Smith Sights for the Mosin-Nagant rifle

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Sharpie443

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I’ve had my M44 for a while now but hardly ever took it out to the range. I liked the rifle and it was fun to shot but I couldn’t really do anything other than waist ammo with it. The fact that it shot a foot and a half high at 100 yards made target shooting difficult and not as much fun as it could be. It also meant that I couldn’t use it for hunting like I originally intended. I have plenty of dedicated hunting rifles like my Marlin 30-30 but I wanted to hunt with the M44 just for the fun of it.

That is until I found smith sights. He offers original sights that have been modified to allow you to adjust for elevation. They are simple, don’t change the look of the firearm, and they are cheap. So everything I was looking for in a front sight for this rifle. The sights are $17.50 if you ship him your sight to be modified or $35 if you want to buy one outright. Just keep in mind that it is one guy doing this and it’s not his main job from what I understand. It takes 4-6 weeks to get the sight depending on how back ordered he is. It took about 4.5 weeks for me to get mine but It was worth the wait.

Over all I am very happy with this product. Not only does it work well but it doesn’t alter the rife in any noticeable or permanent way. That’s a major plus for me when it comes to surplus military rifles. So if you looking for a way to dial in the sights on your m44 or 91/30 I would say give smith sights a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVbLVCZMbOU
 
There is another way of zeroing in a Mosin that would cost you even less. Many shoot high from the factory... well, the warehouse.

Take off the pinned rear sight. Use the opportunity to clean it from old crud. Then file off the base of the slide. Very little material needs to come off. Do it in increments and take control shots from a benchrest. It is also comforting to know that replacement sights for the M44 are cheap and abundant.
 
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i don't like the idea of filing anything off the rear sights. That's permanent and you still cant fine tune it if you want to zero it at a different range. With these sights i can sight it in for 200 yards and then put it back to 100 later. I also don't have to but out any tools or risk screwing anything up permanently with these.
 
The filing make sense only if the rifle hits high at the lowest (closest) range setting. If you zero it at say 50 yards by lowering it more, you can go up from there and keep the aim true at the longer ranges. Your alternative would be raising the front site (by a gunsmith) or replacing as it has been suggested.

My approach has been to keep it 100% authentic. Without its historic authenticity the Mosin is just another old rifle. If you look at the slide, it is thick enough to safely give up a 1/64" or so. All I can tell you, it worked. My insurance was the knowledge that I can buy a rear sight assembly for $10 or so.
 
YZ, the only concern I have with regards to that is the Mosin was sighted in with the bayonet affixed, for the Russian 91/30 version anyway.

When you go filing the slider, you no longer have a zero with the bayonet attached, and you therefore ruin one of the principles on which the Mosin was built.

That said, I did file a spare slider down as far as it would go and still make contact -- so much so that the picture was blocked. I then filed a grove, smoothed it out, and refinished it. It's rather beautiful now.

My goal was to get as close to the bore centerline as possible, for an experiment.

I'm running one of my rear peep sights with the interchangeable aperture instead of the stock rear sight right now, though. I've been shooting sub-MOA groups at 100 yards using the 0.062" aperture.

Rather fun getting those results without a 'scope!

Regards,

Josh
 
Interesting sight idea.

However, what I took from the video was, . . . . . . . . DAMN, the fear that the enemy must have had hearing those things shooting at them!

It's why I love the M44 [I have two]. :D
 
Interesting sight idea.

However, what I took from the video was, . . . . . . . . DAMN, the fear that the enemy must have had hearing those things shooting at them!

It's why I love the M44 [I have two]. :D
And this is why Mosin shooters love to debate on THR. Deafness is no obstacle.
 
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