Romanian M1969 Range Report

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hello, I went to pay for school today and ended up stopping at the gunstore on my way home. No, I didn't use any grant money for a new gun, but I did have $10 burning a hole in my wallet. Maxi had stated that in his gelatin tests he could not get the Remington subsonic HP .22 ammo I was using to expand, so I grabbed some CCI subsonic HP, 40gr. I sighted it in on my M1969 Romanian training rifle. This is a five shot, detachable magazine fed, bolt action rifle made for training the Romanian military. These things are not much to look at. They're inexpensive though, well under $100 even without a C&R license, which I don't have. But, they shoot well. I had never sighted in the M1969 as it always shot "close enough." I never shot it from a rest either. I found it was shooting just a bit to the right at 50 yards, and that's why I'd missed a few longer shots. The shots will be biased a bit to the left or right until the last picture, as I was drifting the rear sight with each group. CCI subsonic group 1... CCI subsonic group 2... CCI subsonic group 3... This is just Federal standard velocity. I had never sighted this rifle in as it seemed to do fine, but I'd been missing longer shots. I found that it was shooting a hair to the right, so I drifted the rear sight to compensate. Two groups here. Circled shots were the second group. I took a few more shots with the subsonic stuff to make sure it was indeed centered. Remember folks, this was shot at a distance of 50 yards, leaning over a truck hood, and the M1969 has course military sights. Group #3 kinda' makes me want to mount a 'scope on it and see if it's MOA accurate. Even if not, I'm sure of my shots to 50 yards - I was cutting branches offhand with the last of the Federal Champion after I got done sighting it in. The only modification I've done is to shim the barrel about an inch back from front. Opinions? Josh

[Blaster13]

I got three of the M-1969's and gave one to grandson for his first rifle. I have one scoped and the other is open sights. I use yellow jackets from Rem. and they also shoot just as well. Have yet to try CCI Stingers, for varmint control. Like to find a few more mags for the rifles. They are hard to come by as i have yet to find a source. But they are great little rifles for the money.

[Big Dog]

I scoped mine. It is one of the few .22 rifles that will shoot the heavy 60-grain Triple-S round from Aguila without tumbling. Makes a very healthy "Whack" in the target. Excellent Whompability Factor, as a buddy calls it.
I did have to get out the Dremel, and undercut a groove in the sides of the top 'rail', to mount the rimfire rings securely.

[Joshua M. Smith]

What scope mounts or rings did you have to use? Thanks, Josh

[Big Dog]

By under-cutting, I could use standard 3/8" rimfire rings. Without the undercutting, these rings will pop loose as the rail is straight-sided.
There were special rings made and offered a few years back - I have no idea where to get 'em though.

[Joshua M. Smith]

Thanks. I have the smaller rail, so the 3/8" will not work. Josh

[Big Dog]

Back when the M69 was all the rage, and available in greater numbers, we noticed there seemed to be two variations of the top rail - earlier guns had the slimmer European rail, while later rifles seemed to have the wider 3/8 inch 'American' sized rail. My M69 is manufactured in '87 - I don't know what the last year of production was, but probably not long after that.
Another trick the guys liked to do was polish the trigger and sear, and put in shims or even larger pins to take out the side-to-side slop. Mine was blessed with a pretty good trigger from the factory.