Hi All,
I figured I'd play around today and see what I could come up with. Czech silver tipped 148gr has always been the most accurate MilSurp ammo in my M44, and I wanted to see if I could accurize it a bit more.
I began with what I did last time: I had shimmed the action up about .010", and put .020" about an inch in from the end of the barrel.
Results were good, but not spectacular.
As well, the barrel shot circles as it heated.
This was unacceptable.
I shot a bit with the barrel shimmed as I had had it, sitting, from a rest. It worked well enough at 50 yards. However, the group didn't impress me.
Upon disassembly, I found the front shims were a bit loose due to the addition of actions shims and were therefore not putting pressure on the barrel. I added another, for a total shim thickness in front of about .030".
The upper right hand corner contains the rounds fired before I added the extra shim. The ones at 6 o'clock were the first fired after bringing the front to .030" shimmed. 
Fifteen shots were fired at this target, the first ones being at 12 o'clock, with the the circle starting down lower. You can clearly see the circle, but it's small. It can, in fact, be covered with a sliver dollar. There are of course flyers, both due to the nature of the ammo and the fact that in 15 rounds of rapid fire, I fudged a few.
I really don't think this is bad at all for an M44 at 50 yards, especially the cold shots. I believe this rifle is now out shooting both the sights and the ammo. Both were a real challenge to good shooting, especially the sights.
I am sure of two things: The sights are not precise enough to let me put all in one hole, and that it's now accurate enough for 200 yard shooting if I do my part and if the math holds: 50yds = 1.5" max, 100yds = 3" max, and 200yds = 6" max. However, I believe that those groups can be cut in half using the proper ammo and sight setup. It's certainly more than enough for my 100yd max probable shooting distance.
Comments welcome.
Josh <><
