According that article in the NRA magazine a few years ago, the Russians sent Cossack inspectors to the West. or Remington plants.
One Cossack took each rifle and banged the stock butt on the floor. They taught him a lesson by leaving a round in a chamber one day. Boom!
When the Russian revolution began, some US troops were in a Russian port and actually had a firefight with some of their troops.
Anyway, the only reason I sold both Russian MN 44s (one came from Classic- in '07) was because of the huge groups on paper from 50 yards, using only Bulgarian ammo.
This happened with retracted or extended bayonets, and the bores were fairly bright, but if there were lots of muzzle wear, could this explain 7" groups from 50 yards using a bench rest?