TULA TO03-78-01 Wow

[TMan]

While in India, and bored out of my mind, I noticed that Military Gun Supply (MGS) in Fort Worth had "RUSSIAN CM2 BIATHALON STYLE 22LR SINGLE SHOT" for $400. I wondered if they would still have them when I returned to the US.

Monday: 21 hours of flying and thinking about the CM2.

Tuesday: Went to range, shot H&R M-12, and went to MGS. They still had around 20 of these rifles, but they weren't what I would consider "very good to excellent". They had been used a lot. Looking down the bores, I doubted very much if they would group well. With much disappointment and a long face, I walked around the store. What are these beautiful looking little rifles?

I was looking at Russian TOZ 78s. They had two types: the semi-auto and the bolt action. I picked up a semi and couldn't operate the action. I then picked up a bolt action looked it over, looked at its price: $149, smiled, took it to the counter. Surprise!!! it comes with a box and 4 magazines.

With much anticipation, I brought it home, put in a snap-cap, and pulled the trigger. It was fairly heavy, (4lbs) and creepy.

Wednesday: Mowed lawn. Two weeks of St. Augustine without mowing: bad idea!!! Jet lag bad, butt dragging (not the gun butt).

Thursday: Overslept, woke up with a panic hoping the dogs next door hadn't soiled the carpet (I'm doggie sitting this week). They were glad to see me, and no carpet damage.

Drank coffee, paid bills, and noticed box and rifle hadn't been put away. Opening the box, I retrieved the manual, got more coffee and starting reading. Whoa!!! Adjustable trigger? Adjustable for tension and for creep? I was awake.

A little screwdriver work and there wasn't any creep and I had a 1-1/2lb trigger. I then looked at the barrel to stock fit, and slid a dollar bill down to the receiver. It was floated. Oh happiness.

Friday: Range Officer duty. Packed the TOZ, S&W M&P, and Walther G22 along with one of the SKS's that I'd worked on the sear. I deeply regretted that I hadn't mounted a scope on the TOZ. I was shooting Wolf Match Grade and very pleased with the results. My only regret was that I hadn't put a scope on it.

It has a neat rear sight that rotates. It has a slot for 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. Well, thinking about it, I bet it is meters vs. yards, but close enough.

Wondered how badly the dogs had to pee? About 10 minutes to drive to the store, 20 minutes in the store, 30 minutes to drive home. Hoped they hadn't drank too much water.

They had 4 left. No, I'm not greedy, I only bought one more. ;D

Two happy poodles. Clean carpet. Happy TMan.

[5ontarget]

I have read a few reviews of these, and they have all been positive.

If they were C&R, I'd own one already.

How'd the sear mod work for the SKS?

[TMan]

Sorry 5OT, I missed your question on the SKS.

If you recall, before I started, I order a couple of sears from e-gunparts.com. I learned something: if you order a spare part, modify it, not the original. After almost destroying the original sear, I decided to put in a replacement one.

The replacement looked identical to the original, but (wonder why "but" isn't a 4 letter word?) when I went to install it, I found that the side slots are too narrow for the Yugo slots. $%^#@

So, back to the original sear. Made some more modifications, got rid of the creep, but out of 20 rounds, I had two failures. There are little notches on the bottom of the sear, and I need to enlarge them just a little bit more, but not enough to get creep.

I have two 59/66's and my sear work on them worked great. Naturally the one I'd screw up was the 59, and it was my most expensive and nicest of the three.

[5ontarget]

Have you put a scope on your TOZ yet?

I recently bought one, but have not yet scoped it. I've been enjoying shooting it with the open sights. I like the trigger, I have it adjusted down pretty light, with very little pretravel. I'm worried the plastic magazines might not hold up so well over time. The mag catch is nothing more than plastic ground off of the front of the mag. Mine has a couple flaws in the checkering, but nothing really glaring. And for ~$150 won't complain much. I have a feeling this when my son gets into shooting, this may become his gun.


When I get another new .22, I'd like to try one of the Savage or CZ models. Who knows what else will be on the market when I get around to it. I'm off to a gun show this weekend, looking for another MN91/30.

[TMan]

5OT, I did on one of them, but it was a cheap scope, and I wasn't all that impressed. I never gave any thought to the plastic magazines, but you are right - that could be a problem area. Some other manufacturers have had plastic magazines only to find out they needed to switch back to metal ones.

[5ontarget]

looks like there is a cheaper model with the same features at Centerfire

here

[TMan]

5OT it looks a lot like what we have. I wonder what the differences are? The "Whisper"? Reminds me of an old joke: this little girl comes running to her mommy - "Mommy, mommy I have to pee." Her mommy told her that didn't sound nice and she shouldn't be interrupting mommy's bridge game anyhow. The little girl wanted to know what she should say, and her mommy told her to say "whisper" instead of "pee".

So later she came running into the house and saw her father taking a nap on the couch. She shook him and said: "Daddy, daddy, I need to whisper." He replied in a sleepy voice: "OK dear, whisper in daddy's ear."

[5ontarget]

from what I can see, the stock isn't finished wuite the same, the wood may be different, and ours has some gold embelishments at the forend.


Nice joke, unless you're the father!