The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hey guys, I'm being a rebel and posting my first post right here. Anyways, I just picked up a 91/30, 1939 round receiver, beat all to hell but gorgeous to me. Bolt runs smooth, no cosmoline and such. I go to the range and had 20 rounds of standard wolf ammo. This ammo gave me nothing but trouble. Bolt wouldn't open without some persuasion after shooting, wouldn't extract properly, etc, etc. Had 80 rounds of comm bloc surplus, and all of them ran through with absolutely zero issue. I'm wondering if anybody else has had any issued with wolf or would have any clue what is the deal. I mean, I am going to grab a spam can here soon anyways, but, I'd love to not be under the gun as far as cleaning every time I shoot. Any and all help would be appreciated guys(and any gals lurking about).

Welcome to the board. I have never used Wolf 7.62x54, but from what I remember from all the Wolf 7.62x39 I shot it's steel case with a lacquer coating. This stuff is the number one type of ammo to have sticky bolt problems in a Mosin. What happens is that there is an invisible glaze on the chamber walls from ancient preservatives, when it heats up it acts like glue with the lacquer coatings on this type of ammo. Take a 20 gauge shotgun bore brush, mount it on a section of shotgun cleaning rod, wrap the brush with OOOO size steel wool, coat the wool with JB bore paste. Mount the rod in a power drill and drill the brush into the chamber ( but do not go into the rifling) for about a minute, clean and shoot . repute while the rifle is warm if necessary. So long as you are using that Wolf ammo you will need to do this from time to time as the lacquer will transfer to the chamber walls.

Cheap Wolf is crap. Even the poly coated stuff. Excuse my French but it shoots like shit. Yeah, it is non corrosive. But it is so bad accuracy vise there is no reason to shoot it.

The Wolf gold is better. A bit.

Basically I have just stopped shooting steel cased ammo in a Mosin. I have even had trouble with it in an AR and yes it was Wolf. My neighbor has kids who love to shoot up all his ammo and he went to buying wolf because it was cheaper. They hung a live round in the chamber when a neck broke off in the family AR. I removed the first one very carefully and then when they did it again I said take it to the local gunsmith and throw away the wolf ammo and buy brass cased stuff. Wolf seems to run great in the Russian modern guns I have but it sure doesn't like a Mosin. One of the things I tell people to avoid problems is never chamber a round till the moment you are going to shoot it as leaving it in the hot chamber will cook that lacquer they use to a gummy glue-like consistency and then you will have the problems you describe. Bill

I thought it might have had something to do with the lacquer on the round. I didn't buy the wolf, the place I got it just threw the ammo in with the rifle, so I figured why not shoot it? If it was any other round, I'd be hand loading it, but, with how cheap surplus ammo is, I'll stick with it. I figure if I ever get the itch for some decent hand loads, I can run some Prvi through it and use their brass, since i know most, if not all, of them are boxer primed.

There are other brands of ammo that may give you the sticky bolt problem if you try to short cut the procedure as given by junk yard dog, such as Silver Bear, or sometimes Brown Bear, and some kinds of surplus. Most all of it is steel, but has coatings of some type on it. I got ahold of some lacquer coated 8mm ammo that were like glue sticks in my Egyptian Hakim, and just before breaking my extractor I noticed a couple rounds glued in the chamber with a piece of the rim ripped off by the extractor. Semi auto's sure don't like sticking cases. There ain't nothing more disappointing when taking out a new Mosin than having to shut it down or switch to another rifle because the bolt is seized up tight from a stuck case.

I guess I'm the odd man out here, but I have never had any issues in my 91/30, in fact it shot quite accurately.

Mosin sticky bolt 'syndrome' goes on and on and on...I have thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned my chamber, receiver, bolt face, extractor, extractor groove and inner receiver ring. I've only shot 3 brands of ammo, Brown Bear lacquer coated steel, Silver Bear zinc coated steel and Novosibirsk copper washed steel. On my '33 Tula 91/30, the Brown Bear cycles smoothest, the Silver Bear is 2nd and the Novosibirsk is a bit stiffer. I've settled on the Novosibirsk, because it's cheapest, and so am I. I've owned my Mosin since April 2010 and shot some 320 + rounds thru it trouble free. I also load with stripper clips, and no I don't load them any special way into the clip. I've been reading about sticky bolt syndrome and rim-lock issues until my eyes blur and I get a headache. I think there are a large number of causes for both of these common problems and every Mosin rifle is unique - they weren't known for being built to Swiss watch standards of tolerance. In my case, I suspect the coefficient of friction between steel/zinc/poly/ may be the biggest factor in my 'sticky bolt'. Even with the Novosibirsk, my bolt isn't 'sticky', it just cycles a bit stiffer to lock into battery, and the last quarter turn to unlock and extract. Remember, when locking the bolt you're pushing or snapping the extractor over the cartridge rim, and when unlocking you're extracting the case while at the same time, cocking the bolt/firing pin. I say just go with whatever works for your particular Mosin and happy shooting!

I had the same issue with Wolf thru my 1944 91/30. Switched over to the brass PPU and problem went away. Back to wolf and had to beat the bolt open. Chamber was cleaned prior to shooting.

I've shot nothing but Silver Bear and milsurp ammunition through my Mosins and had no problem. Then again, I don't leave anything in the chamber unless ready to shoot and clean up using the appropriate cleaner afterwards. I try to avoid using ammo that has a polymer coating like Wolf. Heating any polymer up will cause it to transfer to other surfaces once sufficiently heated.