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Mosin Nagant 91/30 bolt problem....

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B

Brownwater

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Sep 23, 2011
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Just got back from the range & decided to disassemble the bolt during the cleaning process (something I've never done to this recently acquired 91/30). Everything went well until I tried to disengage (unscrew) the cocking knob from the firing pin. It won't budge. Is it safe/prudent to hold the flats at the fwd end of the firing pin with a small wrench while unscrewing the cocking knob? Will this twist or otherwise damage the firing pin? Is there a better way? Thanks, Butch
 
Unscrew the cocking knob?

That 'screw' IS the firing pin.

Dont unscrew the cocking knob, just hold it with your hand and unscrew the firing pin.

Youtube is your friend :)

2258553839_79598b9d44.jpg
 
Grab a scrap of wood, pull the cocking knob back and turn to left. Ease forward. The bolt face should turn and slide off with the connector bar. Firing pin will be exposed. Push firing pin into wood. WARNING: It can be difficult. It needs to be pushed into the bolt body 1.5 to 2 inches. Proceed by turning cocking knob the standard way for loosening a nut.

Reverse to reassemlby. Make sure you got that circular screwdriver tool that comes with the most of these rifles, you want to make sure you're firing pin is gauged right. I use the second notch from the end.
 
Thanks, but look at the picture you attached....The cocking knob screws onto the end of the firing pin. Only way to remove the bolt handle & spring is to separate the two.
 
Thank you both for the advice, but I've actually done this before - just not on this rifle...I followed the correct procedures as outlined in #3, but the firing pin and the knob assembly will not unscrew....looking to apply a little "persuasion", but don't want to damage the firing pin......any advice on this??....Thanks, Butch.
 
I love my 91/30, but my God that bolt is the most Rube Goldberg contraption I've ever seen on a firearm. Mr. Mosin and/or Mr. Nagant was seriously drunk when they came up with that piece of engineering!
 
The original striker mechenism was invented by the American Hiram Berdan well known during the American Civil war as the leader of the Berdan Sharpshooters.
His first rifle , the single shot bolt action "Berdan rifle" was adopted for service by Russia (the U.S. adopted the Trapdoor Springfeild) and then the later Improved Berdan II that was then evolved from a single shot Black Powder cartridge by Sergi Mosin into a modern steel, modern smokless, magizine fed rifle, though the patent on the magizine was sold to the Russians by the Belgin 'Nagant Brothers"......... Besides Sharp shooting and rifle inventying, there was Berdans cheaper/faster method of then new cartridge priming, still known as "berdan Priming" the primer cup with no anvil in it, but formed on the cartridge primer pocket by usin 2 flash holes.Most corrosive milsurp used in Mosin's still uses a Berdan primer...... Boxer Priming won out with reloaders here (civilian shooters/gun owners in america verses military only in europe) with a central flash hole and an anvil in the primer cup.

So ask yourself; Does the firing pin , cocking knob or spring NEED to be dissassembld?

Is the fireing pin striking too deeply or too light? Nothing broken? Then just put it back together, everything is clock wise, just like an H&K 91.


Any way, the wrench that is snug fitting along the flats of the firingpin will do....

Once you have the bolt dissassembled, you can adjust the firing pin with the issed Mosin Nagant screwdriver/bolt tool, using the slot along its side as a wrench to turn the fireing pin. Then reassemble the bolt, turn the cocking knob to the fire position and measure the firing pin height........repeat dissassemly for further adjusting, reassemble to measue again untill done.
On the issued screwdriver is a set of three or four slots, these are used to mesure the fireingpin height, and two of these slots to go over the rim of the bolt face and get the firing pin height slots directly over the firing pin. It must ever so slightly touch the screwdrivers firing pin slot top.

Usually, if something broke on the fireing pin unit, a unit armorer would fix/replace and reset the fireing pin length. They would buff or grind the cocking knob flush with the firing pin and strike a score across the cocking knob in alignment with the slot in the back of the firing pin, thus making it easy to put back into proper set. Sometimes they are quite visibly off. The slot at the back of the fireingpin is NOT for a screw driver.They quite often peened them slightly to keep them from being easily dissasembled by soldiers.


I live in the Arctic, and I set my firing pin a couple thousands higher so I really smash the primers, without pericing them.

If your firing pin is too high, it will peirce primers, if too low, no boom at all.....the largest slot on the bolt tool/screwdriver is the firingpin wrench.
 
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When I admire my Mosin's bolt, I think of 1890s, HG Wells and Jules Verne, and modern steampunk sci-fi.

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I have always been advised to use the bolt guide rod as a firing pin wrench.

To synthesize the NRA guide to the Mosin, a manual from one of the importers, and a reprint of a US military manual on the Mosin:

Disassemble the bolt.

o grip the bolt handle in one hand and the cocking piece in the other

o pull the cocking piece back and rotate it counterclockwise easing it forward

o grab the bolt head and pull it forward until it stops

o rotate the bolt head counterclockwise a bit more than than a quarter turn

o pull the bolt head off the bolt body

o pull the bolt guide bar off the bolt body

o use the slot in the rear of the bolt guide bar as a wrench to unscrew the firing pin from the cocking piece (the firing pin is under spring pressure, so take care that it does not spring out of control)

o removal of the firing pin allows the spring to be removed

o the cocking piece should drop free.

Reassemble in reverse order.

o Take care not to damage threads on the firing pin end and inside the cocking piece while depressing the spring and screwing the firing pin into the cocking piece.

o Be sure that the index marks on the rear end of the firing pin and on the cocking piece align after reassembly.
 
"I have always been advised to use the bolt guide rod as a firing pin wrench."

Thats a new one on me....... I sure would be carefull though....using the bolt guide as a wrench is most likely whith the 'forked end' that guides the cocking peice in its slot, is a great way to distort and break one of the ends off.
Most likely great in time of Need, but the screwdriver/bolt tool has the proper wrench fitting, and if the tool breaks, its not going to stop the function of the rifle.
 
Mosin bolt tools are cheap and plentiful. They even have a nifty firing pin extension gauge on them.

No mosin is complete with out the tool, oil can, and cleaning kit. :D
 
Yeah, my 91/30 came with the double pouch, oil can, cleaning accessories, and tool, and a flyer from the importer that reprinted the NRA disassembly guide illustrating use of the guide bar as a wrench.

Found another take-down source: a 1954 US Ordnance manual on the Soviet Mosin Nagant. It recommends what LJ-MosinFreak-Buck post#3 suggested: remove the bolt head and guide bar, press the firing pin tip into wood, compressing the spring 1 1/2 to 2 inches, and screw the cocking knob off. No use of wrench, guide bar or tool.

Oh well. Whatever works.
 
I got my M53 Mosin and 91/30 Mosin out last night and checked the bolts. Either of the three techniques works. My firing pins rotate fairly easily (no crimp and the bolts were thoroughly cleaned and very lightly oiled on purchase). If I had one with a stubborn cocking piece, I would probably want to use the tool. I have learned how to use the tool to check firing pin protrusion after reassembly.

Whether complete diassemble is necessary for routine cleaning is another issue. With the bolt head off, the end of the firing pin and the channel in the bolt head can be cleaned thoroughly of any accumulated gunk. The only reason that I see to disassemble further is replacement of a weak or broken spring, or a thorough cleaning if the gun is to be stored for a season.
 
Disassembled/reassembled mine for the first time last week.

Note: If you're doing this for the first time & not really confident? Make sure you remove the solvent soaked patch you put in the chamber.

Saves lots of :banghead: trying to figure out what you did wrong to make the bolt not go home...:fire:

YouTube videos for the win!:D
 
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