Hammerhead
Member
Hello,
I took my M44 out for the first time the other day, and after each shot, the bolt was almost impossible to open. I had to use the heel of my hand to beat the bolt open. This began with the very first shot, so I don't think that it is due to left over laquer in the chamber, since it never got a chance to heat up.
I tried putting the brass back into the chamber, and it goes in most of the way, but hangs up about 1/4 inch out. Unfired shells go in and out no problem.
There are faint scratch marks on each shell, I think in about the same position, about 5 o'clock. There may be a slight roughness there, but very slight.
I put a pair of calipers on the fired brass, and it is about 0.009" larger at the base than unfired brass. I don't know if that is too much or not. This is Wolf ammo.
I searched this forum and found someone else who had the same problem, who cured it by simply switching brands. I know that Wolf has a bad reputation in .223, but I have never even had a misfire with Wolf 7.62x39, and I figured that it would be the same for 7.62x54.
Any suggestions? I cleaned the chamber very well with solvent and brass brushes, and used steel wool and an electric drill to really clean it, but that was before I noticed that the fired brass would not chamber. That has me a bit concerned...
Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards,
Hammerhead
Edited for clarity...
I took my M44 out for the first time the other day, and after each shot, the bolt was almost impossible to open. I had to use the heel of my hand to beat the bolt open. This began with the very first shot, so I don't think that it is due to left over laquer in the chamber, since it never got a chance to heat up.
I tried putting the brass back into the chamber, and it goes in most of the way, but hangs up about 1/4 inch out. Unfired shells go in and out no problem.
There are faint scratch marks on each shell, I think in about the same position, about 5 o'clock. There may be a slight roughness there, but very slight.
I put a pair of calipers on the fired brass, and it is about 0.009" larger at the base than unfired brass. I don't know if that is too much or not. This is Wolf ammo.
I searched this forum and found someone else who had the same problem, who cured it by simply switching brands. I know that Wolf has a bad reputation in .223, but I have never even had a misfire with Wolf 7.62x39, and I figured that it would be the same for 7.62x54.
Any suggestions? I cleaned the chamber very well with solvent and brass brushes, and used steel wool and an electric drill to really clean it, but that was before I noticed that the fired brass would not chamber. That has me a bit concerned...
Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards,
Hammerhead
Edited for clarity...