SMLE, M98, Mosin-Nagant Mud Tests

A little redneck but none the less interesting. I can't imagine what it would be like carrying one of these rifles in the trenches of WWI but those vids make it a little more realistic. I own all 3 of those rifles, but it never occured to me to pack them full of mud and see what happens. Better him than me! The only thing he is missing is a 1903 and maybe and Arisaka... I will decline to offer mine for testing.

For those of us who would rather not sit through 35 minutes of video, anyone care to say which one did best?

I just do not understand why you would do that to a fine old gun :banghead:

It is hard to imagine the abuse some of those old rifles will take and still stay in one piece. Many, many years ago I was buying Mosin's 3 for $100.00 and making customers deals on them along with a case of ammo...which was really cheap then too. A bunch of us guys would go to a place in the country and shoot on some BLM land. I took one of the rifles with us in an attempt to blow it up just for fun. We pounded a couple bullets into the bore...tig welded the end of the barrel and loaded a round full of Bullseye. It was hard to believe when I pulled the string attached to the trigger and the gun fired! The bullet in the chamber actually cleared everything out and didn't even split the barrel. The only damage obvious, was a split stock and the receiver bulged a little to the point that the bolt wouldn't open again. Tough stuff!!
I've never been a fan of them, but I have to admire how strong they are.

Cooldill said:

For those of us who would rather not sit through 35 minutes of video, anyone care to say which one did best?

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They were all "different" in their jambs. It seems like he had to pound on the Nagant the hardest? But he jumped on the Mauser pretty hard too. I was impressed that he seemed to treat all 3 rifles equally in his torture test.

All 3 seemed like they would return to functional with a half of bladder of pee.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that a common battlefield cleaning of these old rifles often involved little more than pouring boiling water down the barrel.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that a common battlefield cleaning of these old rifles often involved little more than pouring boiling water down the barrel.

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Sill works today too -- I do this when I shoot my 5.45x39 AR & AK with corrosive surplus ammo, although you need to re-lube afterwards as the boiling water is real good at de-greasing too.

I think most WWI ammo was corrosively primed so it was more than "field expedient" to do this. Field expedient would likely be to "pee" down the barrel

The Mosin looks to me to be the clear winner. That short, stubby bolt handle makes the bolt hard to operate in the first place. If you have ever fired a Mosin with the sniper bolt you will instantly know what I mean. That long, bent-down bolt handle gives you much more leverage.

The Smelly looks like it did pretty good. Either way, it was tremendously better than the other two for the warfighter.

I'm really surprised he didn't break off any bolt handles.

That was painful to watch.
He needs to think of another test for his rifles.

Thought this was an InRange TV test at first. I'm not getting why some are objecting; these are war horses people. They were DESIGNED for abuse.

wally said:

Sill works today too -- I do this when I shoot my 5.45x39 AR & AK with corrosive surplus ammo, although you need to re-lube afterwards as the boiling water is real good at de-greasing too.

I think most WWI ammo was corrosively primed so it was more than "field expedient" to do this. Field expedient would likely be to "pee" down the barrel

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Yes, I remember reading that the boiling water was a good deterent to the corrosive effects of corrosive primers. I guess the corrisive part of corrosive primers is basicall salt which is pretty easy to disolve in boiling water.