five guns seem to prefer the two round nose bullets over the Hornady 150 grain .312 spire point by a slight margin. I have never slugged the bore of any of these rifles. None of the rifles ever seemed to develop a preference for either the .310 or .312 diameter round nose bullets - SO - the idea of slugging the bore and then using JUST that diameter bullet doesn't bear out at least for me in the actual shooting.
I shoot at 60 yards because the range was originally set up for metric distances. Then what they did was to put up benches and a roof covering about 5 yards behind the original shooting line so now the range has target stands at 60 yards and also 115 yards (the original 100 meter target line). Also I found that the 8 inch bulls that I print out on my computer don't show up (at least for me) large enough at 115 yards. I really need a 12 inch bull for 115 yards. NOTE - Some of the targets in the photos have tape on them. What I usually do is put out four or five 8 inch bulls, shoot 5 shot groups on all the bulls, measure the groups and then tape over the holes and shoot another group on the same bull.
The photos do show some of the best groups but rarely will one of the five M39's ever shoot over 2 MOA. If one of the rifles does shoot over 2 MOA, it is undoubtedly an error in sighting by the "rear nut" (me). I read where all the M39's had to shoot 3 shots into 3 cm at 100 (yards/meters?) which is about 1.2 MOA in order to be "put into service". I don't know if this is from a machine rest or a Finnish armorer doing the shooting. When I originally cleaned all the cosmoline off the guns, I was careful to install all the action shims back into their original position. It appears that all five rifles have the barrel floating except at the very end of the bottom stock piece where the barrel does touch the bottom of the stock. The top handguard appears to not touch the barrel at all. I did not mess with the bedding of any of these rifles. I just made sure that the guard screws were tight.
I also have a couple of Russian M91/30's with near new barrels with sharp lands. I have shot them many times also ... They shoot OK but not as well as ANY of the M39's ..
Bob
I shoot at 60 yards because the range was originally set up for metric distances. Then what they did was to put up benches and a roof covering about 5 yards behind the original shooting line so now the range has target stands at 60 yards and also 115 yards (the original 100 meter target line). Also I found that the 8 inch bulls that I print out on my computer don't show up (at least for me) large enough at 115 yards. I really need a 12 inch bull for 115 yards. NOTE - Some of the targets in the photos have tape on them. What I usually do is put out four or five 8 inch bulls, shoot 5 shot groups on all the bulls, measure the groups and then tape over the holes and shoot another group on the same bull.
The photos do show some of the best groups but rarely will one of the five M39's ever shoot over 2 MOA. If one of the rifles does shoot over 2 MOA, it is undoubtedly an error in sighting by the "rear nut" (me). I read where all the M39's had to shoot 3 shots into 3 cm at 100 (yards/meters?) which is about 1.2 MOA in order to be "put into service". I don't know if this is from a machine rest or a Finnish armorer doing the shooting. When I originally cleaned all the cosmoline off the guns, I was careful to install all the action shims back into their original position. It appears that all five rifles have the barrel floating except at the very end of the bottom stock piece where the barrel does touch the bottom of the stock. The top handguard appears to not touch the barrel at all. I did not mess with the bedding of any of these rifles. I just made sure that the guard screws were tight.
I also have a couple of Russian M91/30's with near new barrels with sharp lands. I have shot them many times also ... They shoot OK but not as well as ANY of the M39's ..
Bob
