Sierra .311" 174-grain Matchking in M39 Ersatz Sniper

[Outpost75]

I have one of the "ersatz-snipers" put together by Century Arms using a Finnish M39 rifle arsenal rebuilt in 1968 with a post-war PU scope and mount of the same type used on the PKM machinegun. The Finns never used the PU scope, but did use some PEs. The rifle shoots VERY well, actually BETTER than my A4 Springfield! It is absolutely a keeper, minute-of-angle grouper with handloaded Sierra match bullets, of proper .311" diameter.

Results average five consecutive 5-shot groups fired off sandbags at TWO HUNDRED (200) yards using 2.5X Soviet PU scope and post reticle:

---------------------------------------------------Smallest----------Largest---------Average
Remington 180-gr. SPCL .310" (.303 British bullet), 46 grs. IMR4064, Norma Case, Rem. 9-1/2 primer
------------------------------------------------------2.3---------------4.13-------------3.07

Sierra 174 MK HPBT .311", 47 grs. IMR4064, Norma case, Rem. 9-1/2 primer
------------------------------------------------------1.50--------------2.50-------------1.85

Please note that the above are FULL CHARGE loads and must be reduced and worked up to in your rifle, as your mileage may vary!

This is a different range session some years ago, prior to introduction of the .311" 174-grain Sierra MK, in which I fired the .308" diameter version in a Civil Guards Rifle Model M28/30 assembled by Sako in 1934. The first owner was a Sako collector who was unhappy with the rifle because of its poor condition, being much worn on its exterior, with dark bore, so he gave the rifle to me. The beat-up rifle had no collector value, so I used it as a experimental platform and machined, screwed on and TIG welded the screw heads on a solid one-piece scope base, offset to permit stripper clip loading, using Ruger rings. The bolt was bent to clear the scope, and the metal powder blasted and dunked in the blue tanks at the rifle team equipment shops. I steamed dents out of the stock, inlaid several patches to repair battle damage, tinkered with the bedding and refinished the wood. Scope is a modern Weaver Classic K4. It is my "beater" truck gun. In restoring the worn bore I cut 1 cm off and recrowned the M28/30 after thoroughly cleaning with Kroil and JB on a lead lap cast in the bore. It has "strong", but not "bright" rifling. With good ammunition it shoots well considering its bore condition.

Accuracy test series of 5-shot groups with 4X Weaver scope from sandbags at 200 yds:----- Largest-----Smallest-----Average

Soviet 60-50, "D" type heavy ball, yellow tip.-(FIVE TARGETS)------------------------------------6.7------------2.4------------4.5

Sierra 175 MK, .308", 44 grs. IMR4064, Norma case, Fed. 210M-(TEN TARGETS)---------------3.6------------1.9-------------2.7

For comparison, here are results from a different range session firing a Remington 03A4 with Weaver 330 scope and period ammo from sandbags at 200 yards:

_____________________________Avg. of six 5-shot groups at 200 yards*
Ammunition__________Vel@15ft.____Smallest_____Largest_____Average__

Ball M1 174-gr. FA34___2475,28Sd______2.4________5.0________4.5
Ball M2 152-gr. DM42___2758,17Sd _____3.9________6.3________4.9
APM2, 168-gr. LC43____2713, 25Sd_____4.1________6.9________5.5
M72 174-gr. LC65NM____2665,12Sd_____1.6 ________5.3_______3.9

There were no misfires, hangfires or other failures with any of the vintage .30 caliber ammunition tested. The mean velocity of FA 1934 Ball M1 ammunition was low, about 3 standard deviations below its specifications as published by Hatcher, but its performance was otherwise normal. The other ammunitions produced velocities typical of published specifications for their type, with normal ballistic uniformity and accuracy.

*Ammunitions were fired in rotation without cleaning. Each ten-shot series started with a fouled, cold barrel, firing the first target in slow fire cadence in an elapsed time of approximately 3 minutes, followed immediately by a second group fired from the warm barrel in rapid-fire cadence of about 30 seconds. After each ten-shot series, the bolt was removed and a steel cleaning rod inserted into the bore as a heat-sink while we walked to the pits to pull, mark and reface targets. Upon returning from the target pits the cleaning rod heat sink was removed and the rifle allowed to air cool to ambient temperature before the next ammunition in rotation was fired. This test sequence was repeated three times. The Lake City 1965 National Match ammunition used as a control was known to have produced a 1.9 inch Mean Radius at 600 yards during lot acceptance, compared to "statistically average" lots testing in the range of 2.4-2.6", with a maximum permitted acceptance MR of 3.5" according to specifications for M72.