Problem taking off the M44 barrel bands *Update*

summerside sniper

summerside sniper

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I went to take apart my 1952 M44 so that I could clean all of the cosmolene out of it. I got everything apart except the barrel bands. I had the hardest time taking the smallest band off.
I had to take a screw driver into the tongue and groove portion of the band, and try to open up the band, while pushing on the retaining spring, while trying to take off the band. Once I got it off the wood of the fore end, it closed up on me. Now I can't it off the rifle. What do I do? I still need to take off the other band, and its proving to be harder.
 
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The first time I stripped down my 91/30 it was the same way. You might have a giant wad of cosmolene under the retaining spring. If it's really really obstinate, hit it with a blowdryer. Cosmolene melts and it will be a little more cooperative. I used a flat piece of siding, about 1inch by 1 inch square and about 8 inches long to put pressure on the spring. In cooperation with that I then used a large flat screwdriver to carefully press the band forward without marring the wood. Once you get the band off get a toothpick and lift the spring a little, then scrape all the cosmo and cr*p out of the gap. Best of luck!
 
Some of the barrel bands are difficult to get of of the stock....but once they are free of the wood, just push them down to the bayonet lug and clean the gun while the barrel bands are still on the barrel......they don't have to come off, you can clean them while they are down around the bayo lug...you also don't need to fully tear apart the bayo....Trust me, I done the last six in this fashion.
 
BRAMEL said:
Some of the barrel bands are difficult to get of of the stock....but once they are free of the wood, just push them down to the bayonet lug and clean the gun while the barrel bands are still on the barrel......they don't have to come off, you can clean them while they are down around the bayo lug...you also don't need to fully tear apart the bayo....Trust me, I done the last six in this fashion.
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Ya, I realized that you don't need to take apart hte bayo to clean it yesterday. But as I am trying to remove all of the cosmolene, I needed to get to it. Aside from the interior of hte bolt and mag spring it was the worst for cosmolene. Now everything is clean except for the rifle because of the damn barrel bands. Thanks for all your suggestions guys, I'll give them all a try.

PP - You got a picture of what your talkin about?? I have no idea what you mean.
 
summerside sniper said:
PP - You got a picture of what your talkin about?? I have no idea what you mean.
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I was just wondering if the cleaning rod on the M-44 didn't act as a stop by blocking the barrel band catches from lowering as is common on many Mausers.
On these, you have to remove the cleaning rod before attempting any barrel band removal.
Too bad I don't have an M-44 at hand to verify. There are no Finnish marked M-44, hence my disinterest.
Good luck!
PP.
 
PerversPépère said:
I was just wondering if the cleaning rod on the M-44 didn't act as a stop by blocking the barrel band catches from lowering as is common on many Mausers.
On these, you have to remove the cleaning rod before attempting any barrel band removal.
Too bad I don't have an M-44 at hand to verify. There are no Finnish marked M-44, hence my disinterest.
Good luck!
PP.
Click to expand...

I already had mine off before I took the bands off. And I don't think it would have interfered at all anyways.
 
OK, I just had a look at a picture of an M-44 and the cleaning rod is not at the same level as the spring catches so I guess there isn't any interlocking lug.
Had it been a week later, I would have answered your question much faster: I just bought today a mint Polish Factory 11 M-44 along with a mint MAS 36/51 complete with all the accessories and rubber slip-on recoil pad.
I'll take possession of them monday.:)
I must be a fool: in the past I sweared to the firearms gods that I only would buy Finn Mosin-Nagants. Now a Polish, tomorrow what else?!! I'm dooooomed, I'm telling you!!!:eek:
PP.
 
So....I fixed my problem. And, well, I feel like an idiot. :redface: I looked at the bands. I looked at all the info I could find about taking them off an M44. And all those pubs said they just slide off. So I studied and studied, I searched and I seached, and yes, I asked and I asked. And you know what.....at the end of all this......I was still puzzled as to what to do. So with all the help in the world, I sat down to tackle the problem again. I took out my hammer and ........... tapped them off. Thats it. That easy. So, now I am very red faced, with my carbine now cleaned of as much cosmolene I could get and oiled up, ready for the range.
 
Yeah those bands can be tough. On some rifles the spring is so hard to depress that you have to use two hands and leaves you wishing for a third hand to slide the band! I never tried to get them over the bayo. Just enough to remove the wood. I have thought about removing the bayo to see if POI is drastically different. I sighted it in with it on so it has stayed put

I too fell for a beautiful 1951 Pole M44. Mine is in perfect condition as well. Hard to believe they could be so well preserved not to mention a real blast to shoot. Bayo'd rifles always get a chuckle from some of the elitest old farts at my range. So the first thing I do is whip "it" out. I can imagine it looks kind of funny. Their comment is usually "those things shoot so bad you'll need that bayonet!" After a couple of 200yard gongers, and a percussion wave to wake the dead,they seem to take a different look. lol
 
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