I've got a Mosin Nagant 91/59. I've never shot for groups with it but I made sure I could put most of my shots into a 6 inch black circle at 100 meters before taking it caribou hunting this past fall. I sighted it in for 3 inches high at that range figuring I could hold dead on out to 200 yards if I had to (a pretty long shot in the area I was hunting). As it turned out I was able to get a bit closer than 100 meters before shooting and the 7.62 x 54R Sellier & Belliot 180gr soft points worked perfectly. The bullet passed right through the rib cage (broad side shot). The woodland caribou stag ran about 50 feet and dropped dead.

I took this rifle through a bit of dirty weather while hunting this fall and since it appears (to my untrained eye) to be in good condition with matching serial numbers I have decided to retire it from hunting. I will still shoot it however, this gun is a real blast to shoot, literally.

The sights on a lot of these old surplus rifles are not the best for hunting or target shooting and if you modify it to take a scope you destroy any collector value the rifle has. If you only want a hunting rifle modifying it for a scope it the way to go. But for those who want to have their cake and eat it too, there may be an alternative.

www.mojosights.com

From this web sight you can purchase aperature (peep) sights that can be used to replace the original rear sight of certain old surplus rifles without making irreversable changes to the rifle. That means the original rear sight can be put back on the rifle at any time. The website lists feedback from buyers who claim these sights allow the to shoot their surplus rifles more accurately than they were able to with the original. Over christmas they were seliing these sights for $29.95 plus shipping USD. Installation instructions are included.

If I was going to keep on hunting with my 91/59 I would definately check one of these out. I still might if I get serious about target shooting with it.

L8r,
Kevin Murphy
Newfoundland, Canada