My new toy!

[JLA]

I picked it up today and boy is she beautiful. I believe its a sneak rifle as you can see in pic #3 thats the extent of the markings. Im still trying to figure out the who made it, whether it be sako or a vtk. Either way its in unissued condition with a shiney new bore Thanks Helix for finding me yet another treasure... What would i do without you

[JLA]

I took these pics just now as i unboxed her (for the second time today) Ill put up more as I clean her up and get her ready for a lifelong diet of cast boolit handloads...

[gdmoody]

91/30, M44 or M38? I just can't tell from the angle of the pictures. I thought hex receiver 91/30 first off.

[JLA]

Oh sorry guys, I forgot to tell yall what it is

Its a Finn M39.. The way the russians should have built the 'legend rifle'

[Marlin T]

Drooling

[Zane71464]

REAL NICE! You just remined me to get to "work" on the one I have to find out if it's a Finnish made or not?
Yours looks to be in real good shape,
Congratulations!
EDIT: What was I thinking, it is unissued, NICE JLA!

[Zane71464]

Here is a page with some good info on it and a bit of history.

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM91F.htm

[zb338]

Hopes it shoot as good as it looks for you. I'm sure it will.

Zeke

[Helix_FR]

Originally Posted by JLA

What would i do without you

Have more money in your bank account
I like to find em. Too bad I can't afford em

Now come'on Josh its been 24 hrs, were is the range report?

[Zane71464]

Yeah, what Helix said!

[TRAP55]

Ohhhhh Noooo! You got a M39! Now you will look down on all other Mosins with disdain.
Josh, looks like you got a real nice one too! If you pull it out of the stock, and look at the bottom side of the tang near the screw hole, there will be an arsenal mark and date numbers. That will tell you who made the receiver, and when.
Get busy with that range report too!
If it shoots too high, let me know how high, and what the number is on the front sight blade, if I have one taller, I'll swap ya.

Im still trying to figure out the who made it, whether it be sako or a vtk.

Get a magnifier and look right in front of the serial on the barrel, looks like there may be a VKT in a box there. Anything stamped in the stock?
My bad, I forgot the "Sneak" rifles weren't branded. Here's some info:
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM39.htm

[johnlives4christ]

watcha pay?

[JLA]

Originally Posted by TRAP55

Ohhhhh Noooo! You got a M39! Now you will look down on all other Mosins with disdain.
Josh, looks like you got a real nice one too! If you pull it out of the stock, and look at the bottom side of the tang near the screw hole, there will be an arsenal mark and date numbers. That will tell you who made the receiver, and when.
Get busy with that range report too!
If it shoots too high, let me know how high, and what the number is on the front sight blade, if I have one taller, I'll swap ya.

Get a magnifier and look right in front of the serial on the barrel, looks like there may be a VKT in a box there. Anything stamped in the stock?
My bad, I forgot the "Sneak" rifles weren't branded. Here's some info:
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM39.htm

I already do look at the ruskies with disgust now...

Its a sako, got the "s in the gear" stamped under the tang with a 2 on one side and a mark thats barely discernable as a mark on the other, looks like it may have been an 8 at one time? The sako gear is also stamped veeeery small on the front of the front sight housing. Anyhow. Shes cleaned and oiled, all the shims are in place, I even made a couple beer can shims for the trigger housing/mag assembly so it bears evenly against the stock. The action is solidly bedded to the stock, barrel is fully floated between the handguards from the reciever to the last inch of stock where it is in solid contact with the upper and lower stocks, barrel harmonics should be superb. I also shimmed the sear with another beer can shim, and polished the trigger mechanisms with blue magic (im not gonna say whats its as smooth as on this forum... Helix knows) Trigger is a smooth 2 stage pull that breaks like glass at 3 lbs. I tell ya the finns build one hell of a fine rifle...

[JLA]

Originally Posted by johnlives4christ

watcha pay?

Total of 330 after shipping and transfer...

[Bobitis]

Originally Posted by JLA

Total of 330 after shipping and transfer...

You Suko.

[JLA]

range report... Fired yesterday about 4:30 in the afternoon, it was a balmy 85 degrees, with a slight crosswind that may have hit 5 mph at most. Fired form a solid bench with sandbags front and rear.

Ammo used:
Winchester White box (metric calibers)
7.62X54R 180 gr FMJ

decided on doin the range report with factory fodder 1) because i needed more brass and the win brass is good stuff. 2) itll gimme an excuse to do yet another range report with cast booilt loads in once fired brass, neck sized of course

First couple pics are of the rifle planted on the shootn bench...

First target is 150 yd target (lowest setting on rear sight) to see how much adjusting i needed to do.... % shots, excellent group (especially for irons) front sight a little off and yes it shoots about 6 inches high...

