Prime M44 - Came With Everything You See Here

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Joshua M. Smith

Joshua M. Smith

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Hi All,

I found a really nice Russian M44 Mosin-Nagant at what I thought was a reasonable price. No rust was evident as I cleaned the cosmoline off.

Dsc00003.gif
I'm pretty sure this is what a Russian soldier would have been issued.

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This ammo has be baffled, but I believe it's the same stuff found here: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=80929981

This is my first centerfire rifle. Any advice would be very appreciated. I'm pretty sure this surplus ammo is corrosive; do I just run a Windex patch down the barrel after shooting it? I do not want to shoot the thing until I know exactly what I'm doing.

It'd be nice to find some stripper clips as well. Might have to go back as I think I saw some at the gunstore a while back.

So, whatcha' all think?

Josh <><
 
I use sweets 7.62, then follow up with hoppes #9, and then lightly oil. It isn't the salt per se that causes the corrosion, it is the moisture attracted by the salt that forms the rust. YOu can use very hot water and then clean as normal if you want but I'm just paranoid about putting water inside a gun barrel. Yes it is corrosive. Make sure there is no dried cosmoline in the chamber or it will melt when a round is fired and gum up the bolt.
 
Check out www.surplusrifle.com they have quite a bit of information. Check out the section on "sticky bolt". You really want to clean the chamber to avoid this. Also, that is not the correct sling. You need a "dog collar" sling. They are available from CTD and other places fairly reasonable (<$10).

Other than that it is a "blast" to shoot. If I can ever get rid of the sticky bolt syndrome in minei t would be even more fun.
 
Looks like you got a nice rifle. The wood looks very nice and it looks like the metal fiinish is in pretty good condition.

The yellow tip is heavy ball (~180 gr). And yes, it is most definitely corrosive. I just run hot water from a small piece of hose thru the bore and chamber then clean it normally with Hoppes and Powderblast. Windex will work too, but run a few patches thru to make sure you get the bore soaked good.

Stripper clips are a crapshoot. The US made ones and some of the other foreign made ones are junk and don't work very well. If you can get your hands on some genny-ine Russian ones, they work very well. They're somewhat hard to find, though.

You gotta shoot it at dusk to get the full amount of pleasure from your M44.

Here's some good Mosin sites if you don't already know about them.

http://7.62x54r.net/
http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/
 
I have both a M44 and 91/30. My son likes the Carbine and I shoot the 91/30. Both are great guns IMO. Don't worry too much about the ammo, just clean it well after EACH range trip and it will be fine. The 2 sites Mr White listed are great. When it comes to Mosin Nagants, if you need to know it, it's on those 2 sites.

BTW, if that's the same ammo I have it's not Lead core and it will penetrate 3/8" Steel Plate so be careful what's behind what you shoot at. Check the tip with a magnet, you will be surprised... :evil:

Your rifle looks like it's in good shape. Congrats on your first rifle, have fun and be safe...

Here is a photo of my 2 Mosins:

DSCN1981.jpg
 
Hi All,

Thanks for the info.

I decided to save back a bit of the heavy ball as I got the last 20 rounds. I went to buy some other stuff today.

I'm not sure I like what I got. The heavy ball has no laquer on the case mouth, and operates very well. The stuff I got today is Russian (headstamped 60) and is laquered. It appears that this is causing the bolt to stick.

From www.russian-mosin-nagant.com :

Most of the ammo on the market today is coming out of the former Soviet client states in the Balkans. Many people have complained about the lacquer coated ammo causing their bolts to become hard to open. Often, this is a sign of a dirty or badly pitted chamber and is easily corrected by cleaning the chamber correctly.
Click to expand...

My chamber is clean, and I cannot see any pitting or corrosion. I was told that this is common in these guns and that I should polish the chamber. I kinda' thought Soviet stuff had generous clearances as is. What are your collective thoughts?

Thanks,

Josh <><
 
Nice looking Mosin.

Assume that all surplus 7.62x54R ammo is corrosive. Windex works fine for flushing out the corrosive salts left behind by the primer. The reason is because it's mostly water. As a side effect, the surfactants in the Windex clean out a lot of the powder fouling. Don't forget to wipe down the bolt face as well.

After the Windex punch the bore a couple of times with dry patches to get out the water, then follow with your regular solvent, e.g., Hoppe's No.9.
 
