M44 Mosin Questions.

Calum

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I had the beast out at the range for the first time today, and ran approx 100 round through her, allowing for cooling down every 5 shots, and around the 50 or 60 round mark the bolt would not open. :eek:

She was tighter then Wendy cookies ass at a Gunshow. :D
I had to wedge the bolt handle between rungs of a wooden rack at the range to get leverage to open it.

The casing looked fine (Hungarian surplus from 1952), and after that the bolt seemed to work OK, with only a slight amount of sticking from then on.

Is this normal for these rifles?

Would this be solved by greasing the bolt allot?

Also I suspect it shoots better with the bayonet folded out.
any thoughts on this?

My right shoulder is going to hurt tomorrow, but it is a fun rifle to shoot, and I was really swinging the 200 yard steel ram on the hits I managed on it. :)
 
This is the brass cased hungarian stuff? I've never had an issue personally, but if it's steel laquered case stuff, it's a common problem to have a sticky bolt.

Something you can try is taking apart the bolt assembly and cleaning it out. Chances are there was some cosmoline in there somewhere and that caused the stickyness - there is quite a possibility that there is more.

These things were all sighted to fire with the bayonet folded out, so your accuracy will be best with the bayo out.
 
GreenDoh has it right.

Clean the ever living crap out of it and then do it again. It helps. IT will still stick though. If you fire then open the bolt right away that helps as well.

As for the bayo. Fold her out and shoot away. It will shoot better and look better.
 
What you'll also want to look out for is cosmoline lurking just behind the chamber and where the lugs lock in the barrel. No ammount of cleaning with a brush will ever reach in there. The best suggestion I've gotten was used a hard plastic ball brush (kindof like a 12 ga brush, but from the dollar store). Trim it down, or not... then run that in a hand drill at low rpm, or carefully to avoid excessive heat (a little will actually loosen up the cosmoline), occasionally flushing with boiling water as you do it. You may be frightened by what appears.
 
You may possibly have some burring in the chamber, which is causing the round to stick. You may want to examine the chamber.

And all M44's were sighted in with the bayonet extended because those dirty Russian conscripts were ordered to keep bayonets extended at all times during WW2, except during transport to their (no doubt soon) death. The M44 was a no brainer, in making bayonets next to impossible to lose during transit.

Then of course the SKS was the next rifle to be produced, and they also had an integral bayonet on that. For the EXACT same reason.
 
try a 12 gauge bore brush on a drill in the chamber. Only a little should do it, and flush with boiling water. Traces of old cosmo in the chamber will cause stickybolt. Actually, I wonder if a bit of dish soap would help. It's meant to break up grease, after all...

good luck with the mosin! Bet you can't own just one!
 
I Hosed out the barrel and chamber with hot water and a funnel, and hosed her down after with G96. Then scrubbed the peaches out of Her...What a dirty B!tch that Hungarian stuff is. (steel case copper wash). :eek:

As suggested I tried the 12 gauge soft brush trick in the chamber/lug area, and it worked great...cosmo bunnies were indeed lurking. :D

I didn't take the bolt completely apart as I can't measure firing pin height yet (incoming tools in the mail), but I cleaned and greased metal to metal sliding surfaces, and a liberal amount of Ballistol spray oil.

She is now slick on action, but still slightly sticky when the firing pin is cocked/bolt closed.

I also discovered that when storing bolt open, just pull and turn the cocking knob counter clockwise, and it takes the tension off the firing pin spring.

I need Vodka for my shoulder. :D
 
had the same thing happen to my hungarian 91/30 except it couldnt extract afterwards but there is a good write up on the sticky bolt syndrome on surplusrifle.com
 
Am having same problem with my M44 thanks for posting and tips everyone :D didn't realize it is more accurate with the bayonette up
 
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