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More Mosin Nagant questions

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Avenger

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Mar 24, 2006
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#1
On Christmas day I took my Mosin out to the desert and fired it for the first time. WHAT A BEAST! :D I didn't want to mail-order ammo because I was in a hurry to go shoot, and the cheapest I could find locally was Brown Bear. It was $8.95 a box, so I just bought three boxes and then me and my two brothers split it. With such a small amount of ammo, I just got a small taste of what this thing is capable of, but it was definitely challenging and fun. Today I ordered 800 rounds of Czech silver tip for it, which should be enough bullets to keep me shooting for a long time.

A few questions:

After twenty or so rounds, the gun was pretty hot, of course. I noticed that the two bands that hold the upper handguard on had expanded from the heat and slipped out of place and the upper handguard slid forward against the front sight. After that, I kept having to slide everything back in to place in between loads. Is this a common problem with these rifles? Is there a way to make it more secure?

Another problem I had was the bolt. I know Mosins are notorious for having a stiff bolt, but I don't think this was related to the laquered cases or gunk in the chamber. I cleaned the chamber thoroughly before shooting it. I didn't check headspace since I don't have the guages, but the bolt closes on a new round cleanly without any extra stiffness. The stiffness is when I open the bolt after shooting, when I turn the bolt handle up vertical to cock the firing pin. Is there something I need to check inside the bolt assembly to make sure it's within tolerances, or is the firing pin spring just that stiff?

And finally, where do you get stripper clips? I did find one place that sold newly manufactured clips in packs of three, but they wanted as much to ship them as they wanted for the clips. Are stripper clips even worth the trouble?

Thanks in advance.
 
#4
Avenger said:
Today I ordered 800 rounds of Czech silver tip for it, which should be enough bullets to keep me shooting for a long time.
Click to expand...

You say that now.

Just wait.

<evil grin>


After twenty or so rounds, the gun was pretty hot, of course. I noticed that the two bands that hold the upper handguard on had expanded from the heat and slipped out of place and the upper handguard slid forward against the front sight. After that, I kept having to slide everything back in to place in between loads. Is this a common problem with these rifles? Is there a way to make it more secure?
Click to expand...


Not, this is most certainly NOT commonplace for Mosin Nagants. It sounds like you need to have your barrel bands tightened.

In fact, this will probably negatively affect your accuracy, as those rifles are designed and meant to be fired with the foreguard and barrel bands in place, so your barrel is probably moving a fair bit due to vibrations and heat.


Another problem I had was the bolt. I know Mosins are notorious for having a stiff bolt, but I don't think this was related to the laquered cases or gunk in the chamber. I cleaned the chamber thoroughly before shooting it. I didn't check headspace since I don't have the guages, but the bolt closes on a new round cleanly without any extra stiffness. The stiffness is when I open the bolt after shooting, when I turn the bolt handle up vertical to cock the firing pin. Is there something I need to check inside the bolt assembly to make sure it's within tolerances, or is the firing pin spring just that stiff?
Click to expand...

Far too many people think this.

The Mosin Nagant's bolt does require some extra work, as it cocks on opening, just like a Mauser K98k does, but it should NOT require a great deal of effort, or even any extra thought.

I would first strip the bolt, and clean it out. Alot of the old milsurp rifles have cosmo in everything, which needs to be cleaned out. Then I would lightly (emphasis on lightly) lubricate all parts in the bolt, as well as the outside of the bolt, and then, just for kicks, lubricate around the receiver (note, not in the chamber, just where the bolt slides against receiver metal).

And finally, where do you get stripper clips?
Click to expand...

Stripper clips are not needed, but they're fun, and they add that nostalgic effect when using it. And they're easier to reload a 91/30 than by hand. As for where to find em, both UserName and Necropimp gave good ideas.

Numrich Gun Parts is usually my first choice for any part I require, as they have fantastic service, and you can generally find the absolute most oddball stuff there. If that doesn't work, eBay is the worlds garage sale, and likely will.

For the price of stripper clips, usually in the $0.50 a piece range, it's worth buying 10 or so at least. If you don't like them, oh darn. At worst, you're out $5 until you sell them yourself and make most, if not all, you're money back.
 
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#5
The strippers from JonMasen are Finnish, and I love 'em. Best-loading clips I've tried.

My upper guard moves a bit when the rifle's hot and being fired a lot. I haven't noticed any drop in accuracy when that happens, but it is annoying.

Mosins can have a pretty smooth bolt. Get a bronze barrel brush for a 20 gauge shotgun, use it to clean your chamber with a bit of oil. Don't use anything like steel wool, for obvious reasons. Strip the bolt face, and clean the bolt up good with some light oil, I like RemOil. Spray it down alongside the firing pin and blow some of that cosmo out. I wouldn't bother TOO much with it, though. Not important enough to take the pin outta the bolt, which I've heard is a PITA.

Finally, and IMO most importantly, when you reassemble the bolt, spray it down good with RemOil, especially back by the cocking nob. The striker gets cammed back by the rear part of the bolt body, and lubing it seemed to make a bit of a difference on my rifle. Wipe the bolt off and reinstall it, you're ready to go.

Make sure you clean the right way after that corrosive milsurp!

I like Brown Bear ammo. The 200 grain soft-points are pretty nice in my rifle. They knock steel "stand-up" targets down like nothing. I had some people laughing pretty hard when they saw those targets drop that fast.
 
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#9
My M44 had bands that did that, I simply removed the woodwork and using a vice (and some cloth spacing so as not to scratch the bands) tightened it up on each band individually so that the ends on them overlapped. They sparked when I did so but didn't break, when out of the vice they were closed up (ie. not overlapped anymore) and real tight.

Put the wood back on and voilla, it's dead tight and there's no more issues with it sliding around. I've put 100's of rounds through it since with no issue :)

My KAR98 is a different problem altogether, the wood where the forward band slides on has expanded or something and I cannot get the band on far enough to lock the band spring completely into place under the sling band. There's about 1mm of gap and this allows the sling band to slightly slip forward when firing making the upper hand guard loose. It adversely affects my accuracy as well. So I am thinking I am going to have to do some sanding or something to get that bloody forward band all the way on.
 
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