Bedding the barrel channel in a M/N mdl 44

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ELMOUSMC

New member
After much discussion with the the guys I have shot with for 20 years on how to improve the over all accuracy of the mdl 44,we came up with these ideas and I would like some feed back from some of you all

1 Bed the action

2 buy an after market stock,replace the trigger group

3 free float the barrel

My idea was to bed the barrel and forward hand guard as well as the action to control the harmonics.We all relize that the M/N is no target rifle,but even the short barreled mdl 44should be able to do better than 3 or 4 moa at 200 yds any and all ideas will be considered
Thanks in advance;)

ELMO
 
I've never read of an M44 being accurate enough to be considered as a target rifle, even with the usual accurizing mods you're discussing such as receiver bedding and a Timney trigger.

I've rarely read about bedding a barrel channel on a bolt gun producing superior results. The barrel needs to "whip" freely- which is why "every" (there may be exceptions, but they are few) accurate bolt gun has a free-floated barrel.

Keep the M44, and get a 91/30 or any of the Finn MN's if you want a shooter.

Accuracy has nothing to do with barrel length, plenty of "short" barreled rifles are very accurate- it's only velocity for sure that's affected, and harmonics will vary with every barrel short, long, and in between.

I suspect that the bayonet hanging off the end of the barrel is a permanent impediment to barrel harmonics.

My 91/30's (accurized) will all shoot minute of angle (and sometimes better if I'm really on my game) with handloads. It would be interesting to hear from someone with an M44 carbine that can shoot that well, I've just not heard of one, yet...
 
Maybe I wasn't clear

there are 7 of us old gray beards and between us we have at least dozen Mosins.The mdl 44 is a bubbaed farm sale special that was picked up for $30,it has the bayonet lug cut off and a muzzle brake welded on,there is no rear sight but there is a scope mount in its place
This rifle was brought to 1 of our Friday meetings and as old guys do we decided to try to bring it back to at least minute of barn door,and that was the reason for the original post,again any ideas will be helpful

ELMO

It is or was a Polish made mdl 44 with a laminated stock(the only unbubbaed part) the bore is excellent and all the numbers match
 
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ELMOUSMC,

Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but an M44 is an interesting rifle to try to accurize.

Try doing a full length bed job, the action and barrel channel, with acraglass or other bedding compound. The barreled action should be drop in/out and 100% contact.

Then make sure the bottome metal has repeatable contact, this means pillar bedding.

Then shoot, one shot every 5 minutes for 25 minutes, to see how your groups are. If still not acceptable, then free float the barrel.

If floating the barrel doesn't fix the issue, try pressure bedding.

Hope this helps,
Jimro
 
Thanks

Thanks for the reply-we have already gotten the muzzle brake off and 1 of our members is a retired machinist and is going to clean up the barrel and bayonet lug-digging through 1 of my boxes of parts I found a rear sight-as with your suggestion 1st step will be to bed the action and see if that makes any difference-we will proceed from there-thanks again

ELMO

Refreshment chairman of the OFGC (old farts gun club)
 
Problem with the Mosin is mainly two part.

EXACT bullet diameter .. What is it ? It can vary, and unlike the Finnish rifles it's definitely not a 308 bullet, more like 311 or 312, still that's not the biggest issue.

Second problem is the big one, thin barrel, most of the time these rifles don't respond very well to free floating. I wrapped my barrel, but I now have to make a new upper hand guard, and then shoot it to see what groups I get.

Also I believe a lot of the target shooting that some people do is take too much advantage of five round stripper clips. They load five, fire reload fire reload in a quick manner. Then grab another stripper load, do the same again.

When I shot mine I took two to three hours to slowly go through 40 rounds, let the barrel cool off a bit.


The receiver is good and I mean DAMN good, the Finns used early 1900 receivers for their new sniper rifles chambered in 7.62x53. And I know if at least two people who used the receiver to make 338 Lapua Magnum rifles.
 
2 to 3 moa at 200yds isn't bad for most milsurps.

Check the crown for chips.

If you can machine the action barrel connection or at least see if the gun would profit from it.
 
Bullet size and barrel heating

Grabbed a random handful of 2 or 3 different types of milsurp ammo that we had on hand and using a micrometer checked them out,most were .310 some were.311 and a few were.312.1 of the old farts had some ammo that had a yellow tip and it was the most consistant all measured .310 but no one knew where it came from
We took a couple of the 91/30s down to our range and did some testing shooting 1 until it was hot to the touch and the other waiting a 1/2 a can of beer between shots-the 1 that was hot at 100 yds opened up from a average on the 1st 5 rounds of 1 moa +or - to a very eradic 3 or 4 moa +or - so the light thin barrel at least on the 91/30s is affected by heating-qnce we get the mdl 44 running we will run the same test thanks again

ELMO
the crown and bore are both fine
 
Impossible to evaluate/compare the accuracy of any MN with surplus ammo.

Commercial ammo at minimum, and preferably handloads- including trying different brands/bullet weights if commercial, and typical load workup as you'd do for any rifle when handloading, is the only way to make a true determination of the rifle's capabilities.

Good luck with it.
 
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