The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Anyone with more experience than me (newb) care to evaluate the bore condition on my M39? Its had quite a bit of Hoppes and some cr-10. Still pulling some light blue and gray.


Any comments are greatly appreciated.

That's pitting from use of corrosive primed ammunition that wasn't cleaned right away. Fairly typical in WW2 era and older military rifles that have seen years of war, most far worse than that, think craters of the moon worse. Not likely to do much to the accuracy unless seriously bad at muzzle or chamber area. What it does do is retain powder fouling in the pits making cleaning a bit more of a chore. When you shoot military surplus ammo that is commonly available for these rifles run some hot water down the pipe before normal cleaning with solvents to flush out any salts. NRA guidelines for antique rifle condition discount bore condition entirely as immaterial, as it is assumed historic collectables aren't going to be fired. Sometimes you get spotless bore, sometimes rotten tube, most of the time it's in the middle someplace like yours. Don't worry about it, shoot it if you want, clean it afterward, and then oil it for storage ( remove oil before firing it next time)

Finn39 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 9:41 am Anyone with more experience than me (newb) care to evaluate the bore condition on my M39? Its had quite a bit of Hoppes and some cr-10. Still pulling some light blue and gray.


Any comments are greatly appreciated.

I have a Polish M44 that has a sewer pipe for a bore and it still shoots great. You're most likely going to continue to pull patches that have residue on them because all those little pits are hard to completely clean. If you're shooting corrosively primed surplus just make sure you clean it good after shooting with hot water down the bore to remove as much of the salts as possible so it doesn't get worse. A good thick gun oil in the bore between shooting will help keep anything left behind from causing more pitting.

I'm shooting ppu 182 gr fmj commercial non-corrosive. Don't plan on anything with corrosive primers. The only change up would be a lighter commercial, 174 or 148, find out what it likes. Not set up or qualified yet for loading.

Any thoughts on the crown? Not a good pic? Is there something non-destructive I could do to smooth it out where it meets the rifling?

And....thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Finn39 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:04 pm I'm shooting ppu 182 gr fmj commercial non-corrosive. Don't plan on anything with corrosive primers. The only change up would be a lighter commercial, 174 or 148, find out what it likes. Not set up or qualified yet for loading.

After a few dozen rounds the pitting might fill in with copper some and improve accuracy a little more. Just use patches when you clean for a few hundred rounds. It would be cool to see bore pics to compare to these after you shoot it a while

steelbuttplate wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:32 am

Finn39 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:04 pm I'm shooting ppu 182 gr fmj commercial non-corrosive. Don't plan on anything with corrosive primers. The only change up would be a lighter commercial, 174 or 148, find out what it likes. Not set up or qualified yet for loading.

After a few dozen rounds the pitting might fill in with copper some and improve accuracy a little more. Just use patches when you clean for a few hundred rounds. It would be cool to see bore pics to compare to these after you shoot it a while

Nope, I've tried that with a few thousand rounds in pitted bores without filling in anything that didn't come out with cleaning. Just shoot it, clean it as you would any rifle when done and don't worry about the bore.

I never bought any milsurp with the expectation of a clean bore, if I git a clean bore then it was a pleasant surprise, if not then OK, that's what you get when buying a piece of history. If I got a pitted bore in a new commercial sported I would raise all sorts of hell, but then I am paying for a new bore in such a rifle.

Have you shot it yet? It may still shoot as good as you do. Don't go reprofiling the crown unless you want to cut the value of your rifle in half.

I don't want to make any changes if I don't have to. Once I get several rounds through (5 to test function to date) and get used to the rifle I'll start with non destructive tuning techniques. There were no shims and almost 0 rock at tang and the paper test puts contact at the front barrel band so its not floated. I guess my question is to experienced eyes whether the crown as pictured is an obvious problem.

This is the rifle in question.

Finn39 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 9:41 am Anyone with more experience than me (newb) care to evaluate the bore condition on my M39?

According to 1947 and 1978 Finnish Defence Forces regulations, the overall bore condition is around 2-3. The scale goes from 0 (or 1) to 4, where 0 (or 1) is best possible. However, some parts of the bore might be in better condition that others. Finnish Defence Forces recognised the overall condition alone is not a very good measurement of the "usefulness" of the barrel. They were more concern of other statistics, such as the calibre.

I've recently discovered WipeOut that made some very hard to clean bores an easy chore. Fun to see the bright blue patch and then the dark grey patches finally come out clean. If you really want to scare yourself about bore condition, pick up a Teslong bore scope. It's an amazing tool that will let you really see what's going on inside the bore.

Like was said above, it's from corrosive ammo. I have several that have pitted bores and they still are good shooters. Clean it, but don't obsess over the bore too much if you're still on paper at 100 yards.