1.) DParker - 08/31/2013

I learned a couple of days ago that my local shooting range finally disposed of the law suit (long story) that was preventing them from allowing the shooting of .30 cal and larger rifles. Woot! Since I've recently remounted the scope on my Savage 111 and made some positioning changes for better eye-relief distance to the one on my Mosin-Nagant I took them both to the range this morning for some basic sighting in. Since ammo is still not back to being abundant, and Hornady has temporarily suspended production of, among other things, the .312" bullets I use for my 7.62x54R handloads I wanted to keep my shots to the absolute minimum that was needed to sight both guns in to just minute-of-deer accuracy. So I used a laser bore-sighter on both of them so that they would at least be on paper at 100 yds and then headed off to the range.

I won't bore you with the details of the now-shoots-where-it-needs-to Savage (.30-06), which has always been deadly accurate with handloads. But I must say that I was both surprised and more than pleased with the results the Mosin turned in, even given that fact that I only fired a handful of rounds from it @ 100 yds:



Rounds #1-#4 were from an old box of Winchester loads that I picked up from a gun show last year. Being loaded with .308" bullets they fly all over the place when fired from my .312" barrel. I used them first just to make sure I was at least on the target after doing some preliminary scope adjustment using a laser bore-sighter. After #1 & #2 I waaay over-corrected for elevation, as made obvious by where #3 & #4 landed (I forgot that I'm using a pistol scope with half the adjustment resolution of most rifle scopes). So I reversed that adjustment half-way and switched to my hunting handloads. As you can see, #5 & #6 were nearly touching each other. I then made one more elevation adjustment and fired #7 & #8.

Now, a couple of 2-shot groups or even one 4-shot group don't mean a lot, but nonetheless I was extremely pleased to be able to do even this well shooting from sandbags (I need to drag my bench rest with me next time and see what this thing can do when it's sitting perfectly still). You can see that even with the elevation adjustment between #5/#6 and #7/#8 the two combine into a 1.5" group. Had I not made the adjustment we'd likely be looking at a 1" group for all 4 shots:



Not too bad from a 70 year-old Russian military surplus rifle made by the tens of millions, imported into the U.S. by the shipload and sold for $125. Now if I can just remember to aim [I]at[/I] the deer this year instead of [I]over[/I] it. :bang:

2.) Triton Rich - 08/31/2013

[B]Judging by how the last six shots grouped, I would say it isn't random. That old Russian thing shoots pretty darn well! What kind of velocity do you get out of it and what weight bullets are you using? Is it enough gun for elk or more for deer sized animals? I'm just curious, obviously I'm not too well versed in rifle ballistics. :-)[/B]

3.) DParker - 09/01/2013

My current loads are tipped with 150 gr SPs over 46.4 gr of Varget. This produced an average MV of 2,665 fps the last time I dragged my chrony along. By the time I learned about Hornady suspending production of so many of these bullets all I could find in stock anywhere were their 174 gr match HPs, so I snapped up a couple hundred of them. I won't use them for hunting loads but I thought it would be fun to see if their heavier weight and higher BC would give even better performance at the range. We'll see after it cools down enough to get back out into the garage and reload again.

7.62x54R terminal ballistics are very similar to .308 Winchester (assume the same bullet weight and construction), so I'd bet that the 150 gr load is probably enough to cleanly take down almost anything in North America within reasonable range limitations. Tip it with something closer to 180 gr and I'd eliminate the "almost" qualifier.

4.) Triton Rich - 09/01/2013

[B]Well I know a 308 is adequate elk medicine, Pops has done some terminal experimentation on that subject. I could see getting into the rifle thing some day, just love the bow too much and not much extra time to fool around with it right now.[/B]

5.) Swamp Fox - 09/01/2013

Nice shootin'.

This post might cause a spike in old infantry rifles on the street, though.

If you hear a clicking noise on your phone, it's probably nothing.

6.) DParker - 09/01/2013

I can't hear anything over the noise from the black helicopters anyway.

7.) Deerminator - 09/01/2013

Good post DP
I like them old rifles

8.) DParker - 09/02/2013

[QUOTE=Deerminator;10204]Good post DP
I like them old rifles[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I'm firmly of the belief that every shooting enthusiast should own at least one Mosin refurb as a project gun if for no other reason just to see what they can turn it into without replacing anything or any costly rework. Refinishing the stock, tweaking things via simple nondestructive modifications and creating a non-standard custom load in order to turn it into an accurate shooter has been by far the most fun I've had with this hobby.

Now I need to make some room in the garage for a bigger safe (the one I have is already full) so I can start hunting for a Lee Enfield, a Springfield 1903 and examples of the other collectibles from WW I & II.

9.) crookedeye - 09/02/2013

my goal in life is to find a tooth are a part of a bone from the battle of little bighorn..

10.) Swamp Fox - 09/02/2013

Have you given up on finding Custer's hat?

:wink


DP, you should try to find a reasonably-priced Thompson submachine gun and go to town.

If any teenager can buy an assault rifle, as per some commentator I heard putting in his two cents on the Oklahoma thrill kill, surely you can pull that rabbit out of a hat.

11.) DParker - 09/02/2013

I was going to hit the gun show this weekend and pick up some grenades, a bazooka and a 20mm Vulcan cannon since you don't need a background check for any of them, but it was really hot so I stayed home and made lobster rolls instead.

12.) crookedeye - 09/02/2013

thats all we need is to put a thomspson sub machinegun in dparkers hands..

13.) DParker - 09/02/2013

[QUOTE=crookedeye;10271]thats all we need is to put a thomspson sub machinegun in dparkers hands..[/QUOTE]

At 10-11 lbs unloaded...no thanks.

14.) crookedeye - 09/02/2013

i hear that! i like to move quick like a cat and be at a advantage..

15.) Swamp Fox - 09/02/2013

That's what my seven year-old niece said...

16.) Swamp Fox - 09/02/2013

[QUOTE=DParker;10272]At 10-11 lbs unloaded...no thanks.[/QUOTE]



That's what my seven year-old niece said, too...

:wink

17.) DParker - 09/02/2013

I'm just old and lazy.