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Yep...another Mosin sticky bolt thread

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  deingy 
#1 ·
I cleaned my Mosin thoroughly, spending the better part of two days on it. There's no cosmoline on it anywhere that I can find. I've put 60 rounds of Wolf 148gr ammo through it, and then another 60-70 rounds of Silver Bear 174gr ammo through it before the bolt started to stick. I haven't found any evidence of burrs in the chamber--the casings come out clean. Before the last range session, I had a total of 140 rounds through the gun, with only the last few starting to show issues. This last range session, I got through 4 rounds of the Silver Bear ammo before I got fed up with it.

I understand the different causes that may be behind it, and I may just need to find that small molehill of cosmoline that is causing a mountain of issues. But my question is this: why would it take 120+ rounds before the bolt started sticking? Shouldn't it have become an issue almost right away if that were the reason for the bolt sticking? Maybe I just need to get the headspace checked (another note: the firing pin seems to be just right...no light strikes, no primer punctures, no case bulges).
 
#3 ·
does the ammo you have been shooting have a lacquer or similar type coating on it by chance?

I've had a good clean Mosin do that after shooting ammo with lacquer costing on it
it was fine as long as I didn't let the gun cool down with a spent casing in the chamber.
If I was shooting and the gun got hot and I stopped and let it cool with the last round still in the chamber, it would be very hard to work the bolt in order to get it out. As it cools the coating can set up like glue
 
#4 ·
did you strip the bolt? sometime cosmo hides hard untill gun gets hot, then runs.


when you say bolt is sticky, as in hard to run the bolt?

will it run unloaded?

will it run fine one round at a time, or only hanging with the mag with more than 1 round in it?

matching bolt? force matched bolt? unmatched bolt?

what do fired cases look like compaired to unfired?

any bulging at the throat?
 
#5 ·
You may have these items already, but if not and you take apart your bolt, you may want them.
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Mosin Nagant Tools
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Mosin Nagant Headspace go, no-go Gauge
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mosin-Nagan...260?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35cc91745c
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Russian Mosin Nagant M 44 91/30 Firing Pin Protrusion Gauge
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russian-Mos...915?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a9469b5a3
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Check out: http://www.surplusfirearm.com/2012/03/23/mosin-nagant-bolt-disassembly-reassembly/ on the bolt firing pin protrusion gage.
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Here is a short blurb for the go no-go gage taken from amazon details:
In simple terms, headspace is the clearance allowed between the base of the cartridge case and the face of the bolt. Too little headspace and the bolt may not function correctly. Too much headspace may cause ruptured cases that can harm the gun and may cause personal injury and/or death. When purchasing a used firearm, it is very important to always check the headspace before firing it - especially surplus military rifles! Military surplus rifles have had thousands of rounds put through them and were often exposed to harsh use. You never know what kind of condition your gun may be in. It's best to play it safe and check the headspace.
 
#6 ·
to save money on a rim headspacer milsurp like a mosin. I think I'd just get a FIELD gauge.

go gauge is useless.. you can test that with a cartridge.

Field gauge will tell you if it is still safe to shoot.

Only way I'd buy a no go gauge is if i was building a gun and resetting headspace.

just my opinions..
 
#7 ·
I have all three, but probably because Todd at Okiegauges wanted a couple of my Mosin sight tools and offered to swap, lol.

I find that usually the hiding places for cosmo to be behind the locking tabs and in the extractor cutout groove inside the chamber. Both spots are difficult to get to in order to clean thoroughly, bending a Q-tip 180 degrees is about the only way to get behind where the bolt's locking tabs run. It's also difficult to get ''all'' the cosmoline out of everywhere, best bet is to bring cleaning supplies along and once it starts getting sticky, take the time to do a quick cleaning on it, repeat as necessary.
 
#8 ·
Since headspace and cosmoline have been covered, I think you may want to clean the chamber/rim area to remove any buildup of lacquer coating from the steel cased ammo you have been firing. Lacquer can build up as it melts/deposits and since it is a clear material it is not noticeable. Use a good solvent.
Or, it is my opinion that some rifles just plain like light ball ammo and will give the sticky bolt symptoms when fired with heavy bullet ammo. I have 2 Mosins, a 91-30 and a m44 that just do not like heavy ball; they will fire any of the light ball surplus I can shove in them but will act up like spoiled children if I shoot heavy rounds.
 
#11 ·
The old and unsafe(because of lack of commonsense)way to clean cosmoline real quick and it works-tray with gasoline-drop rifle(minus wood)swish around-rinse-do again.I watched my Grandfather do this a couple of times-very clean when done.He looked at me and said-"NEVER do this".
 
#12 ·
i've done that with mineral spirits, kerosene or diesel.

i used to have a pvc tube that was big enough to set most bbld actions into ( 3" or 4" ) one end was glued cap, the other end was a screw on cap. put in an action, swish, let set a day, swish more, open up, , pull action out and let hang with a wire to drip for a while.
 
#13 ·
I had that problem too
saw a you tube video from a guy Iraqveteran8888 he does a lot of mosin videos
one of the fixes he gives for sticky bolt is to chuck up a old length of cleaning rod in a drill
put on a 12gauge brush and wrap it with a patch then smear on some JB non-embedding bore cleaner
then get it in the chamber and get all the cozmoline crud out
he says the old cozmoline cooks in the chamber and if you don't get it all out it will cause
sticky bolt helped mine just make sure you clean all that stuff out after wards
it does have some grit in it so clean the bajeezess out of it
 
#14 ·
My new Polish 44 Carbine bolt solution.
Symptoms: Fresh round chambered and extracted smoothly with no marks on casing.
Fired round locked bolt so tight that I bruised palm rotating bolt. Casing looked good.
Next fired round a little easier to rotate bolt. Progressively easier as more rounds fired.
The next time out the same bolt problem with the first few rounds.
Solution: 20 ga bore brush on short section of rod chucked in a battery drill using automotive
polishing compound for a non-flammable mild solvent/abrasive.
Scrubbed the fire out of the chamber/lug area and then cleaned up the mess.
No more problem. The gun looked clean out of the box but there had to have been cosmoline in the chamber area heating up and sticking the casing to the chamber wall until I got it hot enough to no longer hold.
Gun Black Grey Trigger Air gun
 
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