Gunsmith Jack

The slogan on the scope says "Victory Justifies Everything"

My friend Jack bought a surplus Finish military rifle. It has iron sights and a quick-connect mount for a scope, but no scope and no mating quick-connect piece, so he made one using his newly re-powered milling machine. The receiver is a Mosin Nagant from 1890. It came into Finish hands when Finland became independent from Russia. Around 1970, they made new guns out of the old receivers, new Sako barrels and new target stocks. Theses guns were used by the army for periodic requalifications, that's why they got the fancy stocks. Make it as easy as possible to pass the test. I don't have much experiance with scopes, and what I have had has been frustrating. I find it very difficult to get my head in the right position relative to the gun so that I have a clear view through the scope, and then it won't stay. The least little movement and I lose the sight picture. But not this gun, I pick it up and I can see through the scope just fine. I was surprised. Maybe it's not me, maybe it's the guns I've been using, or maybe it's the scope.

This gun has a tapered dovetail groove about two inches long on top of the receiver. If you had the mating piece, it would slide in and the taper would jam and hold it in place until it was forcibly removed. There is a threaded hole in the top for a screw that locks it in place. Only problem with this setup is that the legs on the scope are very short, which leaves very little space for the knob on the screw, seen edge-on in the pictures.

Jack made the adaptor out of aluminum, much easier to machine than steel. The part has a male (!?), tapered dovetail on the bottom to match the one on top of the receiver, and another straight one on top for the scope mounts to clamp onto.

This thing is supposed to be a quick mount, and that part works well. It should also be a quick dismount, but Jack hasn't worked that part out yet. There is the old drop-the-gun-on-its'-butt trick, which should cause the taper to release and the scope to drop off, but that seems a little harsh. There is a short pin protruding from the right side of the mount, so maybe the original had some mechanism that worked with this pin to unlock the taper.

Jack hasn't shot it yet, so we don't know if the adapter he made is going to work or not. If he got the taper off by even one degree, that might be more that the scope can adjust for. On the other hand, it looks straight.