stu925
March 11, 2011, 10:28 PM
Well the rain finally stopped for a while so I decided to pack up my stuff and head to the range with my new Mini-14 and the Mosin Nagant I picked up a few weeks ago. This is the first time I've shot either of them so I wasn't trying for tiny groups, just wanted to get a feel for both of them. First impressions: Mini shot pretty well considering I didn't loctite the scope rings and they'd shoot themselves loose, had to re-tighten about every 4th round or so. Most of the shooting was done at 50yds with a couple different types of ammo, Federal 55gr Lake city and some green tipped 62gr Lake city. 55gr stuff shot pretty well all things considered and averaged about 2", the 62gr stuff seemed to be all over the place. I'm sure some loctite on the rings will help quite a bit. Functioning was flawless but man does this thing throw some brass, I'm either going to have to build a brass catcher or get a smaller bushing for the gas block assembly. By the way, 5 round magazines are not fun, spend more time loading than shooting. I'm sure I can shrink these groups quite a bit reloading for it and maybe bedding the action. On the plus side, I fired 80 rounds and ended up with 102 fired cases coming home with me, guess someone else didn't police their brass.
On to the Mosin Nagant, it's a 91/30 that I got a pretty good deal on. Picked up some cheap, cheap 7.62x54 ammo appears to be zinc cases or plated wrapped in paper. Rifle definitely shoots high, about 8" at 50yds and 6" at 100yds. Hard to tell if it's a good shooter or not with this ammo, was able to get them in about 6" at 100yds so I'd say not too bad. Took a pretty good beating with it trying to shoot it off the bench, did notice I shoot it better off hand than off the bench. Had a tough time with the sights on this rifle, that rear sight has such a small notch in it that I can barely see it. All in all a pretty good afternoon, had a blast with both rifles.
Stu
On to the Mosin Nagant, it's a 91/30 that I got a pretty good deal on. Picked up some cheap, cheap 7.62x54 ammo appears to be zinc cases or plated wrapped in paper. Rifle definitely shoots high, about 8" at 50yds and 6" at 100yds. Hard to tell if it's a good shooter or not with this ammo, was able to get them in about 6" at 100yds so I'd say not too bad. Took a pretty good beating with it trying to shoot it off the bench, did notice I shoot it better off hand than off the bench. Had a tough time with the sights on this rifle, that rear sight has such a small notch in it that I can barely see it. All in all a pretty good afternoon, had a blast with both rifles.
Stu