Problem with a Mosin-Nagant

[TimboKhan]

Howdy all,

I went out to shoot my new Mosin today, and for some reason the bolt would not close when trying to chamber a round. It will open and close just fine without a round. Also, when my dad and I were trying to figure it out, he took the bullet and put it down the barrel via the muzzle, and the bullet and case, up to the shoulder, fit easily into the barrel. (hopefully, that made sense). Third, when does the extractor engage the rim? If it is right when your being to chamber a round, then that isn't happening either., although when I took the bolt out, I could slip a round underthe extractor and it would hold it nicely. Any suggestions??

Timbo

 

[jefnvk]

Try cleaning the chamber out. Maay be a bunch of cosm stuck up there.

As for the muzzle, sounds like it has been ounterbored. See if th e last few inches of the barrel look like they have been drilled out.

 

[Navy joe]

What caliber and make of ammo are you using? Correct ammo is 7.62x54R. There are plenty of people seeling ammo that don't know enough to give you the right stuff. Clean it, thing is probably full of cosmoline and other crap.

 

[armoredman]

Chuck a 12 ga shotgun bore brush in a drill, and drill that chamber out with plenty of heavy duty solvent, to get the last vestiges of 60+ year old cosmo out. Check your ammo to make sure it's 7.62x54R, and some idiot didn't sell you 8mm Mauser os somesuch. Then get thee to a gunsith for a quick headspace check. Fortunately, if the headspace is screwed up, a new bolt head for a few $ will usually fix that.
Then head over to http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/ for more Mosin info than you can shake a stick at....
I agree your rifle is more tha likely counterbored - done to eliminate the screwed up barrle crown from Ivan cleaning in the feild from the muzzle with a steel cleaning rod. It helps accuracy, not hurts - my M38 is counterbored, and shoots quite well....

 

[George S.]

While excessive cosmoline is a proble, most old Mosins used in The Great Patriotic War fired steel-cased ammo that was coated with a protective lacquer finish. As the rifle was fired in combat, the chamber heated up and the lacquer transferred to the chamber walls. Because the Mosin was not given a lot of machining work, the chamber walls were not smooth and a lot of them had pitted walls.

So the lacquer was fused to the chamber walls and now when the chamber heats up from firing, the walls become sticky with the old lacquer and you have problems with either chambering a round or in a lot of cases, getting the fired case out.

The shotgun brush trick works to help remove the old lacquer. Remove the stock and then remove the bolt and trigger. Place the receiver under a lamp to get it warm then use the drill and brush with lacquer thinner to remove the buildup. This may take a number of times to get to where chambering a round is easier. You can also polish the camber walls but I would have a 'smith do that to insure that headspace is not compromised.

 

[TimboKhan]

thanks guys, this was helpful info. For the record, I know for a stone-cold fact that it was 7.62x54 that I was trying to feed it. I will try to clean it when I get a little time here in the next week and will let you know if it worked or not.

Timbo