Well, it begins to look like we have a winner.
The
first type of rings mentioned in the last prior post were put through the sighting-in process yesterday. First at 9 yards, then 75 yards, and finally at 200yd, all distances verified with a laser rangefinder. A 75yd zero renders a POI 1 foot high at 200yd.
Once sighted-in, the rifle was fired with 25 rounds of 88/71 spamcan light ball military surplus to determine its dispersion at 200yd. Firing was performed from a bench with a standard rear bag placed under the rifle's forend. No effort was made to correct for wind, which was variable at 9:00 O'clock ranging from imperceptible to approximately 15mph.
The dispersion pattern was diagonal, low left to high right, with about 3 inches of vertical and about 6 inches of horizontal. I would consider its accuracy acceptable for a Soviet WWII Sniper rifle being fed military surplus light ball.
More importantly, the rings were rock solid, demonstrating zero evidence of displacement after a shooting session employing 50 rounds. So far, no evidence exists to suggest the recoil screw/lug needs to have any anchor hole drilled in the barrel dovetail (yet).
While less than stellar, the rifle's accuracy would appear to represent a stable platform upon which to do more dedicated load development. This will be done with three separate goals in mind. The first would be to see if the existing 88/71 light ball cartridges' components can be redeveloped with a more accurate charge. The second would be to see if the primed steel cases can be combined with 123gr-125gr projectiles extracted from 7.62x39 TulAmmo steelcase ball/hollow point and modern propellants as a reduced recoil load for my 110lb Granddaughter to shoot. The third would be to find a serious accuracy/hunting load using PPU brass, Hornady '303' caliber 150gr SP Interlocks, good primers, and IMR-4064.
I believe this project is finally at the stage where such goals could finally be considered realistic.
Other work will include redesign of the aft stock's cheek rest to employ the removable Allen Stock Pack with elevation pads made from laminations of 5mm thick neoprene craft foam sheeting, developing a reliable bipod mounting, perfecting the LOP length, and working out a viable Garand-type sling mounting/employment technique.
Ideally, these goals will be applied to all four rifles in the test group. In essence, the intent is to update the 91/30 to its potential as far as modern accessories can provide, suitable to a role as a practical, bare bones economy marksman's rifle.
Greg