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Mossberg 51M (a)

3K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  Catt57 
#1 ·
Mossberg 51M (a)
From what I can tell, this one has the No. 1A front ramp sight, the s102 rear sight, and the s130 peep sight.

Would like to know more about it from those that know more than I do. I usually go for the old Savage rifles but for what I paid, I stole this rifle.

 
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#6 ·
Wow, that does not sound like a fun time at all. I have some CCI Standard, I'll designate it to this rifle.

I did note that the way the cap locks in there is only a thin lug on the rear of the receiver holding it in place. I assume this is the issue with High velocity ammo.

All-in-all, not a bad score for the $75 I had to part with for it. It was not correctly assembled when I got it as the bolt handle would just fall out. I did find a thread on how to fix that and now it stays in place and cycles by hand just fine. (Did take a bit to figure out the trick of holding the ejector down to get an unspent cartridge out though.)
 
#11 · (Edited)
Catt57, I will...

Catt57 I will second gunsisme's warning about NOT shooting any High Speed ammo in your Coneback. I will edit this post later with a picture of a destroyed Coneback receiver due to a prolonged diet of High Speed ammo.
Not saying LuckyGuy is wrong but it is really hard to argue with hard evidence in pictorial form. And definitely stay away from the Hyper ammo.

LuckGuy, you are indeed a lucky guy!!! And I am very glad to see that your Coneback has suffered no damage SO FAR. The picture that I will post later may convince you to switch to Standard Velocity or sub-sonic ammo. Obviously it is your choice, but the receiver cap on the Conebacks was not strong enough to handle a constant diet of the HV ammo.
Very nice looking Coneback, by the way!!!
God Bless, Frank.

The picture... as promised.
 
#12 ·
Great deal, most here would have bought it at this price. Clean it well and shoot it. I know the ammo issue exist so I only shoot SV ammo in alll of my vintage rifles. Better safe than sorry and the sv ammo is great for target and small game hunting, so why risk it! Enjoy your great rifle!
 
#13 ·
Nice rifle and a steal at that price.

Just a few observations:

The receiver is top drilled for scope blocks like a Spiegel would be.
It has the early #1A front sight.
It has the S102 barrel sight (and the 1A front sight) that "usually" doesn't show up with the S130 peep sight.(the later S107 barrel sight "usually" shows up with the later S130 peep)

With the top drilled receiver, it looks like a Spiegel to me.
Spiegels usually came with a medallion that would be attached to the bottom of the pistol grip, does it have 2 tiny screw holes there?

The early 51M's that have the 1A front sight and S102 barrel sight would usually come with the S104 peep sight and the cut out in the wood is very different for the 102 than it is for the 100 and 130. Can you post a pic of the cut out in the wood for the peep?

Not trying to "critique" your new purchase as I would have jumped on it at that price also, just trying to inform.
Dan
 
#14 · (Edited)
Some more info...

Some more info in pictorial form!!! The correct name for the part below is a "retracting spring bushing" and when you look at it you will notice that the flat flange on the 2 right hand ones have been beaten up pretty badly. A new unused one is on the left. The lower left part is from a 351C and I can only guess that it was fed a steady diet of HV ammo, maybe hyper ammo also. Don't know what the previous owner fed this rifle. The upper right bushing was from another one of my rifles, not sure which one??? :rolleyes: When assembled into the receiver the retracting spring bushing sits in front of and is supported by the breech plug. This is true for the 1 and 3 series semi-autos. The Flatbacks and the Conebacks did not have a retracting spring plunger as the breech plug assembly incorporated the retracting spring assembly. The Flatback rifles have a threaded breech plug while the Conebacks have the tabbed breech plug. And as you can see from the picture in post #11 that tabbed breech plug is not as strong as the threaded designs.

On the 1 and 3 series semi-autos the breech plug is THREADED into the rear of the receiver, which makes for a very strong connection. Much stronger than the Coneback design. The one pictured below is from a 351C.

God Bless, Frank.
 
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