My first Russian....

While searching for my Springfield A3, I stumbled onto this Mosin Nagant M91/30 for less than $100, complete with sling, cartridge pouches, cleaning kit and bayonet. I couldn't resist. Took it to my 'smith, who reports that headspace is good, and otherwise good to shoot, but the bore is worn and rough with some rust. A tomatoe stake?

I haven't slugged the bore, but wonder if it might be that 'smith is expecting it to be a .308 calibre, when it might actually be the .312 that some Russian M-N's were built to? Anyway, next step is to confirm bore cleaning, and fire some rounds down range. I'm not expecting MOA accuracy. Anyone else shoot a "worn & rusty" bore? :madsmile:

Here are the patches from first couple of passes through the bore of my "clean on the outside" refurbished M91/30. Wow

It is about as clean as I can get it now, not shiny, and still quite rough. I'm going to put a dozen or so rounds down range with it. Then clean it some more....maybe it will be OK?

What came out of your bargain-basement milsurp the first time you cleaned it?

The "orange brown" stuff looks like cosmoline. I'd try to get that out of the barrel before firing it.

I have three 91/30's that didn't look too good until they were cleaned. Two came out with bright bores, one slightly dark but with strong rifling. Shooting it will determine if it's accurate or not, visual inspections don't always indicate the accuracy of the rifle by any means.

None of my three had cosmoline in the barrels. They all needed cleaning but it was more like normal fouling. Pads came out black and dry. Cleaning solutions and a bore brush should clean out the gunk.

Actually the stock you have is not a very common one, note the "extra" recoil bolt in the wrist.

Nice looking rifle you bought.One word of advise.She has a real kick to it.Wear some thing that will reduce the recoil.

I've never seen an M91/30 with a wrist bolt like yours before, not that they didn't make'em. Could it be a repair? With my M91/30 & M44 both, After a basic cleaning of the bore I saturated the bore with ammonia, after 15 minutes I took a wire bore brush & vigoriously brushed it out then did a very thorough cleaning to which I was very amazed at how much more cleaner the bore turned out. The ammonia helps to cut the copper fouling loose, it really helps.

it took me three days to properly clean all the 'funk' from one of my mosin's bore, and it was worth it,when using wolf gold ammo i can shoot consistant 2 1/2 inch groups off the bench at 100yds. clean that bore until those patches come out clean, it will be worth it because by shooting with all that cosmo and other funk inside your just going to drive that grime deeper and harder to remove in the future

I have 3 of these they all shoot good the one that you have look's better than some I have seen . But the bore is not a true 7.62 / .308 it is closer to .310/ .311 on all the ones that I have .
Just clean it good with ammonia I always do because most Ammo is corrosive because of the Berdian primer's .
Good shooting and you may want to look into getting a Rubber recoil butt pad I got one from CDNN Sports a few months ago and it replaces the steel plate .
I have also read that they more accurate with the Bayonet installed in my last Shooting Times mag. Try it both ways .

I haven't slugged my 91/30 yet, but my Romanian M44 slugged out to .312"...I'd be willing to bet the long rifle is similar. As for the stock-shortLee is correct-it's a rearsenal stock. The extra recoil bolt is a good thing to have. There's some decent info to be found on 7.62x54r.net and mosinnagant.net

The one we have shoots very well as does the carbine. Like Adolf Galland I find the recoil to be harsh so we bought as shoulder pad that makes a huge difference. It is the only gun I wear it for and it has made such a difference the gun is now fun to use.

Cleanliness is next to "godliness" with these as mentioned the surplus ammo is very corrosive and personally I would clean the barrel to almost perfect before I shot it. What always surprises me is just how much it takes to get it perfectly clean after shooting only a few rounds. Am going to start using hot water down the barrel to see if it helps.

The accuracy changes dramatically when using the bayonet, you will probably be surprised by the difference between bayonet/no bayonet point of impact.

Well, I finally quit worrying about the dark & pitted bore, and took the M19/30 out to shoot. I had cleaned and recleaned the barrel numerous times, still pretty dark, but the best I could do. I wasn't expecting much from the 150 gr reloads I had put together for it and my M39.

I loaded both .308" and .312" Hornady bullets, with H4895 powder, to predicted velocity of 2500 fps for first outing.

I shot both bullet sizes, through both the M91/30 and the much better condition barreled M39, and chronographed both.

Results, shot from sand-bags & bench, were very comparable, and pleasantly surprising. Recorded velocities averaged 2575 fps in both rifles, with both bullet diameters; and the standard deviation of all shots from both rifles was only 36 fps. Accuracy for all was 2-3" groups at 50 yards.

The shiny bored M39 shot 2" groups, the dark pitted M91/30 shot 2.5 to 3" groups. I think both could do better if my old eyes weren't so blurry when trying to line up the sights! I did swap a Mojo aperture rear sight on to the M39, and think that is the biggest reason it grouped a bit better than the M91/30 with original post & notch sights.

This weekend I'm going to slug the bores of both rifles, so as to have a better idea which bullet diameter is best, and also measure chamber free-bore so as to be able to adjust cartridge overall length to suit.

I am also going to search out some spherical (ball) type powder loads, as the H4895 and other rod type powders DO NOT drop consistant charge weights from my progressive reloader. I think that also may have contributed to the size of 50 yard groupings.

All in all, I am enjoying my first, and now, second Russian/Finnish rifles! :)

I'll post some further details and photos soon.

How does bayonet position affect point of impact with the M44? I have two made by Tula, one in '44 the other in'48. Unfortunately i have been unable to put the theory to the test due to their conditions. Bubba sawed the bayo. attachment off the '48 but it's the best shooting Mosin Nagant i've ever owned. With the exception of my Finnish M39. The '44 is all original but it suffers from blunderbuss-itus of the muzzle and produces 3 FOOT ''patterns'' @ 50 yds. I have a couple shotguns that will keep all the buckshot pellets in a 24'' circle that far.

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Originally Posted by Allred

Here are the patches from first couple of passes through the bore of my "clean on the outside" refurbished M91/30. Wow

It is about as clean as I can get it now, not shiny, and still quite rough. I'm going to put a dozen or so rounds down range with it. Then clean it some more....maybe it will be OK?

What came out of your bargain-basement milsurp the first time you cleaned it?

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...Bleah...!

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

The "orange brown" stuff looks like cosmoline. I'd try to get that out of the barrel before firing it.

I have three 91/30's that didn't look too good until they were cleaned. Two came out with bright bores, one slightly dark but with strong rifling. Shooting it will determine if it's accurate or not, visual inspections don't always indicate the accuracy of the rifle by any means.

None of my three had cosmoline in the barrels. They all needed cleaning but it was more like normal fouling. Pads came out black and dry. Cleaning solutions and a bore brush should clean out the gunk.

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I agree. You have to clean up the bore very well before to shoot.
BTW... I wish you "have a nice time" cleaning up!
Beside that, she seems to be a nice Lady. Let's know how she shoots ;)