"...await the right moment for one, and only one well-aimed shot"
Vassili Zaitsev

The story of Vassili Zaitsev has long been believed to be a historical fact. However, there has not been any documented proof that the legendary sniper duel between Zaitsev and Konig ever took place. As a matter of fact, Beevor's account mentions Koning and other accounts mention a Thorwald. I am inclined to believe that the Soviet Command invented this story to inspire the beleaguered troops of Stalingrad in their darkest hours of fighting the German onslaught. As a matter of fact, I had an occasion to interview an elderly Russian gentleman who claimed to have trained under Zaitsev in Stalingrad. When I asked about the duel, he replied something to the effect of, "Its true if that is want you want to believe". I don't doubt that many duels occurred between the snipers of both sides. However, to believe that the German High Command went to the trouble to commit the chief instructor of their sniper school to finding and killing one Soviet sniper is a lot to accept.  That being said the story goes like this.....

To study the 91/30 Sniper rifle, it's useful to understand it's role in the critical stages of the Great Patriotic War. One of those critical stages was the battle for Stalingrad. The Sniper was key to harassing and demoralizing the attacking German forces. As the struggle for Stalingrad ensued, the snipers involved became Soviet heroes. One of them was Vassili Zaitsev. He became famous after the press had discovered that he accomplished nearly 40 kills in a ten day period. He was renown for taking out his targets using a single round. It was a skill he had learned while shooting deer in the forests around Elininski, his home in the Ural Mountain foothills. On September 20, 1942, Zaitsev went to Stalingrad with the 284th Rifles Division. As his accomplishments made him a national hero, and as his fame spread across no-man's-land, the Germans took an inordinate interest in him. Major Koning was dispatched to Stalingrad from Berlin for the express purpose of eliminating the top Soviet snipers.  Vassili Zaitsev, was high on his list. The Soviets  learned of Konig's mission through interrogating a prisoner. Antony Beevor wrote, "Like Zaitsev, Koning first made a careful study of the terrain and of his victims before attempting a kill. When two Soviet snipers were killed by single rifle shots, Zaitsev began counter-stalking Koning himself. The duel lasted for several days. During this time Koning shot a political officer named Danilov who was "covering" the duel for Soviet propaganda (Danilov accompanied Zaitsev and stupidly gave away their position). Zaitsev finally got Koning by offering another sniper, his assistant Zulikov, as bait. Zulikov positioned himself and lifted his helmet over a wall, where Koning put a bullet through it. Kulikov cried out as if hit. Koning made the fatal mistake of exposing himself to confirm the kill, and Zaitsev shot him dead. The telescopic sight of his prey's rifle, allegedly Zaitsev's most treasured trophy, is still exhibited in the Moscow armed forces museum, but this dramatic story remains essentially unconvincing. It is worth noting that there is absolutely no mention of it in any reports.* "*Antony Beevor - Stalingrad, The fateful siege : 1942 - 1943.
 

Vassili Zaitsev - 400 kills (149 Kills at the battle of Stalingrad)

Sniper I. Antonov, a naval rating from the Baltic Fleet, in ambush. During the Great Patriotic War this expert marksman killed more than 300 fascists.

Section of the type 1891/30 sniper rifle with VP (view from left) telescopic sight. 

Securing the VP telescopic sight to the 1891/30 type sniper rifle.  

Section of sniper rifle type 1891/30 with PU telescopic sight (view from left)

PU Sniper Practical Tips

by JohnM from Tucos

I have four PU snipers now and have examined a half a dozen others. I regularly shoot a couple of them and have learned a few things through observation and practical use that I thought I might share with some of you fellas picking up a PU sniper for the first time from SARCO. I test my rifles off the bench at a 100 yard indoor range, regularly shoot at a 100-300 yard military style range, and shoot long range precision target/tactical at a 1000 yard facility.

