The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

In the past two days I have put 100 rounds through my 1933 Izhevsk M91/30. This is a typical refurb rifle with electro pencil matched bolt and receiver. It's one of my best shooters and likes the yellow tip heavy ball surplus ammo. Both days I shot corrosive surplus ammo and a lot of it, so I take my cleaning stuff to the range and clean after shooting. Today I was shooting some Yugoslav ammo called M30 heavy ball. It is made by PPU in the mid 1980's. I only have about 300 rounds of the stuff remaining, so I am shooting it sparingly. It was shooting a bit high at 100 yards, but still gave me good results on the bullseye NRA target with a slight 6 o'clock hold. Over the past two days I have shot 30 rounds of the Yugo, 40 rounds of Hungarian yellow tip, and 30 rounds of commercial Brown Bear 174gr ball. My shoulder is feeling it. After shooting AR-15 so much with optics and light recoil, going back to the Mosin Nagant was a challenge for my 69 year-old eyes, but it was a ton of fun; always is.

I spent almost as much time cleaning as I did shooting. The Hungarian was good shooting stuff, but smelled nasty and left the bore looking like a well used blackened chimney. I started out with 80/20 mix of water and Ballistol. I call it "moose milk" because it the Ballistol emulsifies in water and looks just like milk, but it sure smells funky like and old moose. I get the bore as clean as I can with that and then dry it with dry cotton patches. Then I just do some normal cleaning with Hoppes and Ballistol oil as a preservative. Lately, I have been using Hoppes Black Powder Solvent after the water based cleaners. It works great in these rifles, but it is petroleum based, hence the initial water-based cleaner.

I am going to be shooting the Mosin Nagant a lot in the near future. All the other ammo for my more modern rifles is becoming scarce in the open market. These are unprecedented times. However, I have such a stash of 7.62x54r, I don't think I will be able to shoot it all before I either pass from this world or become unable to shoot. Let's hope that doesn't happen any time soon. I am having too much fun now, and it is a great way to get outside alone and forget all about the damned Wuhan virus pandemic. Merry Christmas to all.

I just opened a can of '53 Bulgarian. Beautiful brass ammo and shoots good. Already shot about 150 rounds of this with no failure and no split cases.

Thanks TJ, you reminded me I have an unopened tin of that yellow tip heavy ball somewhere in the back of the ammo bunker.

Longcolt44 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 8:08 pm Thanks TJ, you reminded me I have an unopened tin of that yellow tip heavy ball somewhere in the back of the ammo bunker.

I wish I had a spam can of the Russian or Bulgarian heavy ball. I am down to about 40 rounds of Brown Bear commercial with heavy bullets, 40 rounds of 1947 Russian yellow tip, 40 rounds of Hungarian 1988 yellow tip and 300 rounds of the Yugo M30. I have plenty of light ball, Bulgarian and Russian, with four spam cans on hand.

Longcolt44 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 8:08 pm Thanks TJ, you reminded me I have an unopened tin of that yellow tip heavy ball somewhere in the back of the ammo bunker.

I'm in the same boat. I sold most of my surplus but kept the heavy ball. Not quite sure where it is though...

I do something similar but only use water to flush the primer salts away and then when I return home I give it the normal cleaning. Sounds like you're have a great time. Up here, it's too cold (at least for me) and too much snow...

qz2026 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:47 am

I do something similar but only use water to flush the primer salts away and then when I return home I give it the normal cleaning. Sounds like you're have a great time. Up here, it's too cold (at least for me) and too much snow...

We have a big cold front coming through that will put our lows in the 20's and highs only in the 40's. That's cold for us, so I took advantage of the favorable weather to get in a couple of days at the range before the cold snap. The good news here is that cold weather never lasts too long. I lived in northeast Ohio before I moved here and it never got warm or sunny until May.

Nice! looks like you had a fun day out! We got a good storm going through right now, might not get out to the range for a while, and when I do sighting in the newest AR is first up.

entropy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:32 pm Nice! looks like you had a fun day out! We got a good storm going through right now, might not get out to the range for a while, and when I do sighting in the newest AR is first up.

I've got three that I want to get out and sight in and test... PSL and AK that I put adjustable gas pistons in and my Saint with a new scope... But, alas, this will have to wait until spring...

I'll say that the weather has been on the weird side. Last night at about 1 am, it was raining and 47 degrees. Now that's a first for northern Michigan for late December. This morning I woke up to 27 degrees (and falling) and it's now snowing and a winter weather warning has been issued

I don’t do anything at the range as far as cleaning. Humidity here is low enough most of the year that rust isn’t an issue. I’ll be out at the range Saturday and at the range again late next week, once my Christmas rifle arrives.

Though I'm a Mauser guy I do have a 35 Tula with a 6 force stamped over the 5. I must admit it's a good shooter and I'm sure glad I have a few cans of surplus laying around what with the ammo BS going on. Now if I can just get it to quit raining.

You can still find some spam cans of 7.52x54R at reasonable prices. With the way ammo prices have been lately switching to surplus rifles / ammo is a good way to still enjoy time at the range while on a budget.

Tula44 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:54 pm You can still find some spam cans of 7.52x54R at reasonable prices. With the way ammo prices have been lately switching to surplus rifles / ammo is a good way to still enjoy time at the range while on a budget.

I sold a can for $160 in Oct. What's it bringing now ?

steelbuttplate wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:21 pm

Tula44 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:54 pm You can still find some spam cans of 7.52x54R at reasonable prices. With the way ammo prices have been lately switching to surplus rifles / ammo is a good way to still enjoy time at the range while on a budget.

I sold a can for $160 in Oct. What's it bringing now ?

SGAmmo had 440rd tins of 1985 Factory 60 for $219.50 + SH 6 months ago https://gun-deals.com/deals/40094 but I've seen some online vendors selling it for as much as $349/440rd tin but no one online has any in stock as far as I know. SGAmmo does have some Yugo brass case M30 heavy ball 182gr 480rds in an ammo can for $309 + $16 SH right now https://gun-deals.com/deals/29757. The rest is just commercial stuff. Other than that if you can find it in local gun shops less than $200/440rd tin I'd get some if you want to do some shooting with surplus.

steelbuttplate wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:21 pm

Tula44 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:54 pm You can still find some spam cans of 7.52x54R at reasonable prices. With the way ammo prices have been lately switching to surplus rifles / ammo is a good way to still enjoy time at the range while on a budget.

I sold a can for $160 in Oct. What's it bringing now ?

Back in October the local shop I go to had their spam cans listed for $179. Even now they have tons of surplus ammunition.