The Mosin-Nagant, in most of its forms, is an excellent firearm.
No, it's not refined. It's strong. The Finns demonstrated it can be precise.
The Finnish M39 (their last general-issue Mosin) had to shoot a MAXIMUM of 1.3moa with 200 grain loads in order to be issued.
Get a 91/30 with a decent bore. Regulate the sights for use without the bayonet. (Russian doctrine held that the bayonet was to be affixed at all times unless the rifle was in transport or storage, and the Mosin was therefore sighted with the bayonet affixed. Without the bayonet, the rifle generally shoots high right.)
Add a two-stage trigger, shim or bed the stock, make sure the interrupter works well, and add an HV magazine for good measure.
Handload. Graf's has plenty of 0.311" and 0.312" bullets. Go a bit heavy; the rifle was originally designed for a 212 grain bullet and has a 1:9.5" twist. When the Russians went to light ball (147 grain) they did not change the twist as the degraded precision wasn't deemed deficient enough to warrant it.
I have a 91/30, my working rifle, that is modified to the above specs. With 51.2 grains of H4350 and 174 grain SMK or Hornady Match bullets, it's sub-MOA.
Most Mosins with decent bores will shoot a maximum of 2.5moa after being shimmed, with most considerably less.
There are many design reasons for this. I'll not go into them here as this post is too long already.
Suffice to say, there is a lot of misinformation out there about these rifles. They do what they need to do, and they can do it precisely.
There's a reason they're popular beyond the cheap ammo.
Regards,
Josh