First on accuracy:

I have found a good PU 91/30 sniper will shoot 3 shots out of 5 touching at a 100 yards fairly consistently indoor or outdoor with good ammo. (That may sound unreal but this is a common occurrence with MOA rifles—it is almost assured that 2 or 3 shots will be touching when you put 5 .30 caliber bullets into an inch at a 100 yards) I don't hand load yet, so the best I use is new production S&B FMJ and I have had excellent results with silver tipped Czech green lacquered steel case, head stamp 63 (through 67)/bxn. The challenge is usually trying to hold the thing on target through the trigger pull! I found the following accuracy standards on a Russian Sniper page :

"A  91/30 PU rifle was expected to shoot 10 shots into 3.5 cm (1.38”) at 100m, 7.5 cm (2.96”) at 200m, 18 cm (7.09”) at 400m, and 35 cm (13.79”) at 600m." I would imagine this would be done off of some kind of mechanical vise type rest.

PU scope use:

1. Sighting through the PU scope, if you look to the lower portion of the field of view you will see a small circle with a vertical bar—this is the front globe and post iron sight. Move your eye/head position right or left until the bar (front sight post) superimposes over the bottom of the vertical reticule element. When it is aligned it will “split” into two thin lines that bracket the lower portion of the vertical reticule element. Then put your pointer on target. This will help you to consistently align your eye to the scope.

2. Get your eye up close to the scope so you have optimal field of view. It is not too comfortable but you will have more light and a more consistent scope picture. You won’t really have a cheek weld more of a chin weld. I have found that a major factor in achieving consistency with these short length scopes is a consistent scope picture, i.e. you can move your head/eye placement and the pointer will move slightly on the target. This is very apparent when holding on small long range targets. The trick is to again use the image of the front sight as a lens alignment reticule: position your head/eye so that you can (1. See full field of view through the scope, and (2. See the full circle of the globe sight hood—this is a must so you don’t have to move your head, only your eye—from pointer to front sight alignment image to target. If you consistently achieve this scope picture your head/chin placement will be more consistent and you should be able to achieve better groups and POI repeatability at different elevation settings.

3. Hold the horizontal reticule bars consistently level.

4. I takes some practice to get used to the horizontal bars and pointer reticule. With only 3.5 power you have to concentrate hard on the tip of the pointer and how you hold it on your target, and then repeat the hold for all the shots in your group. It is easy to find yourself just plastering the tip over a 2 inch square piece of tape at 200 yards, not really trying to place the tip of the pointer on it in a consistent manner. The rifle should be capable of shooting within about 2 inches at that distance, but on one shot if your pointer is at the bottom of the 2 inch square and the next shot your pointer is at the top of it. You may find that you have a group that is spread over 6 inches or more and you will be scratching your head wondering why. These PU’s are about as far from a target scope as you can get and still be looking through two pieces of glass. It is a real challenge to get the best out of your rifle using one. It is more of a precision optical sight, a couple steps above iron sights, rather than what you think of in terms of a modern day scope.

5. The Ordinance Corps manual states the windage adjust knob calibration marks are one mil (milliradian) which is 3.6 inches at 100yd and I have found this to be a practically correct.

6. Tighten the thumb screw down with a screw driver. I have found that finger tightening will allow the scope to move after a couple of shots.

Notes on scope setup:

1. These things were sighted in by a pro and the base lower vertical rough adjust screw may be punched and immovable. Or at the very least there are usually some punch marks that put pressure on the screws to keep them from falling out. Try to keep these screws aligned to their original struck positions (or at least note their position down if you are inclined to move them). Keep in mind that though the horizontal bars may be further towards the top of the scope than you like when sighted in at 100 yards, at 600 to 800 yards they will be at or near center scope—right where you like them to be when trying to make the long shot. If you want to center the horizontal bars at a 100 yards and your bottom screw is movable be sure to note down where it was originally set.

2. If you aim through the iron sights and hold them level to the horizon and then look through the scope and notice that the horizontal bars are not level there is probably a purposeful reason for this. It has to do with alignment of the scope longitudinal centerline to the bore longitudinal centerline. When you rotate the rifle along its longitudinal axis to bring the scope horizontal bars level, you are probably bringing the scope and bore longitudinal centerlines into alignment by centering the scope over the barrel. There may have not been enough room for adjustment on some of these re built, re used scope mounts and bases to get the scope over the barrel through means of filing the tabs on the mounts. Though it may seem awkward or unnatural to not hold the rifle in a perfectly vertical position, these fellas knew what they were doing when they set these things up. This alignment is critical in precision long range shooting or precision shooting at varying ranges.

