Looking for a 8mm bolt or bolt head for a polish mosin nagant. I've been told a bolt from a bannerman conversion mosin to 30-06 would fit up. Looked all the usual places, Numrich, sarco, gunbroker etc.
I think this bolt will be very difficult to find du to the caliber.
any thoughts?
First of all, welcome to The High Road forum,
Second, it is your rifle and it may have already been mutilated or bubba'ed or it may be untouched in military trim. If untouched, it will be worth much more to leave it alone, a cartridge conversion is problematic, can be a safety hazard, and not function that well. You could spend a lot of money putting a new barrel, changing the contours, stock, etc. and end up with something worth much less with greater expense that what you started with. Want a hunting rifle, CDNN is selling Compass rifles for $270 or so and no conversion will be as accurate, be as easy to scope, etc. You can buy Savage Axis, Axis II, or even splurge another $100 or so for a Ruger American and also do quite well at hunting with it.
If your rifle has been bubba'ed by someone that left the job half done, then options may be more limited. In that case, pictures, descriptions of what you want etc. can lead to better guidance from folks on the board.
In particular, .30-06 Mosin Bannerman conversions of that particular rifle are notorious for being blowup hazards and if you find one on auction sites, the listing is usually accompanied by warnings not the fire them as these are wall hanger grade. Product liability laws not being what they were at the time, Bannerman did not care. But if your conversion goes wrong, absent a gunsmith willing to take on the liability, any safety issue is your problem. There are also some wall hanger emergency WWI type conversions of Mausers that are a) collectible if untampered with, and b) not recommended for firing due to safety concerns.
A Mosin is designed for and to feed a specific rimmed cartridge--the 7.62x54r. In fact, the rifle is designed around the cartridge including the magazine. It is not like the Mauser where it was readily designed to take other cartridges that fit within the cartridge family. If you were to convert a Mosin, the 8x57 Mauser is not a very good cartridge for doing so because it is rimless so feeding problems etc. can ensue because the magazine and interruptor are designed to prevent rimlock on a rimmed cartridge. The cartridge itself has different tapers etc. which can result in feeding problems on the receiver ramp--grinding these areas or to do things like widening the magazine is not recommended for safety reasons. Aside from repro Russian mounts, these are not great rifles to scope either. A Polish Mosin is also more rare and its value will drop with any conversion compared with leaving it alone.
Mosins are not Mausers--want an 8x57 Mauser, get a VZ-24 which will fire the 8x57 quite nicely with excellent workmanship and receivers and barrels abound for this rifle. They also made some in 7x57 Mauser as well. Radom (Polish) made some good mausers but these are pretty rare and in demand so I would recommend leaving one alone if it is in military trim.
The 7.62x54r is a great cartridge that has good flexibility, available ammunition and reloading supplies, and is comparable to our .30-06 in its versatility. You could just leave it in that cartridge and call it a day.
