is it just me?

[icebones]

i have an old (1898) russian mosin nagant.

is it just my rifle or do all mosin nagants seem to be hard to cycle after firing.

my best guess is the cock-on-opening action.

so am i the only one out there with this problem?

would newer rifles be as bad. i saw this because a place a while from my house sells the newer m44 wwII era mosins for about $80 a piece.

i was thinking about getting about 4 or 5 to keep in the barn, truck, tractor cab, in the tool shed. for working rifles, keeping critters and varmits at bay.

 

[icebones]

also they company has m98 mauser for sale at $99

check out their web
http://www.centerfiresystems.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=212

so what ya think, mosin or mauser?

 

[Deer Hunter]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Mosins have ammo that's actually cheap.

 

[icebones]

one of the main reasons i was gonna get the mosin, 7.62x54mm r surplus ammo is cheaper than .22lr around here. although it is corrosive...

 

[Cosmoline]

is it just my rifle or do all mosin nagants seem to be hard to cycle after firing.

It's not the natural condition for the rifle, either Mosin or Mauser. There's obviously going to be some resistance, but a sticky bolt is usually a sign of sloppy bolt-to-receiver fitting, burrs or imperfections in the chamber, or simply ammo that doesn't mix well with yr. rifle. Laquered soviet surplus is notorious for being sticky. Try clean new brass cased ammo like the S&B or Privi and see if the problem persists.

I've had best results with Finnish Mosins. The worn ones tend to be well broken in, and their arsenals did a much better job of fitting than the Soviets. A good Mosin bolt should be kind of "loose" feeling in the hand and should be sloppy going in when dry firing. If it feels stiff and offers resistance, take a pass on that rifle. Ironically most people would pass on a sloppy bolt, but MOsins are different from Mauser pattern rifles we're used to.

 

[R.W.Dale]

You need not suffer the slings and arrows from the "buy a Mauser crowd"
5 minutes with some flitz and a cordless drill and you'll have a rifle that makes a Mauser bolt feel like a shovel handle stuck in a pile of gravel.

Google, Mosin chamber polish

 

[icebones]

dude i think you hit the nail on the head. i have a bunch of old copper washed steel cased, and laqured steel cased ammo.

no, i already checked the locking lugs and reciever for fit and finnish.
the action is glass smooth after 110 years of use. still shoots decent too.

too bad those guys dont sell old krag rifles.

i only seem to have a problem after firing old ammo, sometimes i have to use a little force or a rubber mallet to get the bolt to open!

but i think is old crappy ammo thats causing the problem.

 

[R.W.Dale]

no, i already checked the locking lugs and reciever for fit and finnish.
the action is glass smooth after 110 years of use

That's not the problem, what happens is 9 times in 10 you have a 75 year old buildup of laquer inside the chamber, Causing the dreaded "sticky bolt syndrome". Solvents won't touch the crap and it has a much higher friction coefficient than a nice well polished bare metal chamber.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2005/eliminatesbs/index.asp