Second target 250 yds, fired 4 rounds after adjusting the front sight left a little with the rear still set at 150, hits POA. (the fifth round was fired through a piece of 1/4 inch steel I had just for giggles)

It was a short range session and i really didnt give the rifle time to foul or warm up even. But i got my answers and I went home to tweak it a little.

A little precision filework on the sights (opened em up a little so I can see better) and i hit the range again today....

[JLA]

Today the weather was identical to yesterday with the wind a bit stronger. same crosswind but 10-20 mph gusts, not bad, I have shot in worse

First group with the finn was at 50 just to verify sight alignment and to make sure I didnt screw the sights up, much to my surprise.. a 1 holer! (just 50 yds though)

So I set a target at 100 yds and fired 10 consecutive carefully aimed shots...
Very satisfied at this point despite the wind gusts.

Moved to 150 to shoot my deer vitals. 5 hits, 4 out of 5 in the lungs. one would have disabled the animal but I would have had to finish it. The wind began to have its effect beyond 100 and the 200 and 250 werent worth taking pictures of.

I am hitting the press tonight and loading up a batch of 200 gr cast lead for tomorrows ladder test. The abilities of this rifle exceed the abilities of the shooter by far. Im really fighting myself over mounting a scope in a solid mount to get the most out of this rifle

BTW... sorry for the small pics. I forgot the camera today and had to take them with my cell...

[Marlin T]

Thanks for the great pictures and the range report. All great stuff.

[TRAP55]

Bwaaaahaha.........you're hooked.
I've been playing with IMR Trail Boss powder, and some 110grn cast. The Trail Boss is foolproof, you can't possibly overload with it. No need for gas checks, fps stays under sonic, and no recoil. Burns clean too. Any case and bullet weight, fill the case to the bottom of the neck and seat a bullet.
Subsonic loads in a Mosin, backyard crows are hating life around here.

[JLA]

nice. I got my boolits lubed and sized/gaschecks seated. Im going for a MV of somewheres around 1700-1800 fps with the 200 grainers. I got me some trailboss too. Might try some of those 'bb gun' loads for the M39 thanks trap

[TRAP55]

Josh, the secret got out and they are hard to find now, but the Czech practice ammo is a kick to shoot. 46grn bullet, made from a plastic filled copper jacket, muzzle velocity of 3,800fps. Velocity falls off fast, but it's good out to 200yrds. Makes one hell of a varmint load at 100yrds. No recoil, but they develop enough pressure to cycle the action on my SVT-40 and PSL-54.
Reason I mention em, for some reason, the accuracy in M39's is great inside 100yrds. This is what they look like if you run across some:

[JLA]

neat. Ill keep my eyes peeled. Thanks trap!

I just got back from the range shooing the first test batch of cast loads. I decided against the ladder test due to wind. Its very windy today. I just loaded a 50 round batch with 28.8 grains of reloader 7 (smack dab in the middle of the data listd in the lyman 49 manual) accuracy was fantastic despite the wind. Groups fired at 100 yds and the rear sight had to be set at 4+1 notch to hit POA and the best part..... NO LEADING and very little felt recoil (about comparable to light .243) I could shoot all day with cast loads and the boolits were smacking the steel targets as hard as they seemed to with full power loads, I fired one into a barrel of water to test expansion (none whatsoever) and the barrel (a 35 gallon drum) jumped straight up 3 feet still full of water (I gotta start you-tubing). I am one very happy camper with this rifle, they get my seal of approval for sure. Yall quit wasting your money on them cheap ruskies and buy a real nagant......

[Zane71464]

NICE!!! And I agree with buying the "real" deal, they are what they are, made to shoot and shoot good!

[TRAP55]

Yall quit wasting your money on them cheap ruskies and buy a real nagant.

Two trips to the range......and see how ya are already.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by TRAP55

Two trips to the range......and see how ya are already.

I cant deny the quality and workmanship the finns put into the development of these rifles. they built them like thier own lives depended on them. The ruskies built them for 10 million peasant soldiers because it was easier to convince a man to fight for his country against his own free will if he had somewhat of a weapon to do it with...

I have owned and fired accurate ruskies, they arent all bad, but I bought 4 before i found one that would print decently on paper.

This is my first finn, I have read and read and read some more to learn as much as i could about them before I even bought it, so my expectations were high when I laid this one on the bench and Im very satisfied. This is a rifle, i purchased on merit alone, contributing to my scarily unfailing ability to trust the word of people who i dont even know that live hundreds of miles away, and i get it home, and take it apart, everything was like I had researched, i load it and it shoots fanfreakintastic with the very first thing i feed it. Coincidence??? I think not...

Off the shelf ruskies demand hand pickin and tons of work to shoot even close to the finns. so yeah, id say save another 150 bucks and buy a real mosin nagant, chances are youre gonna spend at least that getting a ruskie to shoot, I know because i have...