I don't know why I do the things I do. But, I did it.
A few years ago I traded some cerakote and ammo for a Mosin, the short one. Turns out the bayonet had to be extended for the rifle to even hit paper at 50 yards. So I traded for the long version and it was just as bad. At this point, I was determined to find a Mosin that had decent accuracy. One day at the gun shop a fresh crate of gooey Mosins was pried open and I spied one muzzle that hadn't been counter-bored. I looked down the barrel and angels sang! No rust, no pitting, just nice rifling. Looks like it was re-barreled and packed away. So I took it home, loaded some surplus ammo, and shot 3"-4" groups off the bench at 100 yards. I've found my Mosin! That's when I wanted more out of this rifle and things quickly got out of hand. I recruited a friend with talent, skill, and access to a very nice machine shop and we did things to this Mosin that shouldn't be done. So here's the list.
-Added a rear bridge to the receiver and relocated the bolt handle to the rear. All parts are laser welded and the original knob re-profiled. The entire bolt is polished. It is smoooth.
-Top of the receiver was machined flat, a custom Picatinny rail was mounted and aligned to the bore in a big fancy machine. The pic rail is attached with screws.
-Barrel was cut to 21", threaded and has a custom-made muzzle brake.
-All metallic parts were coated with a matte black Cerakote.
-Action is bedded in a Boyd's stock modified for the bolt and I made a cheek riser from ABS plastic.
-I had the scope laying around and have since swapped it out for a better mil/mil Vortex with quick-adjust turrets. 1,200 meters maxed out the old scope in the pics.
After developing a handload the rifle would shoot 4 of 5 rounds @ 100 yards around 5/8"-3/4" groups. I determined the trigger was not resetting consistently and I was able to call the flyer as I squeezed the trigger. So a Timney trigger was installed and the flyer was gone. The rifle now shoots 5-round groups well under 1", consistently. The barrel does heat up and I'm not saying it will hold tight groups all day long. But, it shoots well long enough to win a bet!
My next move is to develop a better long-range 54R load. I've only shot loads I had developed at my 100-yard home range so I quickly learned I need more power at Coleman's Creek. My ammo really began to fall off at 800 meters.
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