Hello all!
Background
Some of you might remember some of my past experiences with my Mosin, possessed by the souls of Sasha, Boris, Alexei, Vladimir and Sergei who were trapped under that cosmoline for over half a century only for it to be boiled off and for them drowned in German Ballistol.
I actually feel kinda guilty about the Ballistol.
After cleaning the chamber with mineral spirits, Qtips and shotgun patches, and then grinding off a significant portion of my clubfoot-looking extractor into a nice mirror smooth Finn-looking extractor I discovered that the rifle would now slam down after pulling the trigger and a partial lowering, which before it did not, and that the action would now pop open after a small effort to lift, and then close smoothly, all operable with a pinky. Ballistol and Lubriplate 105 did the trick, together with my previous filing and polishing of camming surfaces etc...
Mechanical Condition
The Bulgarian surplus still required a little slap to let the action lift just past that last part of the turn, the only part of the bolt operation that requires any effort with/without ammo. Perhaps somebody could tell me what part to polish in order to smooth that out?
Somewhat Strange
Strange thing about the Bulgarian ammo is that it is slightly shorter than the rest of the 7.62x54r I have seen and perhaps even on the small side of all dimensions, seems to expand more to fit the chamber, the primers are also relatively deeply seated in the case and appear completely flat before firing. After firing loads of red sealant gets blown back onto the bolt face and there is always a dark black ring around the FP hole even after 10 rounds, is this normal?
When it comes out the case neck is almost completely black, never seen that before.
Very Strange
On to the very strange part. After shooting something like 30 rounds and inspecting the barrel it appears mostly clean, except for a dark line that stretches from one end of the barrel to the other, almost entirely straight. Can anybody explain this?
I know that if I only shoot a few rounds it starts in the chamber and only goes about 1/3rd of the way to the muzzle. After cleaning it disappears, and leaves a barrel that looks like it was never used, which is why I'm bothering with this Mosin in the first place.
Some Respite
The good news is that with commercial 7.62x54r, MFS, the bolt is 100% slick and smooth, almost as smooth as it is dry and easily operable without lowering the rifle from aim. So now I can feel like Vasiliy Zaitsev in that scene in the fountain lol. I know in the past that before I got the Mosin to its current good condition that Czech ammo was even smoother than the MFS, too bad I can't find it anywhere. Maybe Russian or Chinese will function as good.
Thank you for your time and advice.
Background
Some of you might remember some of my past experiences with my Mosin, possessed by the souls of Sasha, Boris, Alexei, Vladimir and Sergei who were trapped under that cosmoline for over half a century only for it to be boiled off and for them drowned in German Ballistol.
I actually feel kinda guilty about the Ballistol.After cleaning the chamber with mineral spirits, Qtips and shotgun patches, and then grinding off a significant portion of my clubfoot-looking extractor into a nice mirror smooth Finn-looking extractor I discovered that the rifle would now slam down after pulling the trigger and a partial lowering, which before it did not, and that the action would now pop open after a small effort to lift, and then close smoothly, all operable with a pinky. Ballistol and Lubriplate 105 did the trick, together with my previous filing and polishing of camming surfaces etc...
Mechanical Condition
The Bulgarian surplus still required a little slap to let the action lift just past that last part of the turn, the only part of the bolt operation that requires any effort with/without ammo. Perhaps somebody could tell me what part to polish in order to smooth that out?
Somewhat Strange
Strange thing about the Bulgarian ammo is that it is slightly shorter than the rest of the 7.62x54r I have seen and perhaps even on the small side of all dimensions, seems to expand more to fit the chamber, the primers are also relatively deeply seated in the case and appear completely flat before firing. After firing loads of red sealant gets blown back onto the bolt face and there is always a dark black ring around the FP hole even after 10 rounds, is this normal?
When it comes out the case neck is almost completely black, never seen that before.
Very Strange
On to the very strange part. After shooting something like 30 rounds and inspecting the barrel it appears mostly clean, except for a dark line that stretches from one end of the barrel to the other, almost entirely straight. Can anybody explain this?
I know that if I only shoot a few rounds it starts in the chamber and only goes about 1/3rd of the way to the muzzle. After cleaning it disappears, and leaves a barrel that looks like it was never used, which is why I'm bothering with this Mosin in the first place.Some Respite
The good news is that with commercial 7.62x54r, MFS, the bolt is 100% slick and smooth, almost as smooth as it is dry and easily operable without lowering the rifle from aim. So now I can feel like Vasiliy Zaitsev in that scene in the fountain lol. I know in the past that before I got the Mosin to its current good condition that Czech ammo was even smoother than the MFS, too bad I can't find it anywhere. Maybe Russian or Chinese will function as good.
Thank you for your time and advice.
