This article is part of a series on the M28-76 Mosin-Nagant, with comparisons to Chinese Type 53 Mosin-Nagant. Click the link to return to the full article: M28-76 Review
The M28-76 Sights
The sights are a double-aperture arrangement, with a tiny peep on the rear and an aperture in the front. The sights are massively more precise than the post-and-globe front sight and rear leaf sight of the Type 53, but also much heavier and more fragile. The rear sight assembly also required the bolt handle to be turned down in order to clear its housing. I will admit that the M28-76 double aperture sights made me feel a little claustrophobic when I examined and tested them indoors, but taking this rifle to the range on a bright, sunny day is a real pleasure. The double-aperture arrangement provides an extremely bright, intuitive picture that feels somehow freeing. Simply find the target in the front hole and let fly. As an additional bonus, I am privileged to own a front sight assortment for the M28-76. These were available from obscure vendors, and I haven’t seen one for sale anywhere in years. The assortment contains front sight apertures of various sizes, which I swap out every once in a while to alter the sight picture’s brightness or precision (the wider apertures are especially helpful on cloudy days).
The rear sight’s aperture is also removable, presumably to facilitate the use of different sizes, but I have never encountered replacements of a different size. The rear aperture disc is stepped to reduce glare, and mine appears to be slightly bent, perhaps the result of a hard drop. However, the aperture itself is unaffected. Removing the aperture disc entirely provides a large, ghost-ring style aperture.
The rear sight assembly is fully adjustable for both windage and elevation, and attaches to the receiver with a simple thumb screw. For added stability, the sight is supported by a long tang that extends into a milled cutout in the receiver, increasing the surface area available to secure the rear sight in place. It is worth noting that some M28-76s do not include this rear sight assembly, or have only a simple front post instead of the front aperture. These are less desirable, and anyone looking to add a M28-76 to their collection should hold out for an example with the complete, double-aperture setup.
As an aside, my M28-76 still has the rear sight from a M28-30. This sight does not line up with the front sight without sending shots extremely high, so I am not sure why it wasn’t removed. The sight has a Sako stamp, so it’s possible Sako made the barrel, or even the entire rifle. Information on exactly where the M28-76 was customized is elusive.
The iron sights are quite nice, but the M28-76 positively begs for a scope. However, adding a scope without permanently altering the rifle (which is a requirement, for me) is tricky with the M28-76, even more so than other Mosin-Nagants. In general, the go-to receiver mount for those looking to keep their Mosin-Nagant intact is the Jmeck scope mount (I didn’t consider a LER scope mount because the M28-76 has an unusual rear sight base, and because scout scopes look silly outside of lever-actions). Jmeck’s mount provides good stability and attaches with a steel band that is tightened onto the receiver, avoiding the requisite drill-and-tap, but the stock must be slightly inletted to accommodate the mounting band. Unfortunately, that stock inletting would take place directly on top of my M28-76’s front recoil lug bedding. I wasn’t willing to dig into that mess, so if I wanted to mount a scope, I would need both the Jmeck mount and a new stock, plus the cost of a scope and the original price tag of the M28-76 itself. Altogether, I decided I didn’t want to scope the M28-76 that bad after all.
However, some M28-76s come with mounting holes for an unusual Finnish scope mount, which can be adapted to a standard Picatinny rail. The mount is intended for a somewhat unique Finnish scope and associated rings, but a search on Gunbroker will turn up a fellow who makes a Picatinny rail to interface with the M28-76’s mount holes. Regrettably, my M28-76 is set up only for the aperture sights, and does not have the mounting holes. C’est la vie.
However, some M28-76s come with mounting holes for an unusual Finnish scope mount, which can be adapted to a standard Picatinny rail. The mount is intended for a somewhat unique Finnish scope and associated rings, but a search on Gunbroker will turn up a fellow who makes a Picatinny rail to interface with the M28-76’s mount holes. Regrettably, my M28-76 is set up only for the aperture sights, and does not have the mounting holes. C’est la vie.
This article is part of a series on the M28-76 Mosin-Nagant, with comparisons to Chinese Type 53 Mosin-Nagant. Click the link to return to the full article: M28-76 Review
|
|