Ha ha I quote myself!!
I shot the FR8 and my M44 Mosin side by side. Both with about the same load, 35 grains or RL7, 125 grain .308" in the FR8 and 123(124?) grain .310" in the M44. So the M44 takes the cake at the moment. Those are reduced loads, obviously, but a good side by side comparison I believe. That's not to say my O3A3 might not do better, but that's where it stands at the moment.
With my Mosin Nagnts, 91/30's and the carbines, what I do is file the sight base at it's lowest setting, putting them "on" at 100 yards. Much easier than installing taller front sights, and after it's done, I blend the ramp into the base, dab on some cold blue, so the modification is truly un-detectable. (other than the rifle does not shoot way high as they usually do)
Probably not much mud in the Swiss Alps.
Just snow! I really loved my K31, but not having a large supply of ammo, I passed it on.
I've never found corrosive ammo to be a problem either. Like you, I got in on the 7.92X57mm surplus ammo boom back in the day. Much of it was/is very high quality, like the Ruska 8mm. But I have lots of the Turk ammo, and had to cull very few out of the 1400 round batches that went for $75. (all on strippers and in bandoliers!) Some hate that ammo, many say don't shoot it, too hot, but my M48 Yugo will take the punishment easily. (Has a pretty nasty recoil, but I think the M48's butt plate was designed to hurt you) I don't shoot it in my VZ24 or Persian though.
Right on, the Persian is a jewel of a rifle. I originally got mine to mount a scope and turn into a "sniper". With the long barrel and powerful cartridge, and some glass bedding I figured it would be a winner. But....I just cannot bring myself to have holes drilled in that receiver and defile that fantastic Persian crest. So, I got some Woodleigh 220 grain bullets for it, loaded them "stout" and it's "kind of" a dangerous game rifle now, instead of a sniper. The Czechs made nice Mausers, I also have a VZ24, which is a beater, had to replace the stock, (it's a combat vet for sure) has a dark and rough bore, but is more accurate than my un-issued M48 Yugo. !!!
Entropy is right. I put these right there with the Finnish M39 too.
Good shooting. I have an M-44 that I haven't shot in years. I am thinking about using it . Is it better to shot with or without the bayonet? Any other tips for accuracy?Ha ha I quote myself!!
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Not bad for a M44 aye?
I once had a Swiss K13 that a talented gunsmith fitted with an M96 Swede Mauser barrel. Probably should have kept it, but even then 6.5 Swede wasn't exactly cheap or easy to come by.
Oh yeah, the SMLE was my first love, from the time I was a kid and me and my buddies would either watch war movies, play soldier, or play with toy soldiers. Whenever I saw one in a movie, I'd be like: "I'm gonna have one of those someday". For some reason, Mausers and M1's didn't capture my imagination. Although what I have is the closest thing to a collection, I've never tried to accumulate a large number of them. One from each maker is enough. But...I do have three Longbranches. One a gun show "sporter" so it don't count!! Dang Gunny, that's a BUNCH of them. !!
Depends on the gun. Enfields and mannlicher 88s seem pretty atrocious from what I’ve observed. Gras seem ok if you’re cool with “rare Ethiopian cut down model” and/or some parts missing. I saw an absolutely sweet Beaumont I’d love to have in my accumulation… I think they get a lot of hate because they’re flogging guns that were considered parts rifles a few years ago, for relatively top dollar prices. There are ok deals to be had if you do your homework though. Last thing I saw (and didn’t buy) was their assortment of Lugers for $1500-2500that are refinished Vopo examples, which until relatively recently were $800 guns.
When you could get a few friends to all chip in on a crate of them, they were about $25-$30 per rifle. And lots of hex-receivers. Those days are really LONG gone!!!
The thing is, I didn’t get into Enfields until 2007. I remember back in the mid 80’s when they were selling for $60 to $100. The model numbers were so confusing to me back then that I just didn’t buy them.
