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I took my 1938 Izhevsk apart last night to clean off more cosmoline that had seeped out. This is what I found. Sorry for the blurry pic.
Has the same crack on the opposite side. One crack is hidden by the stock, the one in the pic sits just above it, so I probably wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't taken it apart. I've only put 60 rounds through this rifle. 60 too many perhaps. The muzzle had been counter bored, so it's been well used in it's life. Too bad I have to shelve it.
Good excuse to get another one, but still sad about it. At least I still have a 1930 Hex Tula/Izhevsk refurb I can shoot.
Welcome to the forum, that's too bad, and only the second time I have seen such a thing on a Mosin. We had one show up with a similar problem on the old board a few years ago. Well, wallhanger for sure. This also illustrates the reason why we suggest stripping down and inspecting any weapon before shooting it.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
This is a good example of why it is so important to look these over carefully. When old milsurps are sold with the disclaimer to have it checked by a competent gunsmith this is the kind of things they would be looking for. It just takes careful attention to be your own gunsmith.
I'm going to be taking my Hex apart and checking for this as well, just to make sure. As a side note, the only split case I've had had was in the '38 with the cracked receiver. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but that's what I noticed.
The split case was more likely the ammo, it happens with some lots of the older Soviet stuff we have been seeing lately. Always check a rifle, any rifle, and keep checking it each time you clean it, that's the only way to catch something like this before a catastrophic failure. You got very lucky here, win the lotto lucky.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
It loves the rear sight base, and under the action, inside the bolt. Strip the next rifle down to it's parts, a lesson I bet I don't need to explain to you now.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
It wouldn't cause any harm unless the chamber was seriously coated with it when a round was chambered and fired causing an overpressure situation. That would be extremely rare, and probably not the issue here. Shit happens sometimes and with literally millions of Mosins made it's inevitable that there will be a few that fail, that happens with any weapons platform no matter what it is or who makes it. We have no idea what abuse these rifles have seen in their long service life, but I would expect it to have been considerable.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
Wiser & older hands here alreay know this but for us newbe's it is a given that one must take each rifle completely apart and examin it befor shooting.
I go over EVERYTHING..........EVERYTHING..........and I check and recheck. Only then do I shoot them.
Havn't seen a crack like that before.......scarey indeed!!
This is a great post illustrating why it is so important to detail strip these wonderful old rifles before shooting them. Who knows what these rifles have been through and how they were handled. I am sorry to hear about your rifle but I am glad you didn't get hurt. Thanks for the post!
Hey, no one is more glad than me. I usually go out alone and shoot, so if this thing felt like failing it could have meant the end of me. Hell, even if I was at a range full of people it still could have been deadly. I'm going to strip my Hex down and look at it really close.
Sorry about your find. Be sure and note this problem for future owners. Write a note, "Danger, cracked receiver, do not shoot", and slip it in the chamber, under the barrel in the wood channel, even under the butt plate. You may be long gone when you grand kids decide to go shoot grampa's gun.
Wow sorry to see that. Time to get my Magnifier out.
"There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period."
- Ted Nugent
