The results of sighting in my Mosin Today.

M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
Before I start, this was more or less a crude sighting in, just drifted the front sight a bit. Let's get to it.

Okay first off. The Blue Dots are Winchester 180 grain softpoints, the red are PPU 1976 surplus. The two blue dots in the upper right torso were my first two shots, then, the ones nearest the bullseye and the one in the left shoulder were my shots after drifting the shots. The one in the shoulder was the last Soft point I shot, so I'm attributing that to shooter error and my barrel was also getting kinda hot. The next three were awful. I'm not sure what happened. It might be because of the ammo, might be because of the barrel heating up, could have even been me. I don't know. Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions and what else I could do to improve the accuracy of my rifle. I'm thinking of ordering a sight from Josh Smith. Note, I've already bedded the barrel with cork and shimmed the action a bit. (This is why my barrel heats up so quickly)
 
That's not the rifle. It's a battle rifle, the barrel isn't even thinking about getting hot enough to effect your group like that after less than a magazine through it.

Those patterns (sorry, hard to call them groups!) are typical of a new shooter with little or no instruction or practice.

Best (and cheapest) thing you could do to learn to shoot is to attend an Appleseed. Borrow a .22 if you don't own one.

If you're really interested in seeing what your rifle can do right now, get an experienced shooter with proven performance to shoot a group for you.
 
I have 2 questions for you.

1- why did you bed the barrel in cork?

2- will you describe how you shoot? (Setup, how you hold the rifle, breathing, trigger pull)
 
1 Because I couldn't really do it anyway else.
2 I shot these with 3 sandbags in front 1 rabbit ear bag at the butt. And I just gently pulled the trigger.
 
There is the option of dry practice, but if you haven't been taught correctly, you could potentially just be reenforcing bad habits.
 
At what range? If I'm understanding you are a 14 year old novice shooter. If I'm reading this right, don't get too discouraged. That is a lot of rifle for a new shooter and the recoil can lead to bad habits and no one became proficient overnight.

Normally I'd suggest lots of 22 practice, but with availability today that may not be a realistic option. I'd prescribe lots of dry fire practice. You will know if the sights are moving as the trigger is being pulled. I'm 56, and still dry fire my guns several hundred, maybe a thousand times for each live fire pull of the trigger to stay in practice.

There is rarely a day that goes by when at least one rifle is not pulled out of the safe. I can practice shooting at the squirrels and birds behind my house for free.
 
There is always local instruction available, with a little searching, you should be able to find an instructor in your area. There are NRA certified instructors everywhere.

Is it the rifle? Hard to say without shooting it, but with some instruction and some practice, your skills will improve and the groups should get smaller. However, if your skills are improving and the groups don't change at all, then yes, it's probably the rifle .
 
Where would I find a rifle instructor? I just want to start shooting better, but I don't want to just shoot .22s. I want to shoot the rifle that I Want to shoot.
 
I congratulate you for your passion about shooting.
If you lack a teacher then read, read, read, all you can get your hands on.
The try to get a .22 rifle & lots of ammo and develope good shooting skills.
The Mosin is a very problematic rifle.
It's old, has a hard trigger to master, might have a bad bore (rilfing) & in general isn't a good rifle to learn shooting skills.
The rifle itself might be of poor quality. I've owned 2 of these rifles, niether was particulary accurate but much better shooters than the groups you posted.
If you know another experienced shooter you could have that shooter look a the rifle to determine the condition of the rifling.
Best wishes to you.
You will find much good advice & help here.
 
At what distance, and why are you using a silhouette?

Use a clearly visible medium-sized black bull's-eye & start at a measured 50 yards.
Put the black bull square on top of the sights.

Work on trigger, consistent sight picture, and breathing.

If you can't consistently put holes close together doing that, switch to your .22 & repeat. Same target, same distance.

If your .22 does better, it's the Mosin.
If your .22 shoots all over the paper, it's almost certainly you (unless you're shooting a clunker .22).

You made a poor choice to learn marksmanship with, frankly.

Does the Mosin shoot poorly for your Dad?
Denis
 
So, just get a bunch of .22 and buy a spam can of 54R? The one I'm thinking of going to is only for 3 days so how much ammo would you guys recommend take for 3 days?
 
So, just get a bunch of .22 and buy a spam can of 54R? The one I'm thinking of going to is only for 3 days so how much ammo would you guys recommend take for 3 days?
Click to expand...

From the link :

Ammunition - you will need 1200-1500 rounds of ammunition. If you bring a .22 bring 1000 rounds for the .22, Then around 500 rounds of ammunition for your centerfire rifle. But you will need approx. 1200-1500 rounds total to shoot the week in whatever caliber you are shooting.

They were talking about a week long "boot camp" .... 3 day? Dunno ..... try contacting them ....
 
If you want to shoot that Mosin for many years, cheap, without re-loading for it, get as much surplus as you can, NOW.

People seem to think it'll last forever, but it won't.
Already hard to find in some places.

If you want to find out whether your poor shooting results are you or the gun, do what I said.

Measure the range, medium-sized bull, steady rest, trigger pull, breath, sight picture.

If you can't tighten the groups, try a GOOD .22.
Also have your Dad shoot the Mosin, same distance & targets.

If it shoots poorly for him & the .22 shoots well for you, consider the Mosin is the most likely problem.

You've posted so far at varying distances & targets.
Get some consistency!
No more silhouettes till you learn the basics.

The Smith sight can help in adjusting point of impact, but it won't do you any good at all if you can't consistently put holes together SOMEWHERE on paper.
Denis
 
1. As Denis said, get some bullseye targets with high contrast bulls that are clearly visible at the distance you intend to shoot. If you want to evaluate yourself and the rifle properly, you need a good aiming point, and especially when dealing with iron sights, silhouette targets are a very poor choice.

2. Do NOT take your M-N to an Appleseed shoot. The last thing you need at this point is to put a ton of ammo through a hard-kicking rifle in a short time period. If you aren't already having issues with flinching, you will be after an experience like that.
...I don't want to just shoot .22s. I want to shoot the rifle that I Want to shoot.
Click to expand...
Nobody is saying you have to "just shoot .22s", but you do have to learn to walk before you learn to run. Learning to shoot, for most mortals, takes time and effort, and complicating that process by using a tool that is less than ideal will only mean more time and effort expended.

You can certainly keep shooting your M-N during the learning process, but you must amass enough experience with something easier to shoot to gain some level of confidence. You need to be able to say, with some level of certainty, when it's the rifle and when it's the shooter.

Keep asking questions, and try not to get frustrated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top