THE OUTPATIENT
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 20
In a previous thread, I touched on my homebrew accurizing a little. I'll put out the following as final mods that take your ubiquitous M-91/30 and make it a little better for hunting or war making/self-defense/occasional zombie horde invasions. Of course, you need to begin with a gun with some inherent accuracy...to test for this, do a "peer review" by using several types of ammo off the bench with a couple shooters. At 25 meters, bench rest the weapon and try and hold the shots on a one inch square. If the gun holds under 2 inches, with its prefferred ammo, you have something to work with, though you could always improve on any rifle grouping outside that range if you have the time. If not, buy a Tula pre-1940, select condition from J&G, Classic Arms, Aimsurplus, Interordnance...anywhere. There are too many guns around in very good condition, and the Russians are exhausting their stocks of used, serviceable weapons and arsenal refits before they export their unissued war stocks (the numbers on these could be pretty substantial).
Accurizing summarized:
1. Use 400 grit sandpaper, wet, and polish trigger spring notch and trigger sear surface. Remove blueing and uneven surfaces...but do not go postal on the trigger sear.
2. Install a vertical shim cut from automotive feeler guage at the rear of the front reciever lug area. This prohibits rearward vibration of the action. The barreled action needs to go into the stock under some pressure but not a lot...it should go in snug. It is impossible to measure this precisely, just cut upa car feeler guage and try different thicknesses until yours fits snugly. You might double up different thicknesses.
3. To mirror the Finnish accurizing method for their M-39s, but adding a new wrinkle, get the thinnest piece of feeler guage that will not fold easily and drill a hole in it slightly larger than the front reciever bolt to go through. Prior to installing it, gently crease this shim so it is folded a litle. This will create locking pressure on the front of the action and more firmly pull the barreled action into into the stock. Again, we're looking to wipe out vibration or movement here, and give consistent pressure throughout.
4. Make sure the striker is perfectly aligned with the index marks on the coking handle, and make sure you get the depth correct. Many MN's will be cockeyed in this respect - it is crucial that after bolt reassembly that these index hash marks are done correctly.
Non-slippage:
1. "Jewel" that bolt handle by taking a dremel tool and a cutting wheel tip and serrate the hell out of the bolt handle in a cross hatch pattern. You might want to put the handle in a vise to do this. Yes, the collector value of your $75 rifle is now ruined, but it makes for a much more user-freindly and rapid action grip on the bolt handle for working the action if your hands are sweaty, cold.
2. Apply non-skid tape to the rear buttplate. This will turn the buttplate into a slip-free surface, and even on a nylong parka, the gun will be inclined to stay on your shoulder.
Light reflection:
1. The muzzle will generally be bright and shiny, as is the bolt. De-oil and de-grease both the muzzle and the bolt and apply a couple rounds of Birchwood casey home bluing to both. Make sure you thoroughly clean the bolt and do not blue the striker or spring. Blueing the muzzle insures nobody can see reflections off your gun if you are using it in (God forbid) a two-way range encounter at some point in a crazy future; blueing the bolt as dark as possible precludes the bolt from not only giving you away but also removes a source of refractive, glare induced accuracy problems while aiming. The key is to apply the blueing, give it some time, then use fine steel wool to scuff up the parts, wipe, then re-blue. Two rounds each lasting about 10 minutes of work and you should have it darkened.
Sites:
Mojo's get rave reviews, but I'm all about simplicity. Get a 5/32 fine round metal file and lightly file a "U" shaped notch in the rear site IF your rear site is not of the wider notch that the Russians started using at some point in producing 20 million of these things. Then blue up the bear metal. The goal here is to allow for the shooter to be able to allow a little light around the front post for better target reads.
Ammunition:
MN's love chunkier ammo, and the M-91/30s seem to like the 147 grains best, though the barrels vary widely.
In both of my M-91/30s and my M-44, I have found that Hungarian 147 grain green laquered case ammo works best. The older Bulgarian 147 grain shoots well, but occasionally has extraction problems.
New production Wolf 147 grain Gold also does well, but is pricey.
OP
your collector vlue is now ruined -
Accurizing summarized:
1. Use 400 grit sandpaper, wet, and polish trigger spring notch and trigger sear surface. Remove blueing and uneven surfaces...but do not go postal on the trigger sear.
2. Install a vertical shim cut from automotive feeler guage at the rear of the front reciever lug area. This prohibits rearward vibration of the action. The barreled action needs to go into the stock under some pressure but not a lot...it should go in snug. It is impossible to measure this precisely, just cut upa car feeler guage and try different thicknesses until yours fits snugly. You might double up different thicknesses.
3. To mirror the Finnish accurizing method for their M-39s, but adding a new wrinkle, get the thinnest piece of feeler guage that will not fold easily and drill a hole in it slightly larger than the front reciever bolt to go through. Prior to installing it, gently crease this shim so it is folded a litle. This will create locking pressure on the front of the action and more firmly pull the barreled action into into the stock. Again, we're looking to wipe out vibration or movement here, and give consistent pressure throughout.
4. Make sure the striker is perfectly aligned with the index marks on the coking handle, and make sure you get the depth correct. Many MN's will be cockeyed in this respect - it is crucial that after bolt reassembly that these index hash marks are done correctly.
Non-slippage:
1. "Jewel" that bolt handle by taking a dremel tool and a cutting wheel tip and serrate the hell out of the bolt handle in a cross hatch pattern. You might want to put the handle in a vise to do this. Yes, the collector value of your $75 rifle is now ruined, but it makes for a much more user-freindly and rapid action grip on the bolt handle for working the action if your hands are sweaty, cold.
2. Apply non-skid tape to the rear buttplate. This will turn the buttplate into a slip-free surface, and even on a nylong parka, the gun will be inclined to stay on your shoulder.
Light reflection:
1. The muzzle will generally be bright and shiny, as is the bolt. De-oil and de-grease both the muzzle and the bolt and apply a couple rounds of Birchwood casey home bluing to both. Make sure you thoroughly clean the bolt and do not blue the striker or spring. Blueing the muzzle insures nobody can see reflections off your gun if you are using it in (God forbid) a two-way range encounter at some point in a crazy future; blueing the bolt as dark as possible precludes the bolt from not only giving you away but also removes a source of refractive, glare induced accuracy problems while aiming. The key is to apply the blueing, give it some time, then use fine steel wool to scuff up the parts, wipe, then re-blue. Two rounds each lasting about 10 minutes of work and you should have it darkened.
Sites:
Mojo's get rave reviews, but I'm all about simplicity. Get a 5/32 fine round metal file and lightly file a "U" shaped notch in the rear site IF your rear site is not of the wider notch that the Russians started using at some point in producing 20 million of these things. Then blue up the bear metal. The goal here is to allow for the shooter to be able to allow a little light around the front post for better target reads.
Ammunition:
MN's love chunkier ammo, and the M-91/30s seem to like the 147 grains best, though the barrels vary widely.
In both of my M-91/30s and my M-44, I have found that Hungarian 147 grain green laquered case ammo works best. The older Bulgarian 147 grain shoots well, but occasionally has extraction problems.
New production Wolf 147 grain Gold also does well, but is pricey.
OP
your collector vlue is now ruined -
