M-44 chambering problem

V

VIEJO

New member
I'm a handgun shooter for the most part and a total rookie in regard to bolt action rifles. I just recently bought two Hungarian M-44s and have need of some help from you experienced folks. Both carbines are in good mechanical repair and one appears almost new with a perfect bore and nice finish. My problem is this: with steel cased milsurp ammo, the rounds are very difficult and in some cases, impossible to chamber. Some commercial brass cased cartridges chamber easily enough but I primarily bought these things for plinkers and to learn the discipline required for bolt action shooting. I like the eye appeal of these little carbines and the recoil doesn't bother me but I'm beginning to think that maybe I made a bad, uninformed choice. Several guys were buying these the same day as me and all appeared happy to get them at the price.
I posed this question to Izzy in a different thread but hoped an open forum would give the question more exposure. I thank anyone in advance for information/suggestions.

Viejo
 
It shouldn't be difficult to chamber any 7.62x54r ammo in that M44. I hate to point out something so obvious, but you are certain that the ammo is, in fact, 7.62x54r and not another similar-sized cartridge? Something like British .303 is close enough that, if you weren't familiar with both, you might make that mistake.

Also, make sure the rims are staggered properly in the magazine. That is, the rim of one cartridge should be in front of the cartridge directly below it. If the uppermost cartridge's rim gets behind the rim of the cartridge below it, that uppermost cartridge won't strip from the magazine. If you load the magazine by hand, the Nagant magazine is pretty good about getting the rims in order. Loading by stripper clips can get you mixed up if you're not careful.

If none of these suggestions pan out, take it to a good gunsmith, along with the ammo that's been giving you trouble and the ammo that's been working well.
 
Viejo,

I noticed the same problem on my M-44 I’ve tried two countries ammo. Russian and Egyptian. I’ve never had the problem of not being able to get the round in the chamber but I have to use a little more force to get the bolt to lock. The Egyptian has brass cases and chambers easier than the Russian. I’ve never had this problem with 7.62x39 cases in two other rifles. I have no explanation except maybe the lacquer is making the chambering a little tighter? But this shouldn't happen since the 54R is the military ammo and the M-44 is made for that caliber. I plan to reload some 7.62x54R with Norma cases to see if this still occurs.


Turk
 
Viejo,

One thing you must remember is that these are surplus rifles and were packed in that nasty russian cosmoline (think LaBrea tar pits) for a long time. It may be necessary for you to aggressivly clean the chamber. Use a chamber brush and clean very good, if it is still hard to chamber, some very fine emery cloth on a wooden dowell may be necessary. Hope this helps you some.
 
M-44

Bob, Turk and 6.
Thank you all for the suggestions.
I know I got 7.62x54R ammo and not another caliber. I picked up some surplus stuff in white plain boxes from Dunham's when I got the carbines and they are steel jacketed with a greenish lacquer coating and white ink on the bullet tips. A guy on another forum told me he thought they were Bulgarian, but I've not looked at the headstamp under a magnifying glass yet. These are damn near impossible to chamber.
I also bought Wolf 184 gr. brass case ammo (difficult), S&B 180-something brass non-corrosive and 4 boxes of Finnish Commercial/military (better). A guy at the range gave me two rounds of Norma and they worked better than any.

I cleaned these weapons thoroughly before firing but what I DIDN'T do was concentrate on the chamber itself maybe as well as I should have. I didn't think to put a telescope gage into the chamber and mic it. As Bob said, maybe all it needs is a bit of work with emery cloth. I heard about a gunsmith 20 miles from here that does a lot of work on military stuff so I guess I'll give him a shot. I don't care if I can't use milsurp because I bought dies and some virgin Lapua brass so I'm hoping full length sizing and careful loading will give me a couple of working guns. THKS again.

Viejo
 
Rule no 1
Dont shoot Laqured steel cases in a Mosin, it sticks to to the chamber walls especially after firing. Stick with brass or copper washed steel.

it sounds like you might have a pair of mismatched bolts. I.E. your head space is wrong. The Mosin has a floating head go over to the Mosin form and as them how to check and change the head spacing you can do it your self if you want to

As long as you didn't pay $100 each for them you didn't get hurt.
 
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