7.62x54R: just how accurate can it be?

[meles meles]

I'm wondering just how accurate a rifle could be when shooting:

a. surplus 7.62x54R
b. paw loaded 7.62x54R

The rifle would be used at ranges between 300 and 1000 yards. The objective is to create a rifle for under £1000, which is cheap to feed and capable of pretty good accuracy. I'm thinking of maybe a Border barrel and a laminated wood stock from Richard's Microfit , but unsure about the action and trigger. Any suggestions along those lines, and what level of accuracy might ultimately be possible from this cartridge (and this one only please).

[Sandgroper]

The objective is to create a rifle for under £1000, which is cheap to feed and capable of pretty good accuracy.

What's your definition of "pretty good accuracy"?

[meles meles]

From this particular combination, I don't know. Hence the question.

I rather suspect that we're on the wrong side of 2 or 3 MoA but given what the Finns were capable of with their accurised Nagants I'd imagine that there is scope to get close to that, maybe, just maybe, better it.

[ovenpaa]

I could get just over 1MOA for a 5 shot group @100m with an MN Sniper with Milsurp Light Ball off a rest. The 'scope let it down as one click was a lot!

[meles meles]

That sounds pretty impressive ! So it may be that with a decent barrel on it, a standard MN action in a well fitted and bedded stock might be capable of sub MoA accuracy ?

[Sandgroper]

I believe the Finnish rifles were rebarreled to .308 rather than the standard .312 and was redesignated 7.62x53R http://www.chuckhawks.com/30Russian.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9753mmR

Having a new barrel and .308 bullets to choose from would certainly help accuracy, but for under £1000 there's plenty of options.

[ovenpaa]

The triggers are a PITA on the MN however you can do a reasonable job of lightening, and I agree a new barrel that allows you to use .308 bullets would help as well. I may well have a trigger return spring left over, if so you are welcome to it. A new stock and bedding would make a difference as well, the rifle as standard needs more weight in my opinion to make recoil more bearable.

MN barrels can be very difficult to remove, I watched a video a while ago and I think the person taking the barrel out had to go past the 240ft/lbs mark, I was cringing as I watched :shock:

Also A border is going to cost a fortune, why not consider something like a TrueFlite?

[meles meles]

I have a MN M1891 with an amazing trigger - purchased from Paul Green at www.thamesvalleyguns.co.uk - it is now a light, single stage unit that breaks very cleanly, a real testament to the magic Paul can breathe on a rifle. It's nothing like the standard MN 'dragging an anchor on a chain across a cobbled street and then snagging it on the pavement'.

Also A border is going to cost a fortune, why not consider something like a TrueFlite?

I'd never heard of TrueFlite until you mentioned it... I went with Border simply because they are the best barrels I know of but I am sure there are others out there worthy of consideration.

[ovenpaa]

Border are good, however a TrueFlight will probably cost GBP400 less and is a lot of barrel for the money, Christel and I both use them for our wildcat cartridges with stunningly good results.

I think this has the making of a very interesting project. I shot next to a MN shooter a couple of years ago, he was running a tacticool 54R with a 'scope as long as a drain pipe with a composite stock all in matt black. It shot very well.

[meles meles]

I rather like the standard Russian / Ukrainian POSP 8x42 scopes. I think they're made from old T34 tank gun barrels with a nice piece of glass at each end and a very good reticule. The MN 1891 I have is quite accurate hence my interest in seeing just how well this cartridge will perform in a really good barrel / stock set up. My, perhaps simplistic view, is that the barrel is the most important component of any gun. Everything else is just a means of getting the bullet through that barrel as efficiently as possible, hence I'd pay most for the barrel, then spend the rest of any budget on the action , trigger and stock.

I'll go and hunt down Trueflight on t' interweb...