The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Well I'm sure most of you remember my Old post about the issues with my M38 and Tula 91/30. Well after months of waiting on the gunsmith everything was taken care of. Turns out the M38 didnt have the orignal Bolt head so it had 2 little headspace. On top of that it had a peace of shell fused to the chamber causeing all kinds of issues. The gunsmith adjust the headspace and cleared everything out and Sure enough the M38 works like a charm now.

I then turned my attention to the 91/30 which refused to cycle any rounds. I had only given it a light cleaning and someone suggested Cosmoline might be the issue. Cleaned for several hours and sure enough she is alive and kicking as well.

So we decided to go to the range this morning. My 2 Mosins, my Kahr 9mm, my brothers AR.22 and 6 other handguns, my other brothers AK47,AK74u,AR15, and 3 handguns.... (when we go, we GOOOOOOOOO all out). SO everyone is shooting their modern rifles and I'm watching as I load up the M38. I line up on my Lane, Pull back and BOOOM, insane fireball, my 2 brothers look over from their lanes to make sure I'm still alive, and not missing anything. I should say this is an Indoor range and with the exception of the targets and the booth, most of it is poorly lit. so this giant fireball was lighting up the Rifle side of the range. Even the AK47 wasn't kicking up a fireball like that. Needless to say they all wanted a shot at it, and I let them have their fun with it. I pulled out the 91/30 loaded it up and let my younger brother shoot it (he is 5'2" at most is it was funny to watch him shoot it. )

So as were having a good old time shootin geverything. This guy walks up to me and asks me about the M38 and all that jazz. He tells me he was a Marine Sniper and Vietnam.My entire fam. is Millitary, so I quickly stike a bond with him and hand him the m38 and some ammo and tell him to have at it. As were leaving the guy is in the parking lot, and were talking again and he tells me how happy he is to see a "young" person into something other than modern guns. he says "theses new plastic guns are great but your mosins, Einefields, M1, and guns of that era can never be replaced." I told him that getting both mosins fix, I spent about the same as an AR15 would have cost me, but I like the fact that I'm holding a peace of history.

So he says you know what I've got something for you., Its been sitting in the back of my truck for years and I'm sure you would appreciate it.... so he searches for a few moments and then pulls out this old beat up looking Browning. BL .22 Rifle. And when i say beat up I mean Rusty, wood splitting, finish coming off, the works, think what you would find if someone forgot a rifle in the barn for 5 years.

He hands it to me and says enjoy. So needless to say I've got a new project.


BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, THINGS ARE FINNALLY STARTING TO GO RIGHT FOR ME.

Last AR I sold was a Colt SP! and brought me near two grand a few years back during, I hope you didn't have to spend that much fixing two Mosins Good to hear that you have them all squared away

Junk Yard Dog wrote:Last AR I sold was a Colt SP! and brought me near two grand a few years back during, I hope you didn't have to spend that much fixing two Mosins Good to hear that you have them all squared away

sry....... used AR i ment. around here they go for $500-$600. ALL DAY.

$275 for the M38,
$129 for the 91/30
$200 in gunsmithing
$100 in extras, snap caps, headspace kit, cleaning kits etc.

Glad you finally got this settled. I was starting to wonder. Now the next thing is that Browning. You have to take before and after pictures and do a project thread. You know you aren't just going to get to come in here and tell us about that and not get asked for pictures Jaime. ;)

THAT IS GREAT NEWS Z!!!!! Glad you finally got out to shoot that damned gun!! Cool

Glad you are finally up and running Jaime. Hope things keep getting better.

That is a good report. Ah forget about the money. You learned a good deal and education isn't usually free. The important thing is you came out the winner here and didn't give up and sell the Mosins. I remember how discouraged you were getting that gunsmith runaround. You know more about the Mosin because of it. If you see this problem again it is likely that you will know what to do too. Congrats on the Browning. That is a worthwhile rifle to fix back up.

Congrats. Think of all the money you could have saved with one little headspace gauge from OKIE.

Thanks everyone,

I do agree on the fact that I learned alot. I now feel like an "expert" with these mosins, as I've taken it apart and tried so many things with them.

Last year I bought an SPI for $1,500 and things have looked up ever since! Maybe its good luck to move one around!-Steve

What is a SPI?

Colt SP1, the first generation of the AR15-M16 platform, the originals had no forward assist, but one was soon added.

Definately sounds like a good day, as others have said we need before and after pics!

Apparently some AR companies still make receiver uppers in the old style with out the assist. I could see it for a historical recreation, but I think sons of guns/ red jacket built some with it a season or two ago for some tactical wanna be just to save weight. I would rather have an once or two added to an M16 that enjures she will function reliably then forsake it for weight reduction! And that tidbit of knowledge comes from actual field experiance.

Semper Fi, Rob

bunkysdad wrote:What is a SPI?

HA!! I was wondering the same thing but didn't want to sound like a noob asking. LMAO Glad you asked. Had me wondering.

Jamie, I am really glad you got that worked out. I felt lousy about your situation and was really pulling for you.

You said the smith adjusted the headspace? Short of replacing the bolt head with another, how did he "adjust" anything?



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BostonMike wrote:You said the smith adjusted the headspace? Short of replacing the bolt head with another, how did he "adjust" anything?



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Good question.. I was thinking the same thing. How is head space adjusted?

With a Reamer, he already had to use it to get the shell chunk out, and I looks like my Bolt had a wrong head on it, so he reamed it out until it matched with that head. (at least thats what I assume).

Headspace is not about the chamber or bolthead diamater. It it the distance between the face of the bolt and the face of the chamber. Short of changing bolt heads or in the case of one of my Enfields, the bolt body, re-setting the barrel to to change chamber size to add or reduce that space is the only thing I know of to change headspace. I would really investigate and ask what he did.

Did you gunsmith test fire it?