[SheepRtheBest]

Ok, I got my PPsh41 on Sunday. The barrel was just filled with crud, and there was no crown- (WLA claims a crown is not necessary) Is a crown necessary? I cleaned it a bunch, but it was still pretty dirty. I thought that maybe the crown was screwed up because it caught little fibers from my cleaning patch.

Made it out to the range on Monday, was shooting Romy surplus off the bench at 50 yards. Went through 10 rounds and everything functioned perfect. I had heard about others having problems and I was relieved. Until I went down to check the target.

I was shooting at an 8x11 pice of white paper with a black circle painted on it. There were no holes in the paper. So I shot some more- about 40 rounds and I had my dad watch to try to see where they were going. He said some were hitting the dirt several feet in front of the target and they seemed to be going everywhere. Had other people shoot it, same thing. Perfect function, very poor accuracy.

I'm no expert marksman but I did manage about a 407 on my last Garand service rifle match with a K31.

So is this kind of accuracy normal? I intend to try out S&B ammo soon.
Is it because there is no crown/messed up crown?

Just so everyone knows, I am very happy with fit, finish and overall appearance of the PPSH. I think that WLA did a great job, but they may have cut a couple corners with the barrel.

Edit to add:

I should have said earlier that I could see holes scattered around the cardboard target stand several feet around the target.
POA was always the center of the paper. after shooting about 50 rounds at the paper, it had 3 holes in it.

 

[7.62x54r]

Have you tried adjusting the sites yet? Until you get it on paper, having people look at where the bullets hit the dirt is just guessing at the accuracy. I would also use a proper target to sight it in with.

 

[SheepRtheBest]

I was aiming at the target and the bullets were hitting the ground 10 feet in front of the paper. also rounds were going above the target and maybe even over the berm.

I didn't ask how to move my grouping, I wanted to know if about an 8 foot cirle at 50 yards is normal.

 

[Youngblood]

Make sure that the sights are not loose and do your initial targeting from much closer ... I prefer ~25yds so that I am testing accuracy more than my eyesight.

The primary purpose of crowning a muzzle is to help protect it from accidental damage. A crown is not a requirement for accuracy, but if the place where the bore ends is not smooth & uniform it can degrade accuracy.

Have you down a Bullet Test on the muzzle? The result should be something like either the top or bottom barrels in this pic:

If it looks like the middle barrel, your muzzle is too loose to be accurate.

 

[Youngblood]

Have you checked you barrel to see if it has been backbored?

 

[7.62x54r]

I was aiming at the target and the bullets were hitting the ground 10 feet in front of the paper. also rounds were going above the target and maybe even over the berm.

I didn't ask how to move my grouping, I wanted to know if about an 8 foot cirle at 50 yards is normal.

In your first post you only mentioned "some were hitting the dirt several feet in front of the target and they seemed to be going everywhere." I did not know that "everywhere" meant over the top of the target also.

 

[Youngblood]

Here are the results of my limited testing with the backbored barrel with which WLA replaced my first barrel.

The backboring was poorly done and the entire backbored area was rough enough to snag patches as I think you can see in this pic:

 

[SheepRtheBest]

In your first post you only mentioned "some were hitting the dirt several feet in front of the target and they seemed to be going everywhere." I did not know that "everywhere" meant over the top of the target also.

I realized that after I posted a reply. Sorry. I left out a couple things in my original post.

The bullet test is good on my barrel. what exactly is backbored? If by backbored you mean a super long counterbore then no it is not backbored.

 

[Youngblood]

... The bullet test is good on my barrel. what exactly is backbored? If by backbored you mean a super long counterbore then no it is not backbored.

WHEW!

I would closely inspect the muzzle under a bright light and magnifier to see if it is uniform. Since it snags cleaning patches, it may be rough enough to be contributing to the accuracy issue and almost surely is in need of some dressing/polishing/smoothing.

I would also check for any barrel movement once it is pinned in-place ... and also for any slop in the rifle, overall.

The last thing that I would check is the bullet hole at the end of the shroud ... I would look for any jacket stains that would indicate that bullets are kissing it.

 

[Vic]

Or adjust the front sight to the proper height to what your shooting at?

 

[SheepRtheBest]

pics

 

[galland1]

Hard to tell from the pics, but I think the bore looks bad, chamber looks bad, and crown(less) looks bad.

 

[Youngblood]

Assuming that these are pics of the barrel after it has been cleaned ...

The bore appears to be heavily corroded.

The chamber appears to be poorly done ... the walls should be smooth, polished and uniform with no "ridges" as those visible in your pic.

It looks like the muzzle was dressed as it appears that both the outer & inner edges were chamfered. As long as that inner chamfer was smoothly & uniformly done, it should be fine vis-a-vis accuracy.

Any chance of some better pics, Joe?

Kim

 

[SheepRtheBest]

pics were done after cleaning.

I will try to get better pics up soon.

 

[Vic]

You guys taken these out to Camp Perry for the comp shoots anytime soon?

 

[Jeremy2171]

Nope...just missed them...have to wait until next August! Course that'll give us plenty of time to work up some good loads!

 

[SheepRtheBest]

tried to take better pics, couldn't get any good ones.

Did anyone else receive one with a badly pitted barrel caked with crud?

 

[reiver]

nope