1919 A4 Forums banner

Review of my AIM surplus Mosin 91/30 Sniper combo. (buy one)

9K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  junking 
#1 ·
A few weeks back, AIM was advertising "original" 91/30 Sniper guns for $550. Ive always wanted a cheap, authentic scoped Mosin, so I treated myself and ordered one. (Ive been seeing them go for 700-900 on gunbroker) The gun arrived promptly (always the case with AIM) and was packed in what appeared to be a Russian commercial sales package. The gun came with a bunch of factory proof documents and stamps inside a small booklet. As far as I can see, these are original WWII guns that have been arsenal refurbed. Ive considered drilling and tapping an original PU scope on one of my Mosins before, but after seeing how many places there are to make small adjustments (and screw up) Id never try and install one myself. I spent an evening looking it over and couldnt help but say 'meh, its still just a scoped Mosin, not worth the 550, but lets wait and see how it shoots.

Well, I shot it today using silver tip ammo. (Bulgarian I think.) I was a little concerned at first because I wasnt even on paper. (probably because I messed with the factory settings!!) After about 20 rounds to zero and adjust it, this was my final result.....


Thats 8 rounds at 100 yards, bench, with sandbags. (and 5 screws in my shoulder from a recent surgery, so I started to flinch) Needless to say, Im happy with the gun. Next time I hope to open it up to 300 yards. All in all, Im very happy with this gun.
 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
Try several different types of ammo to find out what she likes. I started with silver tips, and other surplus ammo, was very happy because it could shoot much better than me. Then a friend gave me a box of “Privi 180gr” commercial ammo and my group size shrank in half. He then gave me 5 rounds of the Russian surplus “MATCH” ammo that used to be available for around $1.00/rnd. That was the first time I ever put 5 rounds touching at 100yrds.

:D
 
#4 ·
I bought a PSL about 6 years ago, and along with it, about 200 rounds of 7N1. I brought the PSL, the 7N1 and a few dozen crap surplus ammo to the range. Ammo ranged from copper washed Russian to corroded Syrian stuff. Well, the PSL was a mess, cant even keep pie plate sized groups at 100 yards. I shot about 60 rounds of the expensive stuff that day, and about as much of the junk, and it all shot the same. I REALLY want to shoot the silver tip out of my PSL and see how it fares.
I love my PSL for the 'coolness' factor, but that Mosin out performs it in every category!
 
#7 ·
svt40: I agree, you might have a really crapped out barrel (unlikely), severe fouling/corrosion or a need for re-crowning. I'd go for electrolytically cleaning the barrel first, if I saw no obvious crown problem. I think my 91/30 is the most accurate I've fired. So-called 91/30 "sniper" rifles were simply regular rifles found to be more accurate than others and pulled out of the lineup.

Carry On!
Gary
><>
 
#8 ·
Werent the Sniper guns built on different tooling (and in only 2 plants)? Im not saying there wasnt a million of these 'sniper guns' made, but they generally display smoother tooling marks and better actions than regular production guns of the time. They couldnt have possibly fired a 3 round group out of EVERY gun that left the factory and then looked it over for dispersion or accuracy, did they?
 
#9 ·
Mosins are a screwy lot, mostly because of the long production run, various upgrades, and huge number produced. To start with pre-war guns are noticeably nicer and have a much better fit and finish than the wartime models. Not just in terms of the cost saving round receiver but even so far as the depth of markings and quality of triggers. I have a stack of them at the house including one 'sniper' that I know to be authentic and a pre-war Tula that is very nicely put together. To the best of my knowledge the wartime sniper rifles were hand selected by the inspectors for smoother actions and triggers, there was no dedicated tooling or special lines just for them. If a nice one came through it got the extra work of being turned into a sniper rifle, especially given the overall success of the Soviet sniper program the technique must have worked out alright. Most wartime snipers came out of Izhevsk due to Tula being captured early in the war and not restarted until much later, but this is true of almost every wartime rifle as well.
 
#10 ·
SilentNight1647,
For your third post you sure have brought a lot of information to the forum regarding these rifles. This proves that an FNG can be helpful, even if they are not knowledgeable about a Browning 1919 (I'm not saying your not).
It is with input like yours that I tend to rethink my opinion of the "new guy". Welcome to the forum and please keep educating me. :D
Now I need to go look who has Mosins on sale.:)
CaptMax
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top