Mosin Nagant bolt movement

[Jguid54]

I just picked up my first Mosin Nagant 1891/30. I have some work to do to this gun before I can shoot it, mostly removing the cosmoline. I was just wondering if the bolt movement on my gun is normal, check out the video. Let me know what you think, thanks guys.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcgEr8Io2Mo[/ame]

 

[James Cannon]

Absolutely.

And if you pull the trigger while it's back like that, it'll fall right out

Nothing to worry about unless it jiggles like that after you lock it in to fire!

 

[sandman7925]

Whats "cosmoline"? Really don't know.

 

[cheese]

Mmmm. I don't think that mine wobbles like that, but I'll try it when I get home.

 

[dwr461]

The bolt was too far the rear in my opinion. It looked like it was past the stop. My bolt only comes out that far if I pull the trigger while it's in the most rear position. This is how you remove the bolt.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/russianmosin189130/index.asp

Read this website and make sure cosmo isn't stuck somewhere.

What's interesting about cosmo the more you know about it the move you realize every country has a slightly different version of it. I bet candyman can tell you what country cosmo came from by it's smell.

Dave

 

[bs875]

Normal.

I strip the rifle down as much as possible and then boil all of the parts. Don't boil in a pot you use for food obviously. I wipe down the stock since I wouldn't boil that for obvious reasons. Also take the bolt apart to clean it.

http://www.gunpics.net/russian/m9130/mnboltdis.html

 

[Grandpa23]

I just got a 91/30 a couple weeks ago. Mine wobbles like that also but it locks down tightly. I believe that is normal for these guns.

 

[cheese]

Just checked mine at home. That's normal. Happy shooting.

 

[5.45 Shooter]

Since you just picked up your first Mosin Nagant there is a link that you need to put in your favorites it will give you more info on Mosin's than any other site.
Great link.

http://7.62x54r.net/

 

[James Cannon]

Honestly, with all the info that people have painstakingly compiled on that site... I can't believe there'd be any questions need asking.

I've never had anything come up I wasn't able to find on their vast resource of info.

 

[Jguid54]

Alright, so the bolt movement IS normal. Today I boiled some water, disassembled entire gun and scrubbed all the cosmoline off. There's a gun show in Lake Charles this weekend I'm going to see if they're selling any 7.62x54r and if I can find some I'll visit the Sherburne range on my way back to Baton Rouge. Only problem is that I have not had the head space checked yet. Does anyone know where I can have this done? I looked online for the gauges they looked pretty expensive, especially for something I'll never use again.....Thanks for the helpful info

 

[cheese]

From what I've read, headspace is normally only an issue if the bolt serial number DOESN'T match the receiver number.

 

[Pale Horse]

I'd think that if the Ivans are going to the trouble of pulling them out of storage and refinishing them, they would take 3 seconds each to check them with the arsenal guages.

 

[Grandpa23]

Alright, so the bolt movement IS normal. Today I boiled some water, disassembled entire gun and scrubbed all the cosmoline off. There's a gun show in Lake Charles this weekend I'm going to see if they're selling any 7.62x54r and if I can find some I'll visit the Sherburne range on my way back to Baton Rouge. Only problem is that I have not had the head space checked yet. Does anyone know where I can have this done? I looked online for the gauges they looked pretty expensive, especially for something I'll never use again.....Thanks for the helpful info

I hadn't planned on checking my head space, mainly because I don't have a guage and because the rifle appears to be fine. I don't know anyone who would have one, either. I did adjust the firing pin protrution though, and I STRONGLY recommend anyone with a weapon like this to do the same thing.

 

[Jguid54]

From what I've read, headspace is normally only an issue if the bolt serial number DOESN'T match the receiver number.

That seems to make sense, all my numbers match so I'm not really going to worry about it. Now After reassembling the gun, after completely removing all the cosmoline, I'm noticing that the trigger has no spring tension to keep it place. The trigger shakes when i shake the gun, it didn't do this before...Take a look...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUBnbshWhws[/ame]

Don't want to come off as paranoid, I just don't want my firearm to be dangerous especially because others will be shooting this gun.

 

[Jguid54]

you can pick up the 440 round spam can of the corrosive stuff for under $100 shipped at aimsurplus. i've gone through half a can without any trouble at all. however i started spending a little more cash on the non-corrosive stuff because it's easier to clean

I was hoping the gun show would have some of the surplus ammo at the same price aimsurpulus offers. I don't want to wait for it to ship, I want to shoot this thing now. I read somewhere that all 7.62x54r was corrosive. Who makes it?

 

[Jguid54]

does your trigger have play in it like in the video i posted?

 

[Grandpa23]

That seems to make sense, all my numbers match so I'm not really going to worry about it. Now After reassembling the gun, after completely removing all the cosmoline, I'm noticing that the trigger has no spring tension to keep it place. The trigger shakes when i shake the gun, it didn't do this before...Take a look...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUBnbshWhws

Don't want to come off as paranoid, I just don't want my firearm to be dangerous especially because others will be shooting this gun.

My trigger has almost 1/4" of "play/slack" in it. I'm pretty sure that's normal. I'm a bit scared to pull the trigger at the range for the first time also, but its as clean as I can get it and I was very very careful as to how I took it apart and put it back together. I may just pull the trigger the first time with live ammo without my face near the rifle.... just in case.

Someone told me that some fool somehow broke the bolt handle off of his. (I can't imagine that happening.) So he welded a screwdriver in place of the bolt handle. When he fired the gun, the screwdriver or weld broke and the back of the bolt hit him just below his eye causing severe damage. Supposedly had several face surgeries since then. I find this story hard to believe, but we are dealing with ignorant humans at times. LOL

That doesn't make sense anyway because its not the bolt handle that keeps the bolt from traveling backwards under pressure.

 

[Grandpa23]

i picked up a few hundred rounds of the non-corrosive barnaul soft points and haven't had any trouble yet. i know there are a few other manufacturers of non-corrosive ammo. i think only the old military surplus stuff is corrosive

http://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=7122&dir=18|830|853

^^^ This is what I got also, but only a couple boxes of 20ea. to try it out. If all is well, I'll get some more.

 

[hornetguy]

I've used milsurp ammo, declared to be "mildly corrosive" with no ill effects, but I cleaned it pretty thoroughly after shooting.
I also bought a couple hundred rounds of the S&B 180gr softpoints when the price was still low. Brass, boxer primed... shoot great out of my carbine. Usually get 1-1/2" groups at 50yds with my 50-something yr old presbiopic eyesight.
I wouldn't hesitate to use it for hunting anything short of moose, as long as the range wasn't excessive.. not many moose in Texas, though. If I could figure out how to mount a scope on it, it'd be an almost perfect beater hunting rifle. (of course I'd have to put some kind of recoil pad on that metal clad 2X4 butt ) I've toyed with the idea of a scout scope type of thing, but haven't made it past the planning stages yet.
I've also shot some of the russian 204gr soft point stuff that is steel case, berdan primed. It shoots well, also, but has a little more thump when the trigger is pulled.