Battle rifles (223 need not apply)

[fightingquaker13]

I blame it all on to many episodes of A-team & Magnum as a kid!

No comments on the Mosin yet??  It WAS a "battle rifle" you know!  No chrome lined barrel, but you can buy the gun for the same price as a box of good ammo!  And supremely balanced  Acurate and powerfull enough at ANY range to easily compete with anything anyone here has, the 36 and 48 were classified as carbines, so there's a size to fit everyones taste!

 

Ok,
i'll bite on the Moisin. After all a zillion dead Germans can't be wrong, and for less than $150 seems like neat little piece of history. Question is what about price and availabilty of 7.62x .54? I heard there was some static about the Russians not exporting. Any thoughts, because seriousely, just as cool history wise as the Garand I was thinking about and a lot cheaper.
fightinhquaker13

[Badgersmilk]

WHEW HOO!!! 

I love the things!  No they dont come with a dozen rails you can mount every gizmo in the world to, no chrome lined barrels, and your not going to be everybody's favorite person at the range, at least the 44's and 36's with their shorter barrels MAKE SOME NOISE!!!, even known to throw a fair size ball of fire from the muzzle!  But how great is it to spend about a hundred bucks (seen them for $69 even these days!), and get a good high power rifle with that kind of history!  I have yet to hear anyone say they ever had a problem or jam of any kind if they really cleaned and looked over the thing when they bought it (amazing how much grease they can smash into one gun!).

Given a choice I'd take the 91/30.  Madness you say?  That things as long as a fishing rod!  BUT, its better balanced than any gun I've ever held in my hands, & it shoots extremely well at 100 yards (as far as I've tested).  The ammo is actually really easy to come by!  Dunhams sporting goods, Bass Pro, Cabela's, most gun shops, ALL gun shows, and any site I shop at on-line has ammo CHEAP!  Yes, almost all of it I see is corrosive except the "Lellier & Bellot" that is in current production, but that stuff scares the crap out of me because its WAY to high pressure in my guns (pushes the primer back around the firing pin!).  If you clean your gun before putting it away after shooting it the corrosive ammo doesnt mean much.  All the other brands I've tried shoot fine.  And there are a couple companies making loading equipment for the round.

You could spend hours learning about the history of each particular rifle from the markings on them.  Dont waste money on the books, everything in them and more is available on-line (my experience).  They were used in service until the 70's, & some honor guards are still using them.  A few people still consider them very compitent for sniping duty.

And if you get to pick through several rifles when you shop a good shooter isnt hard to find (watch out for a corroded bore!).  No "common" mechanical problems to look for, some are VERY collectable, some are just good for shooting, some ARE JUNK!  Again, be carefull shopping.  There are way to many places selling them to just shop one store!

Who couldnt love a sniper grade rifle that has what amounts to be a ONE part trigger mechanism!  Especially after looking at the trigger mechanism on,  Oh, say, a Ruger 44 carbine.  GREAT GUN!  One of my favorites, but the trigger on that thing has more parts than a Sherman tank!

"Over 17 million were manufactured by the end of the war" (even more were assembled after that)

"just as cool history wise as the Garand"
CAUTION:  You'd do better to call someones mom bad names than not praise the M1 as the finest tool ever devised by God or man on this site!

[tombogan03884]

J&G Sales has them starting at $65
http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/rifles/russian/cPath/209_261?osCsid=b9ba3b9ef814818bc404bc1f95d876ae
Ammo
http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/ammo-for-rifles/7-62x54r/cPath/12_42?osCsid=b9ba3b9ef814818bc404bc1f95d876ae

Quote from Badgersmilk:
"CAUTION:  You'd do better to call someones mom bad names than not praise the M1 as the finest tool ever devised by God or man on this site!"

Lighten up . You don't hear the Mauser guys whining because some one pointed out their pick was designed for the previous war.

