The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

So SOME of you may remember me from a long time ago with the M38 I got giving me fits and then a 91/30 after also giving me issues.

I think In the thread I posted that we finally got the m38 fixed and I was able to put a few round through it to make sure it worked.

Well after a LONG wait I finally made it out to an Outdoor range that would allow me to shoot the Mosin and all the different types of ammo I had acquired (most of the ranges in my area are for handguns only).

So....

After 100 rounds, I had 0 issues (other than staying on the target, but that was just me learning her). I was surprised to see a few other shooters out with MN's at the range, 91/30s and what looked like a type 53 (could have been an m44 with a beat up stock). Not to bash on the others but Mine was CLEARLY much nicer than any of the ones I eyeballed I was sooo proud!

A group of us ended up going to the range together so we loaded up my car with everything.... AK47 rifle, AK47 pistol, browning BL22, AR15, Walther p22, And I threw my Carbon 15AR, Bersa .380 and the MN into the car just for fun.

We all took turns trying out each others "toys" and the general consensus after shooting the M38 was "that thing makes you feel like a man after you shoot it," and "holy crap I'm like 3 feet behind him and I can feel it in my chest." I was shocked when My Carbon 15 (appears to have ) broke the extractor spring after only 100 rounds. Dooming it to go back in the box. And we kept on shooting the Mosin. (granted we all regretted it a few hours later when our shoulder were purple. )

SO Good part she shoots 100% great, and is a BLAST.

BAD PART AND I'M LOOKING FOR HELP....
Part of the "makes you feel like a man" thing is that the BOLT is not smooth at all, you really have to get on it for it to cycle. I'm 300+LBS so I throw some weight on it and it works fine for me, but my cousin was only 170 lbs and he was smacking the bolt to get it to open and smacking it to close. The running joke was "come on man, get angry with her, man up." Its nothing CRAZY like you need 2 hands to close the bolt or anything like that, its just not smooth.

After shooting we cleaned all the guns and I took the bolt apart, knowing that this was the most action this baby has seen in at least 30 years, I figured any residual Cosmonline would be oozing out by now... to my surprise I found none.

So the question I'm asking is.... how do I smooth out the action on it without messing with any of the "original" parts on it. (its all numbers matching, and I don't want to harm any of the value it may have).

Again I know I'm not a super active member but Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way I'm now 100% in love with my MN.

You use it, these rifles were put together after the refurb with a bunch of parts that hadn't been together before. LIke a new pair or shoes it takes time to wear all the parts back together. Military rifles were never designed to have smooth actions, some exceptions like the Krag , but for the most part military bolt rifles require a firm hand.

It could be suffering from a bout of Sticky Bolt... The chamber has minute amounts of grease that flash freezes the spent round into the chamber which makes it difficult to open the bolt & extract the spent round. Consider pulling on the cocking piece to re-cock the bolt... This makes it much easier to operate the bolt after firing a round.

But a good cleaning of the chamber would help. Also, examine the spent rounds to ensure there are no scratches which would indicate a burr.

Here's more info on how to deal with sticky bolt.

sticky_bolt

Well, As long as its normal I'll leave it as is.

Now the question is... should I really be shooting it? with All this Russia... are they really not being imported anymore? Would shooting it decrease the value?