Typical Mosin accuracy

[G26man]

Shot my son's post war sniper yesterday and was getting very erratic accuracy. Most shots were around 6" at 100M with some even worse. Bore looks fine as far as rifling and no heavy pitting, but is somewhat frosted. Crown looks good and as if it was recently polished. We were shooting surplus Hungarian ammo. Is this typical with surplus ammo? Who makes name brand ammo in this caliber that I can try?

Also it would take quite a bit if strength to work the bolt after firing due to the shell expansion and possibly the laquer coating. Is this also normal?

Thanks!

[68rcodemustang]

try the Russian from SG, best milsurp ammo out.

sg link (http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=265333)

[m2hmghb]

I was enjoying the Albanian from SG more then the russian. I have found that both my mosin's act like the czech ammo is poison, they both lock up tight as sin and are a PITA to cycle.

[G26man]

Thanks for the good ammo suggestions. I really would lke to know if its the gun before I buy a lot of ammo. Can anyone speak to the accuracy question?

[m2hmghb]

Some ammo will group worse then others. Surplus may not work the best but it is cheaper. Pick up 20 round boxes of 3-4 or more differnet ammos. I wold suggest Wolf Barnaul Igman Privi Partisan and several others. Hand loads will get the best accuracy. I really havent gotten into serious ammo testing yet.

[jack19512]

I haven't been able to group very well with any of the surplus ammo I have tried. I got good groups only after I started reloading for my Mosins. Here is the last two loads I tried in my M38. As you can probably guess I will stick with load #1. As to the accuracy question, only trial and error will tell. I have 4 Mosins and they all shot poor with mil-surplus ammo. Oh, and the sticky bolt problem went away with my reloads also. :)

[G26man]

Originally posted by jack19512
I haven't been able to group very well with any of the surplus ammo I have tried. I got good groups only after I started reloading for my Mosins. Here is the last two loads I tried in my M38. As you can probably guess I will stick with load #1. As to the accuracy question, only trial and error will tell. I have 4 Mosins and they all shot poor with mil-surplus ammo. Oh, and the sticky bolt problem went away with my reloads also. :)
That is a dime in that pic right? Whats the range? When you say they all shot poor with surplus ammo what do you mean? CAn you give me an approximate moa?

[jack19512]

Yes, that is a dime. I usually write the range on all my targets but I forgot to on this one. All I can say for sure is that it was at least 70 yards distance if not 100 yards. I have a scout scope setup on my M38 so I want to say 100 yards but it may have been 70 yards.

On the moa it was different for each Mosin, even the M38 that shot good with these two reloads shot poor with the mil-surplus. I would guess at 100 yards the moa would be around 5 inches at best and a lot worse with some.

I no longer shoot the mil-surplus ammo in any of my Mosins. I have improved the accuracy for every mil-surplus rifle that I reload for through reloading. I do pull the bullet and powder from this ammo and use them.

So far out of the 4 Mosins I have the M38 is the only one that doesn't show the need for .311 diameter bullets for improved accuracy instead of the .308 diameter. Here is a pic of my M38.

[Kentuckian]

Originally posted by G26man
Shot my son's post war sniper yesterday and was getting very erratic accuracy. Most shots were around 6" at 100M with some even worse. Bore looks fine as far as rifling and no heavy pitting, but is somewhat frosted. Crown looks good and as if it was recently polished. We were shooting surplus Hungarian ammo. Is this typical with surplus ammo? Who makes name brand ammo in this caliber that I can try?

Also it would take quite a bit if strength to work the bolt after firing due to the shell expansion and possibly the laquer coating. Is this also normal?

Thanks!

If you haven't already slugged the bore, do so and compare it to the bullet diameter in the ammo you're shooting.

I've got some Czech silvertip that measures .309, and the bore on my 91/30 measures .3115. Naturally, the accuracy isn't what it could be with this ammo....but it does go bang. ;)

The accuracy improves quite a bit though when I reload using .311 bullets.

[sharpshooter]

Try a box of new Sellier & Bellot 174gr BTHP "Match" ammo. My 91/30 shoots it under an inch at 100 yards. Or try some new Wolf 148gr FMJ or some new Wolf Match ammo, both of those shoot under 2 inches.

I haven't found any surplus ammo that my 91/30 shoots very well, but several shoot about 2-3 inches at 100 yards like the Russian and Czech silver tip. The Hungarian heavy ball surplus shoots the worst for me so far, I didn't measure but it was around 4-5 inches maybe more.

My 91/30 is scoped.

[m2hmghb]

The sellier and bellot match and soft point I will not buy again. Had quite a bit of primer flow and about 6 blown case necks out of 2 boxes. Acurracy wasnt that great with the match either. 2-3 inches is normal for milsurp, the only reason I use it is becuase its so damn cheap. You can even pull the powder and reload it with your own charge and the same bullet. That works to reduce the group by a bit and isnt that expensive.

[billwade]

I'am getting 2.5" groups at 100 yrds with czech silver tip out of my M-44.

[G26man]

Thanks everyone for the useful repiles. I'd like to find a source for the Wolf match or S&B match ammo, but not $500 worth, which is all I've been able to find so far! I only want a couple of boxes to test.

[cjlandry]

Originally posted by billwade
I'am getting 2.5" groups at 100 yrds with czech silver tip out of my M-44.

From a rest, I got 1" groups at 50 yards (indoor range) with the same ammo in my 91/30 before the cosmolene and laquer flowed together to lock the bolt.

Plenty good enough for me.