New Mossin 91/30 owner

[coltbreath]

Hey, just a quick ? has anyone purchased the coin style head space gages for the 91/30> I shot the gun and found the bolt pretty tough retract. I asked the range gun smith about the gun and he seemed put-out and said thats just the breaks for this design. after about fifty rounds and a lot of ClP the bolt was easier to work. I just don't want to eat the bolt due to excessive pressure. I examined the casings and there were no splits or ruptures. Could it just be the ammo? I shot win Brass and some surplus ammo. I just don't know

Coltbreath

 

[gaweidert]

Take the last section of a cleaning rod and put a shotgun cleaning brush on it. Attach it to a drill. Dip brush in Hoppe's No. 9 or equivalent and then scour out the chamber. Most likely it needs a good scrubbing after sitting around for 50 years. Never leave oil in the chamber of a rifle. It can cause pressure issues. The chamber of all rifles should be clean and dry.

 

[Manzanita]

M91/30 Sticky Bolt Syndrome.

Pretty common among M/N's. Mine does it. By about the fourth or fifth round I almost have to smack the bolt against the bench to open it.

 

[Waywatcher]

Mine stopped having sticky-bolt after I scrubbed the chamber out real well. Get a decent brush that fits and go to town, it's pretty dirty in there.

 

[Avenger29]

Clean the chamber well. Probably some cosmoline stuck in there.

Don't forget proper cleaning procedures for corrosive ammunition (although it does not have anything to do with the sticky bolt). All surplus is corrosive. All you need special is a bottle of Windex.

 

[offthepaper]

Colt:
gaweidert has it right.
Follow his instructions completly and the problem should be resolved. Two of my MN's had the same problem, and yes, I was thinking verything from headspacing to cosmic rays eek: ). At one point I was almost convinced that I had just made a bad deal on a rifle. But after 2-3 cleaning sessions the problem went away. The bolt action is now buttery smooth. Does the bolt # match the recieiver #'s? If yes, the problem is almost certainly a simple buildup of "something" in the chamber. Asstated use the cleaning rod/drill/brush and solvent (I just used mineral spirits, repeated the process several times-that chamber can REALLY hide crud pretty well). After getting the chamber REALLY clean, take it out for a test firing and when you see what a difference the cleaning has made, you will be ready to really enjoy that warhorse (likely enough to send you out shopping for the M38 &M44).
Try this and write back to let us know if the problem is resolved. Good luck.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

12 gauge bore brush, extension and 1 cordless drill ought to do it just fine. Don't forget the hoppes #9. Spin real slow with an in and out motion.

 

[kis2]

12 ga bore brush

when you say 12 ga bore brush, do you mean one of the fluffy wool kind, or the wire brush type?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

This is all you need to know to fix the "sticking bolt" problem. http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/sticking_bolt.htm

That site is full of information too, take a look around since you're a new Mosin Nagant owner... Welcome to the club, it's a blast!! http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/index.html

 

[Avenger29]

Wire Brush. That fluffy thing is called a bore mop. It would not do anything for cleaning the chamber aggressivly.

Another good site is http://www.7.62x54R.net

 

[offthepaper]

*wire brush.
*slow speed on the drill.
*don't try to be forceful with the drill brush, just smooth motion to cover all the surfaces.
*don't be cheap with the solvents.

 

[chrisslamar]

Definatly do the chamber clean with the 12G brush, that should fix the problem about 99% of the time. Another thing that I have found is that certain ammo causes the problem more than others. Silver tip Czech in my experiences does it every other round, no idea why. So if the problem continues after the chamber scrub try a variety of different ammo as well. My 2¢ at least.

--Chris

 

[ConfuseUs]

Did the bolt get stuck with the new stuff as well as the surplus? If it was only with the surplus then check what the cases are made out of since steel case ammo seems to cause problems lifting the bolt handle. I think it's because some steel casings expand significantly in the chamber during firing and create a very tight fit, particularly 1/8 inch forward of the rim. I haven't had brass cased ammo stick in the chamber but I've only used what I think was Romanian or Albanian surplus. Czech ammo is OK but some of them will stick. I'm leery of other steel cased ammo since I bought a pack of 20 rds of copper washed steel cased ammo and it is almost impossible to open the bolt after touching one of them off.