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Interesting experiment w/a Mosin 91/30 front sight

Kari Prager
Every Mosin Nagant I have ever shot except for my Finnish ones (w/o the hooded front sight) shoots very high at one hundred yards. The very nice one I just bought shot almost two feet high at that distance. So I cast about for a suitable fix and came up with what promises to be a good one. I wanted to preserve the original appearance of the sight and keep the post centered in the hood, so lengthening the post was not a desirable option. I found instead an Enfield #4 front sight, the tallest one (thickest base) would be about right for raising the front sight the desired distance. I filed the dovetal down to fit the Russian dovetail in the sight mount (took a while with those little Swiss files), ground off the Enfield sight blade and the Russian sight dovetail, got a friend to weld them together, smoothed the sides with a belt sander and blued the sight, and you can barely tell it is modified. I've bore-sighted it and it is a little bit too tall, but that's ok because I can dial in some elevation with the rear sight. I get to go shoot it on Monday and we'll see just how successful this experiment proves to be. It's only a $100 rifle but it is the ancestor to all my Finn rifles, so I had to try one out. As for this sight business, it is amazing what lengths we will go when we have a little too much time on our hands sometimes, isn't it?
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  • midnightrunpaintballer
    that's a great idea. i'm impressed. let us know how it shoots
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  • Kari Prager
    Well, the experiment was a success, I think. With the front sight post raised .725" above the barrel, the rear sight set at 250 yards,but shooting at the std 100 yard smallbore target I got 5 10's, (2X), 2 9's 1 8, 1 7, the last two definitely my poor shooting. Good old 1937 Ishevsk Mosin 91/30 did far better than I expected. The load I used was Privi Partizan cases neck-sized to .308 (new cases), 150 gr. .311 Sierra spitzers (.303 bullets), a mild charge of 43 gr. 4064, Win. std. primers, OAL 2.900, no sign of excessive pressure whatsoever. I slugged the barrel and it was close to .310.
    I also shot it with 168 gr. Sierra BT HP match .308 bullets and it did almost as well, so it doesn't seem to be a picky rifle (no surprise when you examine it.) The bore is very good, I checked it with my borescope. I am quite impressed with what $99 and a little work buys you these days.
    kari
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