Test firing vintage rifles

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bobmcd

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I have been thinking about getting a WW2-era rifle (e.g. a Mosin-Nagant), but am wondering if there are any safety concerns about shooting one for the first time. I could see how a sixty-year-old rifle might not be up to being fired.

On the other hand, I also knew a guy who owned and fired a Martini-Henry. :eek:

Any advice from people who have fired older rifles?
 
If it's bought unissued or rearsenalled, in cosmoline, with all matching parts, I presume it is safe -- but I still take a shot from the hip and inspect the brass. If it's missmatched and simply "used", I inspect it very carefully, run a few non-firing experiments, and fire several rounds from the hip, inspecting the brass. If it's a parts basket, I typically don't buy it, and do not shoot it. You'll get a lot of responses about headspace gauges. Original factory specification headspace gauges (rare) can check headspace in a useful way. But modern, commercially-produced headspace gauges do not actually tell you anything useful about a hundred-year old foreign rifle, though they can appear to do so. The reasons are steeped in engineering, metrics, calibration and metallurgy, and are controversial.

I regularly shoot original nineteenth century firearms without incident.
 
What is your experience level? Are you a new shooter as I am? If it were me, I would take the rifle to your local gunsmith and have him check the headspace, barrel, ETC... before your shoot it. I recently purchased a 1917 Enfield by Remington 30.06 rifle. The advice of many on the forum was to get the head space checked before firing it, so I did. It was a good experience and I learned more than I asked for when I did take it there. Gunsmiths are a wealth of knowledge and if they have the time, they will tell you a bit of history and also whether your gun is safe. My local guy didn't even charge me even though I offered to pay him. He just told me that if it ever breaks to bring it to him and let him fix it. I will!

Hope this helps, and have fun with your new rifle!

Mikey!
 
My local gunsmith said he does not measure headspace. I am somewhere between duke of doubt and paranoid.

I simply set the gun on my shooting bench, point it at the berm, tied a piece of string on the trigger, stepped back a few feet and pulled the string. Did this a few times....

Worked great, and fun to think about.

Leroy
 
My local gunsmith said he does not measure headspace.
Click to expand...

Leroy, It sounds like you need a new gunsmith! Most will!

Bobmcd, If you do run into the same problem as Leroy has, then try his string test procedure. I always try to err on the side of caution whenever in doubt. I would run more than a few rounds through it using this procedure just to be sure. I definitely would not shoot it from the hip, like Duke suggests, unless you don't like your hip! Use the string and sandbag test and you should be ok. As others have mentioned. It is probably safe as it is, but it's better safe than sorry! IMO

Mikey!
 
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