Mosim sights - curious about adjustments...

[ThePenguinKnight]

Mosin sights - curious about adjustments...

My m91/30 is like many others, shooting a foot or so high relative to POA at 100yds. I will be fixing the sights by some means (currently doing the wiring heatshrink, eventually maybe a Smith Sight) to shoot to POA at 100yds -- what does this do to the rear sight elevation slider? For that matter, is the 100-2000 meter sight reasonably accurate (elevation-wise) as-is? Would sighting the gun for 100 meters throw off all the other settings?

I will not be shooting at 2000 meters, and probably won't shoot this rifle past 200yds, but I am ever curious. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

(I am not looking for advice for what to do or buy. Just discussion about the sights and sighting in, etc. Thanks all.)

 

[Cosmoline]

In my experience most 91/30's were only crudely sighted in for windage or elevation. And they've been through so many hands it's hard to tell what's been done to their sights between rearsenals. The 100 meter mark serves more like a "shoot at his belly" battle sight than a real tangent sight. If you can get a new higher front post (there are various options), then you can recalibrate the sights yourself and set your own zero. So if you want you can make the 100 meter a 50 yard mark, and then see where 100, 200, and 300 are. It's just like setting your RIBZ on an AR-15 only you do it Russian style with a hammer and metal file.

The first step I'd suggest is to shoot a variety of 54R's out of the rifle to see which it prefers. Most will tighten up with one or another loading, and that's what you use for your sights. Or if you have hundreds of one type in spam cans, you may want to select for those. POI will of course be different for heavy and light rounds. Although light ball was the norm by the 30's, I've had a surprising number of 91/30's and M44's over the years that actually like the big stuff better.

Note that when you get a *Finnish* Mosin, you will usually find it was indeed sighted in. The M39's for example seem to have been zeroed at 300 meters with the sight at 300 meters using a special target. This means you will be dead on at 300 with the tangent at 300 using whatever ammo they used (probably D166). But that the 100 meter groove may be a tad high. Again the thinking was that at 100 precision mattered less, and it was better to hit high than low. A high flying bullet still kills, while a low flying one impacts the ground and stops serving its purpose.

 

[blackrussian]

Fire with the bayonet attached. See if that changes the POI.

 

[carbine85]

I ended up lower my rear sight and installing the Smith Sight. The 100 -200 meter adjustments work pretty good for 100 - 200 yards.
I removed metal from the area that the rear sight slides on and the piece that holds the rear peep sight.
I tried to raise the front post but that blocks off your sight picture through the front sight.

 

[geo57]

I used a plastic straw that's just a frog's armpit hair more diameter than the front sight post, red nail polished the top 1/8 inch and another very small dab on the bottom to cement things down, and trimmed it to the desired POI. It works like a charm, is solid, hits are consistent and stay's put if done right. A large doe fell to my 91/30 from 150 yards + this past January during our anterless season with this exact high tech front sight system, as did a buck a couple years back and it's seen numerous plinking sessions. I have never had to re-do it or adjust it in any way since installing it several years ago.

 

[MJ]

Aim low it's a battle rifle and zeroed thus at 300 yards. Find your 200 yards zero and use hold offs. Using good ammo will also help.

Good luck

..MJ..

 

[ford8nr]

There is a guy on eBay the machines and sells steel replacement front pins. They are over length and can be filed to length. I installed one ... works great.