My First Rifle

I decided to pick-up a new hobby, sport shooting. Looking at the prices of rifles, I decided to go with a military surplus rifle, a 1935 Mosin-Nagant M91/30. It is an arsenal reissue, and it is in very good condition. The barrel is straight, with no bright spots. It shoots the 7.62mmx54r round, which are pretty common now. Wolf makes commercially available rounds.

I hope that this will be a fairly accurate shooter. I've been to the range and fired a freinds Mosin-Nagant (pronounced "mosina"), and I think this will be just as accurate as his. We were shooting 600yrds with 10x scope as well as 200yds with the iron sights. It was fun, but the recoil is pretty hard. Since only the serial numbers on the barrel and receiver match, there isn't a lot of historical ignificance to my rifle, except for teh fact that it was made in 1935. If all the serial numbers had matched I would keep it in it's original configuration, but since they don't, I'll be modifiying this one to modernize it.

I think I'll start the the purchae of a 4x32 scope, mounted in the "scout" configuration. This means the scope will be mounted well-forward of the bolt. This modification does not require me to modify the rifle permenantly. After I've had my fun with that, I'll probably go with a 6x40 scope mounted in the traditional manner. This will require me to drill and tap the receiver, but this will be project for later in the year, maybe 9 months from now. I'll keep you posted.

Next on the mod list will be a synthetic stock to reduce the weight of this beast. I say beast because this rifle is 48.5" long, weighing in close to 9lbs. The synthetic stock should bring the weight down a few pounds. I'll then be able to get a nice bi-pod that attaches to the harness swivel mount, and probably get a muzzle break of it to reduce the recoil. I'll also get my friend to try to get the trigger pull down to about 4-5lbs. Right now it's closer to 9lbs and about a mile long.

I should be picking up my rifle next Thursday, then I'll be taking it to the range on the 29th. I'll post pictures of my groupings once I fire them.

That Time of Year Again

It’s getting close to that time of year again, when everyone wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’m not so sure they are filled with holiday cheer and joy however, as many people still have last minute shopping to do so they can mark off people on their shopping list. If you’ve ever been in the bind where you had to hit the stores the day or two before Christmas, then you know what I am talking about.

People have zero courtesy and patience, and tend to be very demanding and oblivious to anything around them. They circle the parking lots like vultures hunting for a half-eaten carcass (open parking space) or wait at the end of a row, stalking holiday shoppers leaving the store to take their parking space. They act like a pack of hyenas in the stores as they squabble over that last item in stock. Yeah, a very cheery situation to say the least.

I was going to do all my shopping online, but I found it rather hard to do without actually touching and feeling the gifts I wanted to buy. The internet is a wonderful thing, but it’s still cold and heartless.

Perfect

I think this is the perfect image to post in any forum where people are asking lazy questions.