Dave Markowitz
Member
Last Monday my dad, Ron in PA, and my brother went out the the range to shoot his new M-1938 Mosin-Nagant carbine. The ammo they were shooting was Albanian 7.62x54R surplus ball, but with the powder charge replaced with 13 grains of Red Dot (see Ed Harris's article "The Load").
As my brother was shooting it, he got a bunch of gas back in his face. Since he was wearing shooting glasses no harm was done. However, it was evident that the M-N action doesn't handle escaping gas as well as a Lee-Enfield.
Upon ejecting the empty he noticed something was rattling about inside. After getting home, my dad sectioned the offending case, as well as a normal fired case, both of which are in the attached photo. The bad case is on the left, and you can see the portion of the case head containing the primer pocket which detached on firing, letting out the gas.
As my brother was shooting it, he got a bunch of gas back in his face. Since he was wearing shooting glasses no harm was done. However, it was evident that the M-N action doesn't handle escaping gas as well as a Lee-Enfield.
Upon ejecting the empty he noticed something was rattling about inside. After getting home, my dad sectioned the offending case, as well as a normal fired case, both of which are in the attached photo. The bad case is on the left, and you can see the portion of the case head containing the primer pocket which detached on firing, letting out the gas.