Got her back out today. Nice 61-degree break from the recent deep freeze. Using 1990’s 8mm Yugo M75 I was able to zero in with repeatable 2” (+/-) groups. Could stretch out to 400yd, 12” steel with ease. I moved over to 1956 Yugo M49 on stripper clips. Despite overall less than favorable reports, I loaded up on a healthy stash 15 years ago for just under .20cpr. I learned early on not to run this through my M76 nor any semiautos (another story) so I buried it. Unfortunately, during the 2010 Nashville floods it sat under water for almost 2 days. In recent years I’ve had good results with it through my only other scoped 8mm bolt gun, an M48 Balkan Civil War DMR clone under an ONM76B scope.
I tried it a few weeks ago through this Persian 98/29 and got almost 100% fail-to-fire. I broke down and cleaned the bolt (very dry old cosmoline crud in and about), installed a 22lb Wolff bolt spring and now I’m getting an acceptable light strike from only 1 in 20 rounds (+/-). 2nd strike always goes bang.
Here's what’s pretty killer: Without a single click adjustment to the scope my buddy and I were reliably able to whack that 12” plate, @ 400yds, time after time with pretty much 8 out 10 hit ratios. That’s 70 year old ammo though a 90 year old rifle !!! As another well known member on some other forums says: “whatta hobby” !
(Still hate shooting through an LER scope, although, it's bright and clear. Just a PITA to acquire sight pic.)