New 91/30 Mosin

[m11/nine]

I just got my first C&R gun a nice mosin 91/30 rifle that is beautiful on the outside, it doesn't look like it was used much during the war. It is a 1932 hex receiver.

when I went to clean the barrel I noticed when I put a tight patch in at the muzzle for the first 6 inches or so the patch wil go in easier then the barrel gets tighter, we are only talking about a few hundreths of an inch but I know the last 6 inches or so are not the same diameter as the rest of the barrel because how hard it is to push the patch once I get past that 6 inches.

I am sure this will affect accuracy but how much? will I be able to hit a target at 50 yards? It is not unsafe, just a little wider.

Is this common? I only paid $70 for the gun so I cant complain, it is beautiful on the outside and the rest of the barrel looks great, Is this from years of shooting corrosive ammo?

Also I noticed when I push the patch through the patch comes out coated in a grey waxy film, is this normal?
Thanks for the help.

 

[tooldawg99]

The coating is cosmoline: it is used to keep metal in long-term storage from rusting and corroding. Your rifle should have been generously coated in it, from top to bottom. The good news is, the metal is in great shape... the bad news is, it ALL has to be removed. Not a real major task, but you will want to clean the bore and reciever several times using a good penetrating oil and solvent. You will also notice that the wood will need a good cleaning as well, since the general task was to grease it up completely, regardless of whether it was wood or metal.

A few hours and you should be ready to hit the range!

As for the barrel, you may want to get a plug for the end of the barrel, pour in solvent or a combo penetrating oil/bore cleaner, and let the barrel soak for a day. Then go after it with a brass bristle brush. That will remove all the rust, cosmoline, and any traces of brass from former shooting. Once your patches come out pretty clean, you will know you are done!

Enjoy the rifle: it should be a blast to shoot for generations to come!

 

[ar15chase]

I have several of these, very fun to shoot, and all of mine are acurate as any high end rifle I have. Just dont get into a hurry on you 1st cleaning it is going to take a while, there is 60 years of gunk in them.

 

[Mk VII]

Has it been counterbored? Many overhauled Soviet arms have.
You shouldn't be cleaning it from the front end anyway.

 

[DrLaw]

Has it been counterbored? Many overhauled Soviet arms have.

What he means by that is, if you look down the bore from the front (bolt out of the gun, please), do you see rifling right away, or is there a step inside the barrel before the rifling starts. Many rifles got worn near the muzzle end, so the response was to counterbore, or to drill a little ways down until there was solid rifling. It does not affect the accuracy and in some cases, will improve it from before. It is not a dangerous thing and your gun will be safe to shoot.

Welcome to the world of Mosin-Nagant. Although this is a great forum, you might also want to check out www.surplusrifleforum.com , which is a forum strictly for surplus military guns, and they have years worth of M-N info there.

The Doc is out now.

 

[DrLaw]

Once your patches come out pretty clean, you will know you are done!

And then, once you shoot it, you will find even more dirt than you think you should from the number of shots you made. We're not kidding about the amount of dirt those barrels hold. Shooting it after cleaning for the first time releases even more dirt!

Also, a good copper solvent would be a plus to use on the gun.

Finally, something else not mentioned. A lot of surplus M-N ammo (7.62 x 54R) is corrosive. Shoot some Windex with Ammonia down the barrel when cleaning it. Kills the corrosive element.

The Doc is out now, again.