Thought this might be of interest to some 91/30 Mosin Nagant owners.
Quite a few Mosin Nagants are being scout scoped and several different mounts of varying quality and prices are available for doing so. But some are taking a different approach, of which I am one.
Beneath the rear sight on the 91/30 is a 12 mm dovetail, on most all Izzys, the rear sight is installed using two pins, supplemented sometimes with a little soft solder. On the Tula, most all of the rear sights are installed on the dovetail using just soft solder to hold them. When the sight ladder is raised, one can see a little slot headed set screw. If tried to screw out, the slot almost always splits and has to be drilled or milled out to remove the sight. On the Izzy, the two pins can be drifted out using hammer and punch, they normally come out easy, but sometimes very very hard and if soft soft soldered, have to be heated until solder flows.
On the Tula, heat can be applied until soft solder flows and then just slip sight off to the front of dovetail. My MN is a Tula and that is the procedure I used. After removing sight and while dovetail was still hot, I used a rag to wipe the solder off it and barrel. I then used steel wool to remove the tinned effect.
The mount I used was one for an air gun, it is a 11 mm dovetail to weaver mount. I bought it on Amazon for $8.50, it is rugged and of excellent quality and has a dog set screw stop to prevent movement of mount under recoil. (some air guns have a very nasty forward recoil which has destroyed more than a few scopes)
I located where mount would be installed on dovetail and marked through threaded hole where the dog set screw stop would contact dovetail. Where marked, I milled (can be drilled) a shallow hole to receive dog set screw.
With mount allen clamping screws not tight enough to stop mount from being slide on dovetail, I ran in dog set screw until dog was lightly bottomed in the hole. Pulled mount forward until stopped by the dog set screw in hole and securely tightened the clamping allen screws on dovetail, then tightened the dog set screw.
I am very pleased with way this scout mounting method turned out.
I then gave some thought to a metallic back up sight if the scout scope should fail while in the field. I again opted for an air gun product, a 11 mm dovetail aperture sight.
The Mendoza aperture sight had been out stock for some time, when finally became available I purchased one for mounting on the Mosin Nagant 12 mm dovetail I could not be more pleased with the aperture sight, it fit perfectly as if was designed to do so for this application. The hole in the supplied disc is large enough so it gives a very good sight picture even at that distance out on the barrel.
The quality of the Mendoza aperture sight for the price (30 bucks from PyramidAir) is excellent. Adjustments are graduated marked and the target adjustment knobs are a great feature. It has a stop screw which can be set after desired elevation is found, so that elevation can always be precisely returned to. I will zero it, then remove from dovetail and reinstall a few times, shooting groups each time to see if POA and POI remain near original setting.
Quite a few Mosin Nagants are being scout scoped and several different mounts of varying quality and prices are available for doing so. But some are taking a different approach, of which I am one.
Beneath the rear sight on the 91/30 is a 12 mm dovetail, on most all Izzys, the rear sight is installed using two pins, supplemented sometimes with a little soft solder. On the Tula, most all of the rear sights are installed on the dovetail using just soft solder to hold them. When the sight ladder is raised, one can see a little slot headed set screw. If tried to screw out, the slot almost always splits and has to be drilled or milled out to remove the sight. On the Izzy, the two pins can be drifted out using hammer and punch, they normally come out easy, but sometimes very very hard and if soft soft soldered, have to be heated until solder flows.
On the Tula, heat can be applied until soft solder flows and then just slip sight off to the front of dovetail. My MN is a Tula and that is the procedure I used. After removing sight and while dovetail was still hot, I used a rag to wipe the solder off it and barrel. I then used steel wool to remove the tinned effect.
The mount I used was one for an air gun, it is a 11 mm dovetail to weaver mount. I bought it on Amazon for $8.50, it is rugged and of excellent quality and has a dog set screw stop to prevent movement of mount under recoil. (some air guns have a very nasty forward recoil which has destroyed more than a few scopes)
I located where mount would be installed on dovetail and marked through threaded hole where the dog set screw stop would contact dovetail. Where marked, I milled (can be drilled) a shallow hole to receive dog set screw.
With mount allen clamping screws not tight enough to stop mount from being slide on dovetail, I ran in dog set screw until dog was lightly bottomed in the hole. Pulled mount forward until stopped by the dog set screw in hole and securely tightened the clamping allen screws on dovetail, then tightened the dog set screw.
I am very pleased with way this scout mounting method turned out.
I then gave some thought to a metallic back up sight if the scout scope should fail while in the field. I again opted for an air gun product, a 11 mm dovetail aperture sight.
The Mendoza aperture sight had been out stock for some time, when finally became available I purchased one for mounting on the Mosin Nagant 12 mm dovetail I could not be more pleased with the aperture sight, it fit perfectly as if was designed to do so for this application. The hole in the supplied disc is large enough so it gives a very good sight picture even at that distance out on the barrel.
The quality of the Mendoza aperture sight for the price (30 bucks from PyramidAir) is excellent. Adjustments are graduated marked and the target adjustment knobs are a great feature. It has a stop screw which can be set after desired elevation is found, so that elevation can always be precisely returned to. I will zero it, then remove from dovetail and reinstall a few times, shooting groups each time to see if POA and POI remain near original setting.
