Interim report:
After some contemplation as to practicability and cost with regard to the rust-pitted receiver underside, I decided to cut the worthless muzzle part off the barrel. A shooting test with the original 28” barrel produced a pattern of about 20cm = 8” at 100m. First I cut off the barrel just behind the integral front sight ramp. The ramp was salvaged for soldering on by cutting off the remaining barrel part underneath. As close inspection showed, there was still a short length of rusted away field remaining.(As I wrote, this was the worst rusted out muzzle I have ever seen!) So another inch had to go. The remaining barrel is now 59cm = 23” long.

I mounted an “almost period” Zeiss Zielsechs 6x scope on the existing barrel mounted base and square bridge. “Almost period” because though the Zielsechs scope model with ribbed light alloy tube was offered by Carl Zeiss, Jena, since 1936, the specimen I had on hand is of late, 1960s, GDR production. The only difference to the pre-war scopes is the inscription and better coating. A rear mount foot that fits the square bridge came with the barreled receiver, but I had to make an improvised rear base lock for the testing.

Yesterday I was at a range to test and sight in this rifle (and some others ). To keep things simple, I used PPU/Prvi Partizan 8x60S, 12.7g = 196gr soft point factory loads, the cheapest of the two loads available. I know, 3 shot groups don’t tell much, but the rifle seems to shoot. These were the two almost final groups, with a little scope (elevation) and base (windage) adjustment in between: