Slicking up a Mosin bolt?

[Gord]

Title pretty much says it all.

In movies and video clips, I keep seeing people work the Mosin action with three dainty fingers on the bolt. I doubt I'm ever going to be able to do that, but can I at least polish the bolt up a bit and avoid Mosin Hand?

The 91/30 I brought home today seems to have several hang-up points on the bolt. It's both difficult (more than normally so) to open, and difficult to close. Plenty of room for it in the receiver, no burrs anywhere, nothing out of spec, and it's finicky whether dry or lubed.

I've wondered about slicking up the Mosin bolt for a while, but never had a real reason to ask - my other Mosins open and close just fine with a little manhandling (as is proper with Mosins ). This bolt, though, is pretty horrendous.

Thoughts?

 

[Koobuh]

That's a tough one.

Two of my mosins, both bubba-hack jobs, have buttery-smooth bolts. My Finn M39 on the other hand feels like it's full of gravel, and is quite stiff comparatively.

Use seems to be the way you get smoothness in a mosin bolt. The Finn was a rack queen until I got her, while the others, a hacked Hungarian M44 and a hacked Remington M91, had both seen quite a bit of use by previous owners.
I have noticed that the M39 is loosening up a bit, so don't lose hope.

If you can't stand to wait, I suppose some lapping compound and working the bolt back and forth would do the job, but I'm not that brave.

 

[knuckles]

Yeah, I have a Mosin 91/30 that operates as smooth as KY in the bedroom...um...sorry....but only when there is no ammo in it. The second I load it up at the range and start putting rounds through it, it's a whole different story. The bolt binds up and sometime rounds misfeed. I haven't quite figured it out...

 

[jesse485]

This

The bolt binds up and sometime rounds misfeed. I haven't quite figured it out...

is normal for Mosins. Mine did it as well. I used an old 12 ga bore brush to clean up the chamber a bit. I got a ton of crap out of the chamber too.

 

[Ivy Mike]

The bolt on my Russian (Izhevsk) M44 is smooth as glass. Feeding is OK, but I'm sure the chamber could use a good scrubbing.

 

[knuckles]

I used an old 12 ga bore brush to clean up the chamber a bit.

Cool, I need to try that. I love that rifle, btw. Anything to make it work better. It's good to hear that these 'features' are standard amoung Mosins...

 

[foghornl]

My M-44 bolt was really sticky when i first got it. A lot of leaning and de-gunking was required.

Last step was a bit of Flitz! polish on a cleaning patch and lightly polish eveything. Now if I open the bolt and hold rifle up, bolt will drop back by itself. It is easy to open on unfired ammo, too

It still sometimes is stiff fired with certain ammo, but not nearly like it was.

 

[White Horseradish]

Misfeeds are usually a function of sticky/worn interruptor plate.

As far as bolt slickness, the slickest bolt I have is the one with a Wolff spring in it. Seems that a stronger spring helps.

Grittiness on extraction is often remedied by heavy-duty chamber cleaning.