Mosin Nagant M44 Problems

S

SC4006

New member
Hello all,

So I picked up a pretty decent Mosin Nagant M44 a few days ago at my LGS. It didn't really have any cosmoline on it, but I thoroughly cleaned it anyways. Today I took it out to fire it for the first time, and had some problems with it. The first is that it is kind of hard to close the bolt on a round. It closes fine without a round in the chamber, but with one you have to apply a good bit of pressure to get it to close. The biggest issue is unlocking the bolt and extracting after firing. I guess it has a pretty bad case of sticky bolt syndrome, as I've heard some people call it. For a couple of rounds I had to hit the bolt handle against my shooting table just to get it unlocked.

Now I know it isn't a cosmoline problem. As I said it didn't really come with any anyways, but I dumped boiling water down the barrel before firing as a precaution. I have an idea as to what it is though. Every fired case has the same exact mark on them near the rim, and I'm thinking there is a metal bur on the mouth of the chamber that is shaving metal off the cases, and making them difficult to extract. I also tried just dropping a round in the chamber, but it didn't just drop right in, I had to push it with my finger to get it to chamber all the way, so there is definitely some resistance.

Now, I'm no stranger to mosins, I've had a 91/30 for a few years. It's just that the 91/30 came right out of the crate with an awesome action, so I didn't have to touch it at all. Since I didn't have to work on that one, I am not quite sure what the best methods are for fixing the problems I am having with this one. If it is fact a bur in the chamber, whats the best way to fix that? Also, if you guys have any general advice on how to make the action a little smoother, that would be great as well.
 
I'd use a bronze brush with a patch wrapped around it so it fits fairly tight in the chamber, and polish it with Flitz metal polish, using a drill to spin it

If you can feel a burr on the chamber edge, you may be able to file it (LIGHTLY) just enough to remove the burr
 
First, clean the chamber. Second place a snap cap or fired casing and clip it in the bolt. Under the extractor. Insert the bolt in the rifle and lock it up. If the bolt closes with no resistance, it's a problem with your extractor. This can be remedied by smoothing out your extractor with sandpaper or a Dremel. I used a Dremel for mine and got it closing with minimal resistance. For opening the bolt on a fired casing, if it's hard to open, disassemble your bolt and take your spring. Smooth out any rough places and cut a coil off of it until the bolt works smoothly. I had to cut 4 coils off mine, it could stand for another one but it's fine where it is. Next, polish and grease all contact surfaces on the bolt with sandpaper and RIG or something (don't use lithium). Finally, polish a bit on the camming surfaces and make sure your locking lug recesses are clean and free of debris. If you need any help, please PM me, I've spent a month or two just trying to get my bolt work smooth on mine, and succeeded.

Edit: the extractor should have no burrs on the face or underside.
 
If you're certain the chamber is spotless, including the lug raceways...
and there's no issue running the bolt without ammo...

It's unusual to have a problem chambering a round on a cold bore. "Sticky bolt syndrome" occurs only when the chamber is hot, and is due to residual cosmoline "cooking" (liquefying) out of machining and other imperfections in the front of the action in the raceways.

You say it's hard to close the bolt on a cold bore, with a round in the chamber.
You also say it's more of an issue with hard bolt lift and extraction after firing.

You say the cases are marked (from a burr, you think)- but hard extraction in itself will cause the extractor to mark/gouge a case.

Going out on a wild one here. Is the bolt serial number matching?

I've honestly never heard of it with a Mosin, but tight headspace with a rimmed cartridge will cause hard extraction. If the boltface is slammed tight to the back of the case- zero headspace- there is no room for the case head to expand and contract on firing and it will be difficult to extract.

If you have a mis-matched bolt, or even if the bolthead was changed at some point (the s/n could still match) this would be a remote possibility.

Normally I'd suggest trying to re-chamber a spent case, but if you're using steel case surplus it probably doesn't spring back like brass would.

An easy check would be to add a piece of cellophane package tape to the back of an unfired round (outdoors, proper safety precautions, natch) and see if the bolt closes. If doesn't, or is noticeable harder, I'm on the right track. One layer of tape should not reduce headspace enough to prevent the bolt from closing.
 
So kind of an update. I used a small round file and lightly filed the part of the chamber edge that appeared to have a burr, and it definitely made a difference. Now when I drop a round into the chamber (no bolt), it falls fully into place like it should without resistance, and falls out when I tip it. Before if I were to drop a round in, it wouldn't chamber all the way without forcing it. I still have to get the rifle out and test fire it again though.

tobnpr, The SN on the bolt does in fact match the receiver. The rounds I used were also steel cased, so I can't really use a fired casing to test anything as they are too hard to chamber. I tried what you said though. I put some tape on the bottom of a live round, and it didn't seem to affect it at all.
 
If it still gives you trouble, scrub the hell out of the chamber. A .45 brush may work well you may need something larger.
 
I always take an oversize bronze brush and chuck it up to a cordless drill, apply #9 liberally with a patch wrapped around the brush and spin it for a good long while. finish with some turtle wax polishing compound and it usually smooths things up nicely.

before doing anything, my mosins get a couple gallons of boiling water pored down the barrel, it melts away any possible cosmo hiding in the chatter marks.
 
dis-clarification

I used a bronze cleaning brush from a shotgun to scrub my chamber with hoppes 9. A lot. I used a drill and did the scrubbing several times.
I also ran a metric gallon of bike chain lube through my bolt. The stickey bolt stopped after that.
If there's a burr at the mouth of the chamber, is it possible that the receiver/barrel have been force matched? I'm glad that a little file work has gotten a smoother result, but the question hovering in the back of my mind is "how is the head spacing?"
 
If there's a burr at the mouth of the chamber, is it possible that the receiver/barrel have been force matched? I'm glad that a little file work has gotten a smoother result, but the question hovering in the back of my mind is "how is the head spacing?"
Click to expand...

Not related. A burr at the mouth of the chamber could have been caused by a soldier hacking away at it trying to clean something out, or ramming in a cleaning rod. If it's on the machined recess that the cartridge rim nests in, it could cause some issues because the case wouldn't seat properly.

Head spacing is easily checked with gauges, or for a somewhat non-scientific test as I mentioned above, add cellophane package tape in layers one at a time to the rim and see when the bolt offers resistance. Usually the tape is 2 thou in thickness, but check it if possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top