[Badgersmilk]

Love to talk Mausers to!  They're just as good as any!  Personally I think the Mosin's a little more fun to shoot with all the flash, boom, & kick they have.  Plus I cant get the DA#$ chamber in my Mauser clean enough to stop jamming.  I've been told its not uncommon for cases to jam in the the way mine does because the chambers are very tight, and the grease they were packed in leaves a film inside the chambers thats apparently impervious to most normal cleaners and scrubbing...  One of these days I'll pull the thing out and let some oven cleaner sit in there for a while.  Tried about all the normal cleaners, and cases still stick (the claw is fine).

[PegLeg45]

Love to talk Mausers to!  They're just as good as any!  Personally I think the Mosin's a little more fun to shoot with all the flash, boom, & kick they have.  Plus I cant get the DA#$ chamber in my Mauser clean enough to stop jamming.  I've been told its not uncommon for cases to jam in the the way mine does because the chambers are very tight, and the grease they were packed in leaves a film inside the chambers thats apparently impervious to most normal cleaners and scrubbing...  One of these days I'll pull the thing out and let some oven cleaner sit in there for a while.  Tried about all the normal cleaners, and cases still stick (the claw is fine).

Have you tried heat or boiling water?
I've heard that sometimes does the trick. Or a light honing with JB bore bright on a patch, wrapped around a cleaning brush.

[Sponsor]

[Badgersmilk]

M44 - (wont make you friends at the range)


The mauser:  I put a couple pots full of boiling water through it before.  Not much improvement.  I'll strip it down one of these days and try engine cleaner again, then the oven cleaner, maybe even a little laquer thinner inside.  Last time I shot it I got fed up enough to just not want to see it for a while.   It was throwing some REALLY ugly groups at even 50 yards with three different brands of ammo...  The bore looks like new!  I've just got a bad taste for the thing after all the cleaning and head scratching.  Very out of character for these guns from all I've ever been told!

[m25operator]

What caliber is the rifle? Can you take some upclose pictures of the rounds before and after firing, bad groups with a bright bore and hard extraction, sounds like possibly a mismatch of cartridge and actual chambering, somebody rechambered it before you owned it, downright poor reaming from the factory.  It might show up, measuring the cartridge after firing versus before measuring of the cartridge, especially the neck area. A molding of the chamber might be in order using cerro safe, a low temperature solder type metal, that you can use to make castings of the chamber and throat.

[Badgersmilk]

A good thought!  And I it had occured to me too.

This is what I bought at a gun show a few years ago ($179 back then).  It was still in the box all wrapped up in brown paper and gallons of grease and all the accesories in a baggy.

http://www.mauser.org/rifles/M48%20Serbian/index.htm

It's an "unissued gun", all numbers match.  Floorplate, chamber, even the stock are all stamped 01511 with a little W on about every single part.  All the documentation with it says 8X57, and all the ammo I'd bought says the same.  I tried new Winchester, Remington, some OLD surplus FMJ stuff in stipper clips, and I remember trying a brand something like "Teller Salbot" or something like that (I'd have to dig out the box).

The whole gun is unbelieveable.  Not a mark on it, looks like a bran new rifle you'd see on any store rack!  Blueing, wood, machining is all BEUTIFUL!  It just shoots like CRAP!

It's condition has kept me from using anything like oven cleaner or thinner for cleaning to date, and now that I pull it out from the back corner of the safe...  I'd hate to do anything harmfull to it now!  It's to pretty!

Where the term "wall hanger" comes from I guess.  If it didnt sparkle and look so da$# nice I'd just sell it in a minute!

It only jams up once fired.  I put calipers on the brass before and after firing...  SAME!  I've been told the goo that may be in the chamber gets sticky because the heat of being fired, and once it cools it "lets go"...  What I've experienced...  I'll buy that.  It just STINKS!!!  You name the gun cleaner, its been through there!  Even spun a shotgun brass brush on a drill in the chamber (I know, I know, but...)

[MAUSERMAN]

I can't even imagine the stress a crappy gun can cause, but a carppy Mauser I don't believe it. I own 4 types of mausers myself and they shoot dead bang accurate. I have an Argentine 7mm Mauser and 2 98k's, and a model M63 tanker in 308. All perform as they should and have taken more game than I can count.  Use good quality ammo or hand loads, there  shouldn't be any problems.

[Timothy]

"Teller Salbot"

Sellier & Bellot?  Out of the Czech Republic?