Mosin bolt hard to close on round

[LucasJF]

So I just recently got my first Mosin, did an entire cleaning job to get the leftover cosmoline off. Tried to chamber a round and it requires a large amount of force to push the bolt down(have to slap it really hard) Anyways I can improve the action so it becomes a little smoother?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[cosmic]

I think you have an ammo fit problem. Try some other ammo, or mark up the existing round with a magic marker.

 

[LucasJF]

what do you mean to mark it up?

 

[J.Hancock]

what do you mean to mark it up?

To see where it's engaging the chamber, presumably

 

[Webley No.5]

He means colour the entire round in with a sharpie then try to chamber the round, where the marker rubs off that’s where your interference is. Another thing you can try is clipping the round under the extractor on the bolt before trying to chamber it. Mosins are a push feed and the extractors can be stiff and maybe part of your problem

 

[SA85M1]

Hmmmm..inspect the chamber with a good light to be certain that there is no crud in there..Try a different brand of ammo,colouring up a cartridge with a sharpie might help tell you where the issue is,...

 

[tokguy]

20 gauge shotgun brush...copper wire.
Put it into 1 piece of a segmented cleaning rod. Put it into the chuck of a handheld drill.
Pull the bolt and run the spinning brush into you chamber from the rear.
That will clean it up... If this rifle is basically untouched since refurb...might be cosmoline dried in the chamber.
This will take that off the table.
If you don't have a drill, buy one. Any grown man of consequence needs a good cordless drill...man rules.

 

[LucasJF]

I tried your test of putting the round under the extractor, and it fed with ease every time, with no trouble in the bolt going down. So with that in mind, where do I go from here?

 

[LucasJF]

20 gauge shotgun brush...copper wire.
Put it into 1 piece of a segmented cleaning rod. Put it into the chuck of a handheld drill.
Pull the bolt and run the spinning brush into you chamber from the rear.
That will clean it up... If this rifle is basically untouched since refurb...might be cosmoline dried in the chamber.
This will take that off the table.
If you don't have a drill, buy one. Any grown man of consequence needs a good cordless drill...man rules.

This was the first thing I did, didn't seem to help at all.

 

[Webley No.5]

I tried your test of putting the round under the extractor, and it fed with ease every time, with no trouble in the bolt going down. So with that in mind, where do I go from here?

Means your extractor is either poorly profiled and needs a good buffing/adjusting, is too stiff or too bent in. If too bent in, carefully bend it out. If too stiff one would have to thin the spring part of the extractor. I would start with buffing the surfaces that have to slide over other surfaces when chambering as some mosin parts can be gritty.

 

[bc308]

He means colour the entire round in with a sharpie then try to chamber the round, where the marker rubs off that’s where your interference is. Another thing you can try is clipping the round under the extractor on the bolt before trying to chamber it. Mosins are a push feed and the extractors can be stiff and maybe part of your problem

OK, this is not the word of God, I am not even a Mosin enthusiast or gunsmith. I have one late 50s/early 60s import, so what I say applies to this one example.

I watched 5 dummie rounds feed into the chamber. As the bolt picked each one from the magazine, it pushed them along toward the chamber. Not one hooked under the extractor as you would see in a CRF Mauser. Of course not, it's a push feed.

When the bolt hit the top of the action, that is the handle straight up vertical, I could pull the bolt back and the round stayed forward, no extractor engagement.

At this point, with all 5 rounds, I started turning the bolt down a few more degrees each time, listening and then pulling it back out to see if the extractor had engaged the cartridge rim. On this rifle the cartridge gets grabbed when the bolt handle is pointing straight out from the right hand (45 degree) action flat, or at 1:30 if the clock face is used. The bolt on this rifle is fully closed when the handle is at 3:00, or straight sideways, horizontal.

When I pull the bolt part open, I can just barely get the extractor to lift, about 1/32", maybe 1/16", but it is quite stiff. Following Webley No.5's lead, I suggest you soak the extractor some more and work it with a piece of wood until it has good movement. Have fun.

 

[bearhunter]

LucasF, it sounds like you're being to gentle with your rifle.

I have a Mosin M91 Finn that does exactly what you describe, if I don't push the bolt forward aggressively, not stopping when the round pops up out of the magazine.

One quick, positive forward push.

If you stop pushing the bolt forward, as the cartridge pops up, on my rifle the rim will be in front of the extractor and closing the bolt is very difficult.

What happens is the bullet is still moving forward when it pops up and if the rim isn't under the extractor, the rim moves in front of it.

The Mosin is more of a semi push feed and really wasn't intended to have the extractor "snap over" the rim every time.

If the extractor on your rifle was poorly fitted after the FTR, as mentioned above, it may need to be honed on the underside to allow the rim to slip under as you're pushing the bolt forward.

The bolt was purposely designed so that the rifle wouldn't have to be cleared when such things happened during stressful situations.

I've seen K98s jam from similar issues of operator error. This usually only happens on K98s with well worn cartridge guides, or if the rifle is being pointed down and applying very light bolt forward pressure, while stopping part way there. It's certainly not a common failure to feed but it does occur.