The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I bought a Beautiful M44 last year and some Bulgarian surplus to go with it. It was relatively cosmoline free, but I went ahead and ran some mineral spirits down the bore anyway. On my first range trip, I got about 10 rounds in before the bolt would no longer open. I had to take the rifle home with an empty case in the chamber and hit the bolt handle with a mallet to get it to move.

So, I did the boiling water thing. Next range trip, same results.

Next I tried MORE mineral spirits combined with a shotgun bore brush in a cordless drill.

Next range trip, same results.

Then my friend said, "Why don't you try some of my brass case ammo and see if that helps?" He handed me 20 rounds and I ran it quickly without any issues at all.

I quickly learned that it was because of the lacquered ammo I was using, so the 400 rounds I had left was basically useless to me.

My question to y'all experienced guys is, how do I buy surplus without getting more lacquered stuff?

Call up your dealer and ask them if that is what they have. Make sure to talk to someone who knows. You may have to email some shops though. I am not sure which have it and which don't, But i bet ol weldon hunter does.

thanks desdem12. Have you ever ordered from SGAmmo.com?

Mineral spirts will not cut lacquer from the chamber. Use a good gun cleaner with that 20 ga. brush and shoot anything you want. See cleaning proceedures on the main page. What you described is a common problem called "sticky bolt" and it has happened to almost all of us.

I thought for sure that it was sticky bolt syndrome, but standard brass ammo shoots perfectly. Would that be the case if there was still cosmo in the chamber?

You start reloading your own brass case rounds or get used to paying high prices for commercial loads or surplus Yugo brass case surplus

I have used SGAmmo a few times and i highly recommend them. If you need to ask them anything just send an email and they will get back to you.

Maybe you just need an aggressive chamber cleaning (without abrasives) and a change in ammo. I shoot the Bulgarian surplus in both my M44s and a M38. I have had good luck with it. It is not lacquer coated cases; it is copper-washed steel case and feeds through my carbines with ease. The Bulgarian headstamp 10 over 80 shoots just about as good as the Russian light ball. I also shoot brass case handloads (PPU brass) and the action is even smoother.

I had one M91/30 with sticky bolt syndrome. Once I got the chamber clean and started shooting the copper-washed steel case surplus (Russian) ammo, I had no further problems. I avoid modern lacquer coat cases such as Brown Bear or Wolf.

tjtM38 wrote:Maybe you just need an aggressive chamber cleaning (without abrasives) and a change in ammo. I shoot the Bulgarian surplus in both my M44s and a M38. I have had good luck with it. It is not lacquer coated cases; it is copper-washed steel case and feeds through my carbines with ease. The Bulgarian headstamp 10 over 80 shoots just about as good as the Russian light ball. I also shoot brass case handloads (PPU brass) and the action is even smoother.

I had one M91/30 with sticky bolt syndrome. Once I got the chamber clean and started shooting the copper-washed steel case surplus (Russian) ammo, I had no further problems. I avoid modern lacquer coat cases such as Brown Bear or Wolf.

Yeah this. Most all of the surplus is copper washed steel. No lacquer or polymer coating on any that I've seen. This is most of the surplus that's been made from the start and I don't see any of it that's Polymer or Lacquer coated. It's all either BC (Brass Cased) or CWSC (Copper Washed Steel Cased) http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmoID01.htm The stuff Sam At SGAmmo has listed is either Russian or Bulgarian but it's Copper Washed. Trust me if it was anything other than that he'd have it listed that way. He knows 54R ammo. http://www.sgammo.com/product/surplus/8 ... rplus-ammo

Are you sure it was Lacquer or Poly Coated? Did it look like what's in the SGAmmo ad? Do you have any of the spent cases you could take a picture of the show us? I'd be curious to see them. Oh and did it come in a tin?