Lee Enfield & Mosin Nagant

**Hardlickher** · 11-08-2013 11:41 PM

Just recently I picked up a Lee Enfield No 1 MK III that's is very nice condition. I wasn't expecting to be able to fire it until Sunday but I walked into work today and the service manager said they're no boats in for service or winterizing so take the day off. I took the opportunity to load the truck up with my triple dated 1935/49/50 Mosin Nagant and my new to me Lee Enfield and head on out to the shooting range. I really enjoy doing these write ups and I have fun taking photos of the rifles so please, sit back, relax, grab a cold one, and enjoy. Do note that this will be a long write up again so, if you don't have time for it now, come back when you do have more spare time. If you don't like reading much, You can basically glance though the photos instead since they're all labeled. Also, this is going to be my own special Remembrance Day post. With out further ado, this is my write up and range report on the Lee Enfield & Mosin Nagant!

I don't know a whole lot about Lee Enfields. All I knew is I wanted one and I wanted it to be in military configuration and not a sporter. This would actually be my second Lee Enfield but my first one was a piece of crap bubba'd 1914 No 1 that I found well cleaning out the storage under the stairs that go down into the basement of a house I moved into. That rifle didn't shoot well at all so I gave it to a friend who claimed he could restore it. The rifle is still in the same sad shape it was back then. My new Lee Enfield (Figure 1-LM) I consider my first Lee Enfield simply because this one I actually payed something for it and, it actually works. The Lee Enfield will be firing Federal Power Shock .303 180gr (12grams) soft point ammunition in this range report. (Figure 3-LM)

My knowledge about Mosins is limited as well. They're were about 40 million Russian icon

Mosins made in total, god only knows how many still actually exist today. My Mosin (Figure 1-LM) happens to be a 1935 with a hex receiver. Its triple dated 1935, 1949, and 1950 and has the marking MO on it. I've heard many different variations on what MO means and I'm not about to dig into it. The Mosin will be firing Chinese Military Surplus 148gr (9.6grams) corrosive Berdan primed steel cased copper washed 7.62x54R. (Figure 4-LM)

First, I fired 3 shots though both of them at random steel targets on the range. Both rifles had no issues hitting all 3 steel targets including the steel target at 200 meters. (218 yards) After that, I tired a 3 shot group at 50 meters (55 yards) for both rifles. (Figure 6-LM) I alternated from one rifle to the other in order to give them a chance to cool down before their next shots. The shots were fairly rapid with all 3 shots fired in under 1 minute.

The two 50 meter (55 yard) groups were pretty good. The Mosins trigger is very heavy but it makes a "tick" sound just before its about to go off. I kind of used that "tick" like a hare trigger. I would squeeze the trigger to the point that it made that tick sound then press the rest when I was ready to fire. This didn't always work out as planed as the rifle would sometimes go off when I didn't want it too but at least this way I was never anticipating the recoil. The Lee Enfields trigger is great off the get go. I wouldn't even have to modify this trigger for it to be a comfortable hunting rifle.

Next, I fired a three 3 shot groups out of each rifle at 100 meters (109 yards). The Mosin got a great first group, even though the group was high and right, but as it kept firing with out rest between the 3 groups, the last group shows the affects the rifle has on its groups as the barrel heats up. (Figures 7-LM - 9-LM)

The Lee Enfield shot really well at 100 meters (109yards). I'm so impressed with the Lee Enfield with iron sights at 100 that I'm not even going to bother buying a heavy game gun and the Lee Enfield will get employed for this purpose. I wasn't sure if it was because the gun was heating up with the last 3 shot group or I really messed up but here are the Lee Enfields 3 100 meter (109 yard) targets. (Figures 10-LM - 12-LM)

After these tests, I decided to see how well these rifles would perform as if they were being used as a hunting rifle. I prepared a deer cut out at 75 meters (82 yards) with a target placed in the kill zone. Both rifles were fired from the standing position and each got 1 shot. I tried to make it seem like a real hunting scenario. So real that I even forgot to put my ear muffs on

Both the Mosin and the Lee Enfield got a shot on target just the Mosin took 4 tries to just get one hit on the paper. If you look at the two pictures from the Lee Enfields shot to the Mosins shot, you can see on the wood where the Mosin was hitting. Still, one hit would of been a lung shot well the other would of been a spine shot. One of them hit really low and would of been a gut shot.

The Mosin is a fun gun to shoot, its super cheap, and the ammo it fires is pretty powerful so there is no reason why you couldn't use one as a hunting rifle once you have the rifle sighted to use without the bayonet although, I think an M44 would be better suited for that roll.

I clearly see why the Lee Enfield was and still is today a popular choice for a hunting rifle. I'm very happy with the purchase and the addition to my WWII rifle collection. Hopefully I'll be taking the Lee Enfield on a week long deer hunt pretty soon. I mean, I shot some groups at 100 meters with the Lee Enfield that I get out of my actual hunting rifle with a scope.

Well, I'll leave the rest of the range report with various photos that I took well at the range. Hope you enjoyed the write up. The write ups sometimes take awhile to do and sometimes I just say, "aw f$%^ it!" and loose my patience and start rushing things. I made sure to have lots of pictures because who doesn't like pictures? Anyways, I'll leave this write up with a bunch of photos that I didn't actually use for the write up.

Thanks for viewing and happy shooting.

Hardlicker