JBial said:
Do I ever need to use the heavy oil that came with it or am I safe with regular lube? I plan on using non corrosive ammo with it. Also, I haven't found a 7.62 bore snake yet, what would be a comparable size to use? .308? And is it even okay to use a bore snake on this rifle?
You don't need to use the heavy oil. It's fine to just use Hoppes Oil, RemOil, or whatever oil you find works best for you.
.308 is the Bore Snake you're looking for and it will be fine to use in the Mosin.
modrummer said:
I just shot mine for the first time the other day and it definitely has a sticky bolt. Is there a fix for this?
Yep! Sticky bolts are generally caused by cosmoline on the bolt or in the receiver. The first step is to boil any metal parts you can fit in a pot for a good 10 minutes, pull them out, and wipe them off. You should see the oil (that's the cosmoline) in the pot as you boil them. This will not harm any metal parts as long as you dry them properly and cosmo isn't toxic, but clean your pans well unless you want cosmo-flavored bacon... which wouldn't actually be that bad...
You will also need to do this to the barrel, which is very long and includes the receiver. The best way I've found to do this is to set your hot water heater on the highest setting possible, wait for it to kick off (that way you know it's reached that temperature), then give your barrel and receiver a hot shower. The water will be HOT, I had to wear insulated gloves and it was still hot. But this will melt the cosmoline off the barrel and because it's so hot, all the cosmo that's leaked into the nooks and tiny scratches of the receiver. Do this until you can look down the barrel and don't see too much cosmo. This might take a while, so give yourself some time.
Another way to do this is with mineral spirits/paint thinner. It's much quicker but not everyone has access to it.
If you still have a sticky bolt (it's most evident after a few shots in rapid succession cuz the cosmo heats up and expands), there is a video that will damn sure fix your problem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXC_PQkLkNA In my opinion the video is a little overkill for the issue, but if you really don't like sticky bolts, there ya go