First Mosin & a Couple of Questions

[WeldonHunter]

Ok I just went and checked a rifle. That area is slightly lower than the rest of the rim. It's deceiving because it's down inside there. I took the bolt out and used a flashlight and a small screw driver to feel it and it is lower. We need clearer pictures of yours still though.

[Longcolt44]

I don't like what I am seeing, I hope I'm wrong. That, "flake", looks to me like the end of a broken casing when the head of the cartridge is separated from the shell. We definitely need better pictures to see better. Resize your pictures down to at least 640X800, it helps in getting better pictures. Don't panic, if it is a broken shell it can be fixed. This problem sometimes from bad headspace or sometimes it is just that bullet was faulty.

[Tuck]

I tried to get more pics, but it's really hard to get the problem area well. The best way I can describe it is that the thinner area of the chamber face is recessed well past the thicker one (WeldonHunter, was yours excessively lower?). I checked out a couple of Mosins at a local gun shop today. Both of them had much better chamber faces & the thinner area had a flat, even face. Mine is actually worn to an almost sharp point & it's jagged. I don't know if that's extractor wear or what. The really frustrating part is that I don't know if it's really a problem for shooting or how serious it could be. Hell, maybe the wear is partly why the extractor works so well & the rifle works great lol, or maybe the wear could contribute to stress fractures down the road, I don't know. I may break down & take it to a gunsmith. Maybe one would be willing to just look for free, but forking out money on it sort of defeats the purpose of a cheap surplus rifle. That's my typical luck though & it's why I'm a realist (see sig).

I also have a bad spot in the bolt that needs attention. When opening the bolt, it hangs up bad just before full vertical. I've been watching youtube vids on how to smooth it out. Doesn't seem overly difficult. I was hoping it was due to caked up grease, but again, that's not my luck. That shows what being optimistic does for me.

On another note, the 91/30 I saw today was a refurbed, non-matching 1929 (I think) Tula hex receiver. I didn't inspect it much, other than the chamber face, but while the metal was ok, the bore could've been better & the stock wasn't great. It had an aftermarket recoil pad on the stock too. Does it really command $250 these days? If so, I guess I'm too late for serious collecting. It didn't seem that special.

Anyway, I appreciate all of the help. If nothing else, I've learned a lot from Mr. Izhevsk already.

[djbuck1]

The market is volatile right now, so it's difficult to make a call on this. The last re-furb ex-dragoon I purchased was a nice 1923 Izhevsk that I found a month ago on GB for just under $170, not including shipping. Some sellers are asking way more than that, but they're not getting any takers.

Don't expect any milsurp to look pristine. I was always pretty selective back in the day when you could pick and choose M91/30 refurbs right off the rack at Cabela's. Even with that, the stocks show small dings and even an occasional scratch here and there.

I don't think you're too late, but you're going to have to look long and hard I suspect.

[WeldonHunter]

I tried to get more pics, but it's really hard to get the problem area well. The best way I can describe it is that the thinner area of the chamber face is recessed well past the thicker one (WeldonHunter, was yours excessively lower?). I checked out a couple of Mosins at a local gun shop today. Both of them had much better chamber faces & the thinner area had a flat, even face. Mine is actually worn to an almost sharp point & it's jagged. I don't know if that's extractor wear or what. The really frustrating part is that I don't know if it's really a problem for shooting or how serious it could be. Hell, maybe the wear is partly why the extractor works so well & the rifle works great lol, or maybe the wear could contribute to stress fractures down the road, I don't know. I may break down & take it to a gunsmith. Maybe one would be willing to just look for free, but forking out money on it sort of defeats the purpose of a cheap surplus rifle. That's my typical luck though & it's why I'm a realist (see sig).

I also have a bad spot in the bolt that needs attention. When opening the bolt, it hangs up bad just before full vertical. I've been watching youtube vids on how to smooth it out. Doesn't seem overly difficult. I was hoping it was due to caked up grease, but again, that's not my luck. That shows what being optimistic does for me.

On another note, the 91/30 I saw today was a refurbed, non-matching 1929 (I think) Tula hex receiver. I didn't inspect it much, other than the chamber face, but while the metal was ok, the bore could've been better & the stock wasn't great. It had an aftermarket recoil pad on the stock too. Does it really command $250 these days? If so, I guess I'm too late for serious collecting. It didn't seem that special.

Anyway, I appreciate all of the help. If nothing else, I've learned a lot from Mr. Izhevsk already.

Don't give up on it yet. The part your talking about on my rifles is lower by maybe a millimeter or less