I recently picked up a nice m-39 from the ee & it shoots great but I have a real problem closing the bolt on most ammo. I know its a headspace problem because the extractor is out & the rim is touching the end of the chamber & I see witness marks on the boltface. Now what? Spot face the bolt? Remove some material from the bolt lugs? I tried some other bolt heads but they were worse.
Too little headspace on mosin
- Thread starter desporterizer
- Start date
PerversPépère
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Shawinigan (Quebec)
Could it be the laminated remains of a cartridge neck stuck down there?
PP.
PP.
No dice on on cartridge fragments in the chamber, its the first thing I checked. As for other boltheads, I have 15 mosins & not one of the other heads fit better, most where worse ie they wouldn't close on an empty chamber. It closes firmly on russian surplus, tight on norma cases, real tight on privi cases & hammer it shut on igman cases. I even looked on the end of the chamber to see if there was a burr on the end of the barrel but no luck there either. I am stumped as how this thing left the refurb depot like this when so much care was put into the rest of the refurb.
Are you using Surplus or commercial ammo. Commercial ammo specs are sometimes a bit off. Also Finns used 7.62x53R mm, so that could be a factor in headspacing. Try a complete bolt from another rifle, to see it improve things. But in the end, finding a shorter bolthead is the best solution.