Think about it: with scope CL right or left of bore CL you have to aim the scope (adjust windage) left or right to converge with the bullet at any given distance. You will be fine for a single distance, say 100 yards, but when you aim out to 200 or 300 you need to adjust windage to hit point of aim to compensate for the built in error caused by the difference in scope and bore longitudinal CL. Depending upon how far out this alignment is and if shooting at shorter ranges, this effect can be negligible. It will be much more pronounced at longer ranges but can be compensated for by preemptive windage settings in addition to the normal elevation settings as you sight in for each range. There will be more consistency and less room for error though, if you just rotate the rifle so the scope is over the barrel—that is why these guys set them up that way so you will aim over the bore CL.

Shooting it:

1. Consider taking the time to break in your barrel just like you would a brand new rifle. Properly breaking in should greatly reduce or eliminate fouling and greatly improve accuracy and consistency.

2. Re check all screws on scope/mount and rifle for tightness after first 5 shots. Check again after 20 shots and periodically there after. If groupings were good then spread for no apparent reason-- check for loose take down screw or scope screws. These little used snipers have not really been “shot in” yet with the actions seating snugly into the stocks as on a well used rifle.

3. Sighting in to point of aim is quick and easy with the PU scope. After your 5 shot barrel warm up, off rests, aim center and shoot a three shot group. Keep the rifle aimed center and don't move it while adjusting the windage and elevation knobs until the pointer is centered on the group you just shot. In this way you are aligning the scope to where the bullets just hit, so next group will probably be darned close to point of aim. The hardest part is the fine adjustment of the knobs—it is hard to move them in the small amounts necessary to pin point a bull at 100 yards so you may want to try it at 50 yards first to make it easier. There are two screws on top of the adjusting knobs that hold the silver elevation and windage calibrated rings in place. Loosening these screws slightly will allow you to turn the calibration rings to zero your settings. Be sure not to move the adjusting knobs while doing this.

4. Don't let the barrel get too hot! Shoot 3x5 and then give it a rest. Bring another rifle or two and rotate through them. This lets you get the most out of your range time but doesn't burn up one rifle.

5. Get to know your rifle. Record elevation settings for varying ranges and ammo. Note where the first few cold shots hit so you can compensate for it next time out and impress your buddies by screwing the mount on and hitting a first shot bull. These things are that predictable and will hold zero that well.

6. Or you can not shoot it and let it just sit there and admire its ungainly beauty. That is fine, too. Have fun and safe shooting, JohnM.

I worked up this isometric exploded view diagram of the PU scope windage and elevation knobs to give some info on how I corrected a couple of my PU scopes knobs from moving on recoil. I am winging it on the nomenclature, so feel free to comment and I will get it corrected.

Elevation and/or windage adjust knobs moving on recoil will kill any chance of achieving good groups and will hamper your efforts for efficient variable range practical shooting as well. The elevation and windage knobs should move stiffly and with an even stiffness over their entire travel. There is a compression washer under the adjusting knobs and one or both of the following may occur to cause the knobs to turn too easily thus move on recoil: 1.) the compression washer has flattened out enough over the years to no longer provide enough pressure. 2.) the wearing surfaces between the compression washer and turning surfaces have become worn smooth from use. This may occur in limited areas where the knobs are turned back and forth repeatedly, i.e. between the first few windage marks in either direction and in areas of or possibly through the full scale of the elevation knob. The solution is to put a little more bend back into the compression washers and slightly rough up the turning surfaces. You will be able to see where the metal to metal turning surfaces are by the worn bluing or shiny surface areas. That is all I will say on this procedure and only recommend doing it if you have some confidence in your mechanical ability. It is not rocket science and your are not breeching the internal integrity of the scope workings, but it is somewhat delicate work. You are servicing a mechanical area of the scope that sees some wear. I did it first only after I examined an extra scope I had on hand. I have successfully corrected two scopes that had adjust knobs that moved on recoil.

JohnM.