Mosin Nagant shootin very very high

A

ar15man2009

New member
Well, I went out yesterday to shoot some and decided to take my mosin with me. I know that it had shot high before but i had assumed that at farther distances it would drop back to the correct spot. My brother and I were just shooting for fun so he picked a rock, for me to shoot at. I would say the rock was around 400-500 yards up a very steep inclined hill.

On the first shot im thinking maybe a few feet high, hold there, bullet hits at least 20 feet high of the rock. I figured it must have been me, so I aimed right at the rock, still very high. The next shot I said well lets just see, So I aimed around 20 feet low and HIT IT!!!!

I just do not understand how this could be happening. all of these numbers are approximate but I would say theyre not off by more than 10%.

I was shooting silver bear, non corrosive steel cased,berdan primed, 203 grain spire point type bullets, out of the longer barreled vesion, I dont know exactly how long the barrel it but its pretty long.

Oh and by the way the back sight is indeed al the way down, and not adjusted up even the first notch. If anybody could give me a remedy or an explanation for this, it would be very much appreciated.
 
try zeroing it at 100yds 1st to see what is doing. If your mosins barrel is well used its possible 400-500 yds is slightly out of its range.
 
Most Mosins shoot high. There are several reasons given, which is true is anyone's guess.

The question is how to fix it. I want to keep my Mosin legal per CMP GSM Rules which precludes me from adding different sights or going to scopes so I fixed the sights.

I found by measuring the sight radious of the rifle that for every .0061 inches I could lower the rear sight or raise the front sight I could lower the impact 1 MOA. Again I can't add a taller front sight and keep the rifle with in specs.

My rifle shot 8 inches high so I had to lower the rear sight .0488.

If you flip up the rear sight you'll notice the sight proper, (the part that slided up and down) sets on the sight base which gives you your elevation increases.

I took the sight off the rifle, stuck it in a milling maching and milled off .0488 of the bottom of the sliding part, that allowed the sight to set .0488 lower. Now when I have the sight setting on the 100 mark, its sighted in at 100 yards, on 200 its sighted in at 200, 300 at 300 and 400 at 400.

My range only goes to 400 so I haven't tried it past that but there is no reason to doubt it wouldnt work at extended ranges.

This in no way screws up the sight for CMP games, once you put the put the sight back on the rifle you can't even tell it was modified.

You don't have to use a milling machine, you can use a file, but be careful to keep it flat, and don't take off too much. A bit of filing, measuring and filing again will get you there.

These rifles will shoot, we just need to get them set up for us and our ammo.
 
Also a good reason to try zeroing in on Ye Olde 25 meter/1000 inch range using targets marked in 1" squares. Also remember a lot of M-Ns have seen better days and were not manufactured on state of the art machinery by skilled craftsmen but cranked out on worn machinery by 15 year old girls on inadequate rations under a flickering light in 40 degree temperatures. Their concept of Milspec was probably a lot more generous than ours, and a very tiny bit of judicious filing can work wonders.
 
You should also be aware that the Moisin-Nagant was originally zeroed with the Bayonet fixed in position and that they switched from the Heavy ball (182 gr +-) in or around 1905 (IIRC) to the light ball (147 gr +-) so the sights on the M91's (rear sight is long and curved) were changed or remarked, they changed from a Russian Imperial measure to Meters, the M91/30 and later models used a flat rear sight and was marked in meters.

Another thing to remember is that shooting on an angle, up hill or down changes the point of impact, you always have to aim lower and the greater the angle x distances the lower you need to aim.

Many MN's were manufactured well before the onset of WW1 and WW2 and actually have a very decent level of fit and finish and if properly stocked and fed, will compare very well with the majority of Military issue rifles from the various countries of that time frame.

Some countries retained the Heavy Ball for use in machine guns, given it's better long range ballistics and armour piercing abilities.
 
There is a guy on youtube who produces taller sight posts that are exact replicas of the original which you can't tell the difference at all which will fix your high shots. You just punch out your post and measure the diameter and he'll make you one if yours is a odd size. He only charges a couple of $ for one. He makes them tall and you just file it down little by little if you need to get it where your shots are shooting at point of aim. I ordered one and was the best $ i spent so far on my Mosin. I wanted to keep my stock mosin looking stock.
Get on youtube and search for his username which is " johnnybarbar "
 
Hello,

Did you say 20 FEET?

I make adjustable sights and see all sorts of sizes on the front sight, but you're not going to be shooting 20 feet high unless there is serious upward pressure on the barrel, or the rear sight is set up pretty high.

I used the same fodder you're using for R&D before I began handloading the 7.62x54R, and if anything it impacts lower because it's shooting slower and still dropping at a constant 60ft/sec/sec.

Before you go any further, please go to

http://www.smith-sights.com/article-accurizing-mosin-nagant.php

This will line everything up and should bring you down quite a bit.

After that, get a Mojo, a tall front sight from that one dude already mentioned, or an adjustable front sight from me, and finish dialing her in.

Regards,

Josh Smith
Smith-Sights.com
 
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