Gunboards Forums banner

Finn Tikka 91/30s

4K views 54 replies 16 participants last post by  butaford 
#1 ·
Can someone tell me what the original bore diameter was on these barrels. I'm about to start reloading for one to use in military silhouette matches.

Thank you,
PA
 
#4 ·
You need to slug your bore bro. That will be the best advise you'll get to be honest. Especially if you are gonna use cast bullets. If not then I personally haven't heard anyone having issues by shooting a .311 bullet out of any mosin. Even 28/30's wich most are .308-.309
Good luck.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
#5 ·
I believe the Finns had standardized on a .310" groove diameter with the long D166 throat about 1941. My 1943 and 1944 Tikka barrels are both .310.

The simple recommendations are .311 Sierra bullets for Finn barrels and .312 Hornady bullets for Russians.

Good luck and have fun!
 
#6 ·
If you are going to load for competition why not use the Lapua D166 bullet these rifles are chambered for. Nothing else is going to get close to the lands and starting loads in Lapua brass with VV N140 powder are well established by Lapua. Currently available D166 ammo mikes out at 0.3090 (don't care that sellers claim 0.310). Probably why loads tend to need a little more powder to get the same velocity as published by Lapua.

As Ken states, these rifles should be 0.310. Mine are.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
#11 ·
I load for long range and accuracy loads original spec D166 exclusively. Let me tell you that I have yet to find a Finnish Mosin that doesn't shoot this load well. I have 12 and they all like it. And the best part about it is that the sights are factory calibrated yo this load perfectly.
To anyone asking about a .310 expander, well I got mine when I bought a Lee 7.62x39 die set. It came with both .308 and .310 expanders.
BTW there is no such trick to loading D166. It has a cannelure so OAL is not a problem considering the rifle in question has a "D" chamber. I pull regular Russian surplus ammo and load my D166 in surplus primed cases and have VERY low SD and groups are tiny. My favorite load by far. Great advice from LMyer.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
#26 ·
Thanks to all for the information; yes I was talking about the Tikka M30s made in 1943 and 1944. I have several Sierra 174gn .311 match bullets on hand along with IMR 4064 and Varget. Currently I have no D166 bullets on hand but would be willing to try some. I will be using the rifle and load on silhouettes out to 550 meters. Again thanks to all for the great information.

PA
 
#28 · (Edited)
Great job CH and thanks much for the info. I've never yet done prone with a sling - only benchrest. I'm sure it is another world of difficulty. I probably should try it! What is the target pictured

Sounds like your 28/30 measured just like mine does. 0.300/0.3085 = 7.62/7.84. It will not chamber D166 ammo made for my M28/76 with ASEV1 barrel.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
#32 ·
Here is a .8" 5-shot group and a 2" 10-shot group. The 1.5" 10-shot is laying around somewhere. It didn't take a lot of tries to get these. This was just from a run-of-the-mill Sako M39 that had a somewhat-worn barrel.(Lands were rounded.) Load data is in the 5-shot pic.


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
#30 ·
The local guys are scared to shoot against my M28/76 in the Military match we have each month in the Summer. We shall see how they like shooting against a M28/30. I hope it shoots as well as the M28/76!! It might but sights on 28/76 are far superior and my old eyes will have more trouble seeing (even with stick on my glasses "Eye-pal" to look through)

I think it's pretty funny that Garand shooters are scared of an old Mosin.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
#31 ·
I think it's pretty funny that Garand shooters are scared of an old Mosin.
Haha, now that's funny. Reminds me of old legend about Aimo Lahti being questioned by the Allied Control Commission (Soviet) soon after the war. When he saw the soldiers guarding him armed with KP-31 SMGs he said to the interrogating politruk "Are they not trusting their weapons anymore?"
 
#33 · (Edited)
A long time ago with my first Tikka M30.
This load was only good at 100 yards. 150 grain softpoints and very light Varget load. Unusually good results that day. Usually shot around 1MOA for 5 shots. I liked the post and globe front sight on this one.



Here's a 10 shot with same rifle and load

All off of benchrest but no lead sled.



Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
#36 ·
1944 Tikka M91-30. Believe it or not the usually finicky Finns put the rear sight on slightly crooked, off right. Does not affect it's accuracy though.
Very simple-45 grs. IMR 4895, PPU brass, CCI large rifle and Sierra .311 150gr. Spitzer (flat base) number 2300. Every .311 Mosin I have likes this load. The Tikka LOVES it.
Watch Midway the 2300's go on sale once in a while.
Good luck in the competition, the Tikka can show 'em a thing or two.
View attachment 2099290 View attachment 2099298
 
#44 ·
I'm curious if Sellier & Bellot brass can be substituted in place of the PPU brass.

I recently aquired a 1944 Tikka 91-30 and have enjoyed this thread and my newly aquired rifle.

Now to another question. I've been working on the bore. The bore was very dark when bought.

The frist patches felt like the bore was lined with sandpaper. My thought is that perhaps this rifle was not ever shot after being stored & the exported. Cosmoline was still present under the wood line. Might have the bore been lined with dried cosmoline?

After a couple of range trips and further cleaning, the bore is quite bright now.

Thanks for any insights........love this site and the MIghty Mosin Nagants!!!

john
 
#37 ·
Thanks for the info; I have had very good luck with IMR powders in the past, mostly 4064. Got some cases prepped and hope to try a couple loads this weekend.
 
#38 ·
My B barrel M39 will shoot 1 inch or less with out of the box Privi ammo. I have a scout scope on it because of my old eyes just aren't up to the job of using iron sights, glaucoma. I have a 43 Tikka 9`-30 that is almost as accurate. Getting old is hell, don't go there.....chris I am 73 BTW.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Little OT maybe but do you use any foolproof tricks to track your brass when you have new brass and then again those reloaded random times? For 7.62x53R cartridges I've found an automatic center punch to be very handy. Whenever a case is sized a punch mark is added to the rim. Now you know all the time what your brass has gone through and mixing them to ease reloading doesn't hurt.

Here is some decapped Sako berdan brass made in the 1970s which has been resized four times. They started to look pretty dated and tense so I polished them and annealed the necks. Now they seem a lot nicer. When the cases are sized for the fifth time I think to punch the mark to slightly different location to ID it is the first sizing after annealing.

 
#43 ·
Great idea! I was digging through some brass a week ago wondering how many times it had been loaded as I had failed to put it back in the box after firing. ( I normally mark the box with the number of times loaded )
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top