Mosin Nagant 91/30

[HiStandardB]

Went out to shoot my 91/30 this weekend and it is way high and to the right at 100 yards. I adjusted the front sight to correct the windage but even with the rear sight set as low as it goes it is still 2 ft too high. Do you guys know if the front sight pin can be adjusted up and down too or if there are some aftermarket sights I can buy to correct the problem. Or is something seriously wrong with gun and its junk. Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks

[jsmaye]

There are a lot of variables. Some 91/30s are picky about ammo. The arsenals sighted them in with the bayonet attached. It's a 2000-meter battle rifle - IIRC, it was zeroed at 300 meters. How are the bore and the crown?

[HiStandardB]

The bore and the crown look good. The only ammo i tried has been Brown Bear 203 grain. If they were zeroed at 300 meters then there isn't much i can do about it shooting high at 100 yards except by putting a scope on it or aiming way low

[SigP6Carry]

I'm actually placing an order through AIM surplus for one, took care of it all on their end, then when I went to the FFL to clear it: it turns out they just got two in. I did get a chance to hold on, but not to fire, as the store doesn't carry 7.62x54 (they do carry 7.62x55 and 7.62x53, though) I really don't like the feel of the rifle, the bolt is a little rough, but it looks great. Any advice for new first shooters against the wall?

Also, the stocks on both the guns were pretty gross to touch, they felt like melted lacquering or oiling. Did you guys ever have that issue?

[MikeG]

HiStandardB: If I'm not more mistaken than usual, heavy bullets shoot higher than light ones. Try different ammunition. Military light ball is around 148 grains.

Thomme: The unpleasant feel to the stock is probably the preservative grease from storage. Mineral spirits takes that off.

[SigP6Carry]

what excactly does "mineral spritis" refer to? Like... fortified wines, brandy? Tonic water? Mineral Water.... little confused.

[BobbyT]

The coating on your rifle is probably excess cosmoline (kinda like vasoline) soaked into the wood. After cleaning as much off as possible, what some guys do is either lay them out in the sun and wipe them down every half hour or so as they "sweat", or wrapping it in a towel and leaving it outside or in a hot car.

Mineral spirits are a petroleum distillate (one portion of what oil is broken down into). They're more volatile than gasoline but less so than propane/butane/LPG and naphtha. Basically paint thinner--a good solvent for getting rid of heavier oils and greases.

Here's a chart:

[mp25ds4]

yes the heavy ball ammo does shoot high, even if the gun shot high by itself its not junk, you need to judge by the groupings

[HiStandardB]

Once I figured out that it was shooting high I started aiming a foot below the target and the 3 shot groups were about 4-5 in at 100 yrds. The only other ammo I could find around here was 7.62E54 which shoots a 163 gr bullet I think. What does the E stand for and does it matter. Thanks for the input. Oh and about the slippery stock issue. It took me 2 hours to clean all the cosmoline out of the gun and all i did was wipe down the stock thoroughly to try to get that stuff off. It's almost like they just throw the guns into a big tub of grease and then put them in the box. I'm going to try the car thing though because it still feels slippery.

[carguychris]

Oh and about the slippery stock issue. It took me 2 hours to clean all the cosmoline out of the gun and all i did was wipe down the stock thoroughly to try to get that stuff off. It's almost like they just throw the guns into a big tub of grease and then put them in the box.

That's exactly what the Soviet armorers did before they put the refurbished rifle in the warehouse 40-50 years ago. Immersion is the best way to ensure that the cosmoline coats and rust-proofs every little nook and cranny.

FWIW it's not just civilian shooters who have dealt with this. Every so often, a story will pop up from an old soldier whose unit arrived at the front and promptly received a shipment of crated rifles from long-term storage. Most stories involve soldiers disassembling the guns and standing in line to dip each part in cauldrons of boiling water to get the cosmo off.

BTW mineral spirits is usually the main ingredient in the cheap, basic paint thinner that's sold at any hardware store or home-improvement warehouse. Read the ingredients on the label.

[BobbyT]

I've wondered before what the "official"/SOP for removing cosmo is. We probably didn't end up using it here because by the time surplus arms were needed we had newer fancier ones, but there are certainly plenty of places that did put surplus arms back into use, and they had to have planned an easy, effective way to de-cosmo everything.

Is it really just to throw everything in boiling water, then tell everyone to dry their parts and oil them before they rust?

[carguychris]

I've wondered before what the "official"/SOP for removing cosmo is...
Is it really just to throw everything in boiling water, then tell everyone to dry their parts and oil them before they rust?

Yes. Really. It works great. I've done it to the last several milsurp rifles I've purchased. It's less expensive and much less stinky than using mineral spirits, brake cleaner, or carb cleaner.

Get a big stockpot (one that you don't use for cooking ), a campstove, some heavy gloves, a pair of tongs long enough to reach the bottom of the pot, and a strainer. Strip the rifle down to its individual components. (I've had good luck leaving Mosin-Nagant sights in place since they're hard to remove.) You'll want to do this outside because it gets stinky, and liquid cosmo leaves nasty yellow stains. Wear old clothes.

Heat the water to a gentle simmer; a vigorous, rolling boil will splatter liquid cosmo everywhere when you start cleaning, and the stuff burns like cooking oil if it gets on your skin. I dump small parts into the pot and boil them for a minute or two, stirring frequently, then dump the whole mess through the strainer. Use the tongs for the larger parts. The cosmo rises to the top of the water, so you'll want to rotate large, complex parts so the cosmo comes out of the nooks and crannies.

To clean the barreled action, hold it by the barrel and dip the receiver into the water. You'll want to leave it in there for a few minutes, rotating frequently; it takes a while to heat everything hot enough to melt the cosmo off. You obviously won't be able to get the whole thing into the water unless the pot is huge, but I've had good luck holding the receiver in the water until the barrel gets hot enough to start liquifying the cosmo (hence the gloves), then promptly placing it on the ground and dumping the leftover boiling water over the areas that weren't immersed.

Oil everything thoroughly when you're done. Spray oil comes in handy because it's a pain to reach the little nooks and crannies with a rag.

The only hitch is that this won't work on the stock because the wood will swell. Constant heat is the key. Since a Mosin-Nagant stock won't fit in a normal oven, I like to leave them outside on a hot summer day and wipe the weeping cosmo off every half hour or so.

[rcupka]

I had the same sighting issue, I went to the local hobby shop and picked up some brass tubing. I placed it over the front sight and spent some time at the range to determine the correct amount of height I need to be zeroed at 100 yards. I then crimped the tubing to a point and filed it to the necessary height, painted it black and bondede it to the original sight, I no longer have to correct for the distance by aiming low.