I hate the Windex crap. Hot water will do the same or better. The ammonia in the Windex doe zilch for the corrosive primers.

I have shot plenty of corrosive ammo in the last 40 years and plain old water will beat Windex every time. Of course to clean after the water a solvent and then an oil protecant will be needed but what is the big deal?
 
You can get ammo from J&G sales. They have Bulgarian heavy and light ball ammo cheap, $45 for 330 rounds light and $49 for 330 round heavy.
http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/ammo-for-rifles/7-62x54r/cPath/12_42?SID

I have an M44 that is in pristine condition. Except for the stock on the opposite side of the bolt handle. This is right where it would rest against your back if you had the strap over your shoulder. I'm sure some poor SOB had to carry this thing up and down up and down over and over again for years.
 
Josh
Cleaning the chamber well is one of the fixes for a sticky bolt. Often, there is a very thin, sticky, cosmoline residue there. I have about 6 mosins that had this problem and cleaning the chamber fixed 5 of them. The only one that didn't fix did not have a smooth chamber. I only shoot non-lacquered cases through that one. I used 0000 steel wool on a 410 gauge brush to polish the chambers. I clean all of my mosins after using corrosive ammo with water and then follow up with any modern bore cleaning solution. I finish with a thin coating of gunoil over the metal parts. I have never had a rust problem. That yellow tipped heavy ball ammo does give a pretty good wallop. My Finns love the stuff. The lighter ammo works better in my other mosins and doesn't punish me as much.
 
The bore looked good... but... I decided to really lay in with the cleaning today.

I started with a regular cleaning which gave me clean patches after about five passes. I wasn't sure where the gunk came from as I had cleaned it yesterday, so I let the bore soak in Hoppes for a few hours.

When I ran another patch through it, I got green again. I kept doing this and eventually got brown, what I assume is Cosmoline. The patches eventually came through clean again.

It's been soaking for a few more hours now. I'm watching it and every half hour there is more crud that surfaces. I figure I'll just run a loaded patch through it now and again and keep it soaking.

The good news is that this thing is beginning to resemble a *new* bore. Maybe it was one that was shot a few times and then never picked back up? Dunno. I'm pretty sure some of this stuff has been in there since it was issued in '44.

The chamber has begun cleaning out as well, and ya'll were right: there's brown gunk coming out of it as well. I attached a drill to a 20 gauge bore brush and went at it. I only thought it looked nice before.

I'll keep ya'll updated! This may turn out to be a nicer rifle than I first thought!

Josh <><
 
I recommend using 7.62 Sweets for cleaning your bore. It works very well and will save you hours of cleaning time.

As for the Lacquer coated ammo, it is the Lacquer causing the sticking. I found if you shoot a round or two and then let the receiver cool you will be able to shoot that stuff with minimal sticking. I had no choice but to figure that out since I bought 2 cases of it!!! :banghead:
 
Actually, I think a sticky bolt on a Mosin is a design feature intended to keep the bolts from flying open on their own during battle. My understanding is that the hammer in the Soviet emblem symbolizes the hammers used by Russian soldiers in all of their great patriotic wars to work the bolts of their Mosin Nagants. :)
 
Hi All,

Someone on one of the many boards I frequent asked for a picture of the bore when I got through with it. I do not remember what board it was, so I'll just post on all of them.

Bore2x.gif
While this bore looks bad, remember I have it under extreme magnification and the pitting cannot be seen with the naked eye. While not target grade, I consider this to be acceptable and it certainly is accurate. The picture was taken after two days of soaking followed by "boilouts," before oiling.

It's not the "new" bore I thought it might be once I stripped it of its copper fouling, but it doesn't seem to matter with open sights. I'm playing with the idea of 'scoping it and I may have issues then. Until and unless I decide to do this however, I'm happy.

Josh <><
 
Spiggy,

Yep, took all day yesterday cleaning it followed by an overnight soak in Hoppes, then three "boiling the bore" treatments today, but that's what I ended up with.

I do have a complaint: I'd like to mount a 'scope on the rear sight but the rear sight mount is cracked in the rear. Dangit. This is quickly turning into a project gun... and I bought it for its ability to withstand abuse and to SHOOT!

Grrrrr....

Thanks,

Josh <><
 
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