M-N M44 Safety

[Dennie Suman]

I bought a M-N M44 about a year ago. I really like the way it handles and shoots. GF shoots it also. Here is the only problem I can see with it.
The safety is VERY hard to work. I am no weakling, but this thing is tough! No way the GF could use it.
The rifle seems to be nearly new. No signs of much use. I have been leaving it in the cabinet with the bolt cocked. After a year it seems to be a little easier to use the safety.
Does anyone have this same problem, and what are your suggestions to make it better?
I thought of shortening the spring in the bolt but this makes me a little uneasy.
Need some help please.
Thanx in advance.

 

[Stinger]

Dennie,

I don't know that there is much you can do. The safety is notoriously difficult for most people. I guess I am just used to it, but it doesn't bother me very much.

It amazes me how overly simple Russians design everything. They have never been too concerned with ergonomics, they just want stuff to work. And their Nagant safety definitely works.

Stinger

 

[No4Mk1*]

Have you tried putting the buttstock in the angle of your right elbow while manipulating the safety with your right hand?

Do not cut or otherwise weaken the spring. It is the same spring that accelerates the firing pin toward the primer.

Why do you feel a need to use the safety? Unless you are hunting and need silence, then it is faster to use an empty chamber or open bolt as a way to be safe.

 

[Destructo6]

That's just the way MN safeties are. I simply treat my M44 as having no safety of any kind and keep the bolt closed on an empty chamber as NO4Mk1* suggests.

 

[Dennie Suman]

Thanx for the info. I will just carry with an empty chamber, that is until someone comes out with a workout machine for weak trigger fingers. Only 4 easy payments of $29.95 +S&H of$12.95.
A Bowflex for the first 2 digits.
Later.

 

[foghornl]

I have seen the suggestion of taking off 2 or 3 turns from the mainspring, but I really don't like that idea, either. The Mosins were designed to always go BANG!, even in the deep frozen far Northern tundras of what used to be the Soviet Union.

That being said, I treat my M-44 as though it has no safety....empty chamber untill ready to shoot. I find that safety is hard to work, and I'm not a small guy, either...about 6' 3" and 245Lbs. And I can usually crack walnuts by squeezing 2 of them in my hands.

 

[Chipperman]

I think the term "Safety" is dubious anyway when being applied to the M-44.

There is no way I would carry my M-44 slung with a round in the chamber and the safety on.
I agree with the others. Just use the bolt as your safety.