Mosin 91/30 bolt bending Q

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mhowarth

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Has anyone bent their existing straight bolt?

I'm considering getting an M91/30 from Tradex for $125 and bubba-ing it so I can mount a solid scope without going the scout scope mount route.

Given it's steel it should be a straight forward heat and bend issue but has anyone on here done this? Thanks in advance.
 
I ordered a bolt body from tradeEx for $15, and a bent bolt from Ebay (ht tp://cgi.ebay.ca/Russian-Soviet-WW-II-MOSIN-PU-Bent-Bolt-/140516092766?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item20b7696b5e#ht_3654wt_1032) for $32 including shipping. IMO, it's better than the Tapco one, in that it is a threaded bolt handle. You simply cut off the original handle, file it square and flat, then drill and tap a hole (I think it's 5/16, but not sure). Then I screwed the handle in with a bit of soldering flux, and silver soldered it in. Seems to work fine.

Here are some pix of the altered bolt. Should the silver solder ever give out to hold the threads locked, I'll simply get the handle welded, but I'm confident I'll never have to.
100_2377800x600.jpg
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There is a guy in the States on Gunboards dot com that sells them. I think his name or business is the boltman. Looks the same as a 91/30 PU sniper bolt.
 
You need to look at the Finnish Model 28-76 Military Target Rifles.

(From someone on photo bucket, no name given)

m27-78.jpg
 
Okay so after researching on mosinnagant.net it looks like DIY bolt bending hasn't really been done.

Everyone seems to go the drill/tap method, or ship off the bolt to Jim the Boltman for the modification, but there really isn't anything on bending the existing bolt.

I know it would be a little bit stubby if the original bolt was bent... but aside from that it would appear to work okay.

So am I to understand then that no one has done this before? It's just steel so it should bend without breaking as long as it was glowing red hot... can anyone chime in on this?

Again I just want to turn the rifle into a cheap scoped shooter. Thanks for the input so far everyone.
 
I'm sure it's been done. If I was to do it I would pick up a spare bolt body, their cheap.

It's metal, it will bend. Not sure if there are any safety concearns with bolt closing ect though.

I have a mosin but I've never really thought of how it closes, what hits what in the action, that would be my concearn.
 
I'd imagine that the bolt handle is what saved his face & maybe his life.
I'm a little less inclined to apply heat to bolts after seeing this one.
Milsurp ammo did this too I might add, not some hot handloads.
And that's an M-39 bolt; so I'd expect it was a grade above the run of the mill USSR stuff.
Mosinbolt002.jpg

Good luck though
 
I would get a properly done one. It simply swaps out the original bolt body.

I say this because a bent bolt will be incredibly short and awkward to handle. Mosins are usually not the smoothest to open, and if you shorten the length of your lever and make it harder to use, you'll have a really PITA gun to shoot.
 
my god... skirsons get a life! all you do is troll these forums for a reason to ##### about someone doing something THEY want to do to THEIR rifles. If you are so distraught over people modifying their gear. save your pennies, buy up all the milsurp firearms in north america (or even world wide) and sit on them... so they may be saved as is for all of eternity.
 
Numrich had some bolt bodies with the original handle bent a while back & they were regarded as completely useless, don't waste your time. Your not the first to consider this & I have yet to see a mosin owner that was happy with the ati set up. I have one in my parts bin & between the single attachment point & cheap aluminum, I can't see how it would be worth the effort to install. Seriously, try the irons first.
 
tokguy said:
And that's an M-39 bolt; so I'd expect it was a grade above the run of the mill USSR stuff.
Click to expand...

Didnt the Finns simply reuse Soviet Bolts? I know anything half decent they salvaged and used themseleves regardless of make. Im sure they used Soviet bolts.
 
ArtyMan said:
Didnt the Finns simply reuse Soviet Bolts? I know anything half decent they salvaged and used themselves regardless of make. Im sure they used Soviet bolts.
Click to expand...

All Finnish bolts are ex Tsarist Russia / USSR, They did make minor parts (I believe a cocking piece?) on some rifle models, however they recycled everything..
 
Okay fair enough.

I actually own a 1929 hex receiver Nagant and didn't want to bubba it. It's in beautiful shape so I thought I would just leave it as is to shoot using the irons, and get another cheapy (this is where the bolt bending Q comes in) from Tradex for $125 to scope.

If I was to replace the bolt body, should I worry about "head space"? In my searching I've read that the head space will have to be checked for safety reasons and I have no clue what this means.

I'm pretty handy with things but I'm not too keen on cutting the original handle off to drill and tap the bolt for the new bent handle, so where would be cheapest place to get myself a new bolt body with a bent handle?

At least I can conclude not that bending the bolt = bad idea. Thanks for the input so far!!1
 
mhowarth said:
Okay fair enough.

I actually own a 1929 hex receiver Nagant and didn't want to bubba it. It's in beautiful shape so I thought I would just leave it as is to shoot using the irons, and get another cheapy (this is where the bolt bending Q comes in) from Tradex for $125 to scope.

If I was to replace the bolt body, should I worry about "head space"? In my searching I've read that the head space will have to be checked for safety reasons and I have no clue what this means.

I'm pretty handy with things but I'm not too keen on cutting the original handle off to drill and tap the bolt for the new bent handle, so where would be cheapest place to get myself a new bolt body with a bent handle?

At least I can conclude not that bending the bolt = bad idea. Thanks for the input so far!!1
Click to expand...
You will not have any problem replacing the bolt body because the you will put your original bolt head on the replacement bolt body, things could be different IF you replace the bolt head but since will not be the case, no worries.
 
head space on a mosin is unnaffected by the bolt body

swap bodies till you get sick of it. the head space on a mosin is only affected by the barrel and the distance between the bolt lugs and bolt face. its all good
 
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