Mosin rifle bolt/ammo question..

[gbeecher]

I posted earlier on this same subject, but here I go again. Got back from the range today after shooting 30 rounds - 25 of Brown Bear lacquer coated steel cased and 5 of a no-name, new production Russian, steel cased/copper washed. Once again, the copper washed ammo was much harder to cycle in locking the bolt into battery and unlocking. It was smooth operating with the Brown Bear stuff and has always worked perfectly cycling with no ammo or dry firing. I've scrubbed and cleaned the chamber, extractor relief groove, receiver, bolt face and extractor and lightly oiled all of it, including the bolt. Thoughts anyone?

 

[Cosmoline]

Different Mosins just like different ammo. They all seem to have preferences. There are enormous differences between different brands and nationalities of 54R. Bullet and case composition, shoulder height and powder type are all surprisingly variable, and sometimes the shape of the rim is even different. Any number of factors could be causing your Mosin to like the Brown Bear but not the other. It's completely different than a Swiss K-31 or a Garand, where the rifles were built around highly standardized loads. 54R is a chaos of options.

I've had more Mosins than I can remember, and I always make a point of testing each new one with a mixed lot of various kinds of commercial, surplus and handloads. Invariably the particular rifle will take to some and not to others. For example I've had Mosins that balk at the Albanian, and some that love it. Some like the heavy ball, some hate it. You have to test them out and see.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I had problems with a sticky bolt until I got a mop, mothers mag polish and cleaned the chamber..... Cycles smooth while shooting now.

I tried lots of cleaners, solvents, etc...

 

[gbeecher]

Thanks. Glad to hear it's not my cleaning or the rifle. I save anywhere from 1 to 3 dollars a box on this Russian copper washed stuff. Since I'm cheap anyway, I'll probably continue to buy it and just slap the bolt around.

 

[caribou]

The steel cases , while fireing, contract from their expanded and sealed in the chamber, under high pressure. Brass cases remain expanded a moment longer and the reflux of soot around the contracting steel makes the chamber dirt, quick like.
The cooper washed and the laquerd cases are made of steel. Often, the laquer will also contribute to Chamber fouling as melted scrapeings, carried in whilst chambering a round.

The "sticky bolt" is the Mosin's way of telling you to clean it. Solvents and a boiling water both do very good job of cleaning the chambers of such.

As said above, different Mosin's do well with different ammo. When I was target shooting, I used brass, annd collected it up and reloaded it, when plinking and hunting, I use steel cased ammo, as I dont shoot many rounds whilst hunting and Im not picking up any brass while doing so.

Few have problems with the ammo, most have problems with dirty guns.

Just keep the chamber clean and lightly oild after each use and you wont have a problem. While shooting from a clean gun, the steel 'sticky' usually creeps in after 200-300 shots.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

gbeecher, not sure which new production ammo you are using, but compare prices with surplus 440-round spam cans of com-bloc ammo - which has been scarce like everything else lately but is already showing up again intermittently at the usual places - just to see if you can save even more than you are already. Cosmoline is correct, Mosins are finicky on ammo, so if you are going to shop around and see what works, look for some 20-round packets of steel-cased surplus broken out of a spam can for experimenting, without spending $100 on a whole spam can.

As for your chambering/extraction problem, pretty much covered above. Two things to add. First, if you really want your Mosin clean, find a way to heat up the receiver (disassembled rifle, of course), then stand/soak it in mineral spirits for a few hours. Several times. (I stand mine in a bucket of boiled water for 10 min., then replace the water with min. spirits and leave it there for an hour, then wipe/clean vigorously, then repeat). Any method will work, if you heat up the receiver. Cosmoline (the petroleum derivative, not the distinguised THR member!) will melt at raised temperatures, and dissolve in contact with min. spirits. Best way to get every bit of cosmo out of every nook and cranny (and if you haven't, examine the area just in front of your Mosin chamber for some impressive nooks and crannies for hardened cosmo to hide in).

Second - are there any scratches on the copper-washed cases? Mosins can have burrs in the chamber that complicate extraction of fired cases, even with a completely cleaned receiver. I have a Tula ex-dragoon with a chamber burr that I'm going to try to fix some day soon (spinning a fired case wrapped with some wet/dry abrasive, there are web postings demonstrating how to do it) - it extracts brass-cased ammo (far too expensive for my Mosin hobby) easily, but steel-cased is very tough. And there are consistent scratches on the steel cases showing where the burr grabs them.

Just an idea.

 

[hang fire]

I posted earlier on this same subject, but here I go again. Got back from the range today after shooting 30 rounds - 25 of Brown Bear lacquer coated steel cased and 5 of a no-name, new production Russian, steel cased/copper washed. Once again, the copper washed ammo was much harder to cycle in locking the bolt into battery and unlocking. It was smooth operating with the Brown Bear stuff and has always worked perfectly cycling with no ammo or dry firing. I've scrubbed and cleaned the chamber, extractor relief groove, receiver, bolt face and extractor and lightly oiled all of it, including the bolt. Thoughts anyone?

The MN is a military bolt action rifle, it was not designed to be babied, some of the rifles one has to to get a little western with.

Forget oil, grease that bolt, if it slides, grease it, if it rolls, oil it.

 

[jpwilly]

I had problems with a sticky bolt until I got a mop, mothers mag polish and cleaned the chamber..... Cycles smooth while shooting now.

I tried lots of cleaners, solvents, etc...

Similar here. Did you know miniral spirits or Hopps #9 will remove cosmoline! So what you need to do is get a handheld drill a 3 part cleaning rod and a 45 to 50 Cal bronze brush as long as it's slightly oversize for the chamber. Take your rifle apart and lay out some newspaper cause your going to make a mess! Next chuck up 1 piece of the cleaning rod with the bronze brush into the drill and put solvent on the brush...start cleaning up the chamber. keep it wet and keep the brush moving in and out of the chamber. Give it a good polishing with some JB Bore paste when finished if you like and be sure to clean up the bore when done. Your extraction should improved dramaticly if you had "Sticky Bolt" after shooting a few rounds.