Fin Sniper, what are they worth?

[snayperskaya]

Yep, nothing really to add to Snayperskaya's post. These rifles were not normally scoped so it's highly likely this was retrofitted. In terms of unique selling point, these barrels were made with a groove diameter of .3095" so will shoot .308" and .311" projectiles OK!* You'll struggle to sell this to a collector but you'll find a market for selling it as an "accurate" Mosin Nagant (sorry Snayperskaya!).

A good condition Finn M91 would probably fetch you around £500-600 as that seemed to be the going rate when I was looking for my Finnish Mosina a few years ago. I have no idea what it would be worth with the scope.

*My Finnish M24 bore has the same groove diameter and rifling is decent, not amazing near the bore. It shoots 30cal Lapua Scenar's from 155gr up to 185gr without issue and quite accurately if I say so myself.

Have you tried .311" bullets in it?, to be honest in my experience most .311" commercial bullets, both loose bullets for reloading and in factory made rounds, are actually .310" - .3105", the same goes for milsurp 54r including Soviet/Russian!.

Two Soviet exceptions I have personally come across are the T-46-M tracer bullet and the 7n1 sniper bullet, examples of both types measured bang on .311"

[GeeRam]

Problem is there are that many overpriced snipers that are either misrepresented as genuine or listed as genuine when they aren't because the seller doesn't know themselves that unless folks do their research before buying they can easily end up buying something that it isn't.

A quick look on Guntrader/Gunstar will show some of the overpriced tat that's out there that been messed about with or deliberately misreprented , maybe folks will think I'm I'm being harsh but that's how I feel as a Mosin collector.

If you think that's bad don't delve into the world of K98k snipers

I've seen the K98k topics on Gunboards, a real minefield with all those fake stamps that are available on the 'net!.

Yep.
There's so few documented genuine ones around, that you assume its fake until it can be proved real, rather than the other way around.
Not something those of us in the UK have to worry about too much as even those of us who are/have been in the market for a real one over the years, there are so few (if any) real ones in the UK, that its not much of an issue.

[WelshShooter]

Yep, nothing really to add to Snayperskaya's post. These rifles were not normally scoped so it's highly likely this was retrofitted. In terms of unique selling point, these barrels were made with a groove diameter of .3095" so will shoot .308" and .311" projectiles OK!* You'll struggle to sell this to a collector but you'll find a market for selling it as an "accurate" Mosin Nagant (sorry Snayperskaya!).

A good condition Finn M91 would probably fetch you around £500-600 as that seemed to be the going rate when I was looking for my Finnish Mosina a few years ago. I have no idea what it would be worth with the scope.

*My Finnish M24 bore has the same groove diameter and rifling is decent, not amazing near the bore. It shoots 30cal Lapua Scenar's from 155gr up to 185gr without issue and quite accurately if I say so myself.

Have you tried .311" bullets in it?, to be honest in my experience most .311" commercial bullets, both loose bullets for reloading and in factory made rounds, are actually .310" - .3105", the same goes for milsurp 54r including Soviet/Russian!.

Two Soviet exceptions I have personally come across are the T-46-M tracer bullet and the 7n1 sniper bullet, examples of both types measured bang on .311"

No, I haven't tried any. At the time of purchase I read that 30cal bullets would shoot fine in them. I only had a handful of 311 bullets for the Lee Enfield whilst I had 1k 155gr Lapua Scenar's with no rifle to shoot them through and figured I'd start there. Accuracy was excellent for a rifle that age so I thought I'd stick with these bullets. I bought more Scenar's at heavier weights, 167gr and 185gr and these seemed to shift the poi to be more in line with poa so heavier is definitely better. The price of the Scenar's (at the time) were around £25 per 100 whilst 174gr SMK in 311 were close to £40 per hundred and S&B 180gr in 311 were close to £28 per 100, so it was an obvious choice to make!

As you mentioned, I've found Privi bullets to be undersized in my 303 and 8mm Mauser so refuse to buy that crap anymore. I stick with S&B in these calibres and prices are quite reasonable but I haven't bought any since pre Brexit talks...

[GeeRam]

As you mentioned, I've found Privi bullets to be undersized in my 303 and 8mm Mauser so refuse to buy that crap anymore. I stick with S&B in these calibres and prices are quite reasonable but I haven't bought any since pre Brexit talks...

Interesting, as only the other week the guys in the USA were saying that the factory S&B 8mm ammo is the best to use in a K98, if you are shooting commercial ammo, and way better than the PPU Match 8mm ammo, which is what I've been running through my K98, so will definately buy some S&B next time around.

But interesting about the PPU in a 303 as well.

[snayperskaya]

Now four out of five of my Mosins, and the SVD, are the opposite.....I've found PPU bullets to be consistently more accurate than bullets I've tried from Sierra and Hornady!.*

The 150gr PPU SPBT is very accurate in both my PU sniper and the SVD as are the 182gr "Match" and 190gr FMJ.

Touching on M91 POA/POI.......my N.E.W M91 shoots around 15" high at 100m with standard velocity FMJ ammunition due to the way the Konovalov rear sight is set up for a 300m-ish zero.With a 200gr cast load I've dropped the POI to match POA at 100m and it is a very nice accurate load with bugger all recoil.......

My 1917 Remington has the same sights, same sight radius as the N.E.W but shoots to POA at 100 with standard velocity FMJ ammunition at 100m with the rear sight on the same setting but shoots around 12" low with the 200gr load.......it shows how different two very similar rifles can be!

* some of the most accurate ammunition I've shot in the SVD was 1988-dated 147gr Hungarian military silver-tipped LPS, it would shoot 0.5" five-shot groups at 100m but I only had about 80 rounds of the stuff and I've never been able to find any more of it apart from 20 rounds I had given me that I'm saving for a rainy day.

If anyone has any of these in their ammo safe let me know.......

[snayperskaya]

Just measured some 150gr .311" Sierra ProHunter's I've got and they actually measure .310" as well......

[Alpha1]

I have a sack full of 7.62x54 ammo stashed its been there probably 20 years. I keep it in the vain hope I will one day remember who I sold my 91-30 to and can buy it back.