Tempest 455
New member
Mosin ammo test
Went out again to reproduce 1st outing with this rifle and also test some more ammo. I had used up the last batch of Russian surplus and to break into another. Not sure if that was going to make a difference, batch, age etc? I ended up trying the following ammo and will post the best results. What I found was interesting. Some of the surplus and current production are horrible (at least in my rifle). I limited the shots to 3 round groups as the Mosin heats up very quickly and that seems to effect the accuracy. Here is what I tested on the same day with a brief summary of how they shot in my gun. All were done at 100 yards on a clear day with little wind:
1 - Prvi Match (Probably the most accurate).
2 - Bulgarian Brass (Shoots way high and left. Actually groups well but way off POA for my gun).
3 - Hungarian Steel Case (3-4" group. Rifle did not like this).
4 - Yellow Tip Heavy Ball (Just plain sucked).
5 - Brown Bear (By far the worst, most inaccurate ammo in this rifle).
6 - Wolf Brass (Very nice. Almost as good as Prvi).
7 - Winchester Soft Point (Very good as well).
8 - Russian Silver Tip (Best surplus in my rifle).
* The rifle was sighted for the Russian which is 147 grain. All of these above (with exception of the Russian) were around 180-182g. I left the scope alone and was looking for grouping regardless of the POI. Here are the results and summary.
Wolf Brass.
This ammo shot approx 1" group.
Winchester Soft Point Brass.
This ammo also shot approx 1" group.
Prvi Match.
This one was my fault. The higher shot was me, I knew it when I pulled it. This is a 182 grain round and always shoots about 1-2" lower than the Russian. I have grouped them pretty well before in this rifle. The lower two are representative of the accuracy of this ammo if the shooter does well. Will update target at next outing.
Russian 147 grain Silver Tip.
I should have shot this first instead of last. As the rifle got hot, they started to move a bit. Not as good as last outing but still decent for surplus ammo made in the 1970's shot from a gun made in 1930.
I will update progress with better results from future outings.
Went out again to reproduce 1st outing with this rifle and also test some more ammo. I had used up the last batch of Russian surplus and to break into another. Not sure if that was going to make a difference, batch, age etc? I ended up trying the following ammo and will post the best results. What I found was interesting. Some of the surplus and current production are horrible (at least in my rifle). I limited the shots to 3 round groups as the Mosin heats up very quickly and that seems to effect the accuracy. Here is what I tested on the same day with a brief summary of how they shot in my gun. All were done at 100 yards on a clear day with little wind:
1 - Prvi Match (Probably the most accurate).
2 - Bulgarian Brass (Shoots way high and left. Actually groups well but way off POA for my gun).
3 - Hungarian Steel Case (3-4" group. Rifle did not like this).
4 - Yellow Tip Heavy Ball (Just plain sucked).
5 - Brown Bear (By far the worst, most inaccurate ammo in this rifle).
6 - Wolf Brass (Very nice. Almost as good as Prvi).
7 - Winchester Soft Point (Very good as well).
8 - Russian Silver Tip (Best surplus in my rifle).
* The rifle was sighted for the Russian which is 147 grain. All of these above (with exception of the Russian) were around 180-182g. I left the scope alone and was looking for grouping regardless of the POI. Here are the results and summary.
Wolf Brass.
This ammo shot approx 1" group.
Winchester Soft Point Brass.
This ammo also shot approx 1" group.
Prvi Match.
This one was my fault. The higher shot was me, I knew it when I pulled it. This is a 182 grain round and always shoots about 1-2" lower than the Russian. I have grouped them pretty well before in this rifle. The lower two are representative of the accuracy of this ammo if the shooter does well. Will update target at next outing.
Russian 147 grain Silver Tip.
I should have shot this first instead of last. As the rifle got hot, they started to move a bit. Not as good as last outing but still decent for surplus ammo made in the 1970's shot from a gun made in 1930.
I will update progress with better results from future outings.