M44 bolt close problem. Please help.

M

MadScientist

New member
I finally got some ammo to shoot through my Russian M44 at the gun show this week.
There's a problem through. The bolt didn't close on about 99% of the rounds I tried. I had the ammo measured and it's all within specs. I did an experiment and found that if I seated a round under the extractor claw myself, there were no problems closing the bolt. So, it appears that the extractor claw is not budging under normal loading operation. I tapped the extractor out and cleaned it and its housing thoroughly. There is no spring under the claw but I suspect that there's no supposed to be one.
After cleaning, same problem. I even bent the claw out a bit to see if that help. Didn't.
Before I bend the claw out some more, I wanted to see if this is the right thing to do.
Also, where can I get an extra claw incase I screw this one up?
Thanks!
 
Any chance it's Albanian ammo?

Lots of folks are having problems with Albanian ammo not allowing the bolts to close on tighter guns (the case rims are a little too thick on many of the rounds). My 91/30s will handle it, but my 44s and 91/59 will not.

Don't mess with the rifle! Try some different ammo. Ask over about your cartridges headstamp's over at Tuco's collector's board http://www.mosin-nagant.net/ and someone will be able to tell you if that's some of the problem ammo.

good luck! erich
 
It is albanian. Great, now I'll have to get a 91/30 to shoot it from. (will cost about the same as a can of ammo ironically).
I did have poodleshooter measure the rims and they were within specs so that's odd that they don't work well.
Thanks for the info.
 
MS:I thought you bought the Tula 7.62x54??? Brainfart on my part I guess.
The rims did vary quite a bit in thickness. Still, even if the rims were too thick, why would they ever chamber? MS was able to chamber all of them if they were placed in a "controlled" feed type scenario, where they were already held by the extractor before chambering. They just don't chamber during regular feeding or a "drop-in" scenario. It seems almost as if the extractor can't snap over.
Oh, MS one more idea-try "pushing" the extractor forward towards the front of the bolt-just a little bit. I think it may be protruding away from the bolt when it can't fully snap over the thickness of the rims. If the claw is pushed slightly further forward from the boltface, it may be able to snap over a larger rim thickness. OTOH, if the barrel is snugging the extractor claw back against the rim, that may not be an option. Worth a try anyway.
 
I found that some of my Albanian rounds would chamber in my 91/59 the second or third time I ran them through the magazine. Some wouldn't. A number of Tucovites emailed me to tell me it was the rims, and the one's that wouldn't chamber had goofy rims. All Albanian rounds worked fine in my 91/30s, if you count split necks, etc., as fine. There's a thread over at Tuco's about squib problems people are having with the Albanian stuff.

After the wonderful Russian stuff I've been using, this is irritating!
 
I can get 90% of the rounds to chamber now if I close the bolt just so. I should have spent the extra $10/case and bought the russian stuff, huh. Next time I will know.
On the other hand, I finally had a chance to put the M44 on paper this morning. With out any sight adjustment, it shot a 5in group at 100 yards just a few inches high of point of aim. Since the 5in is about the best that I can do with iron sights on any high power, I'm impressed with the gun.
BTW, I wasn't aware that the Albanian was steel cored but when I checked out the steel plate that I was also shooting at, there they were (picked one up and it made my skin sizzle).
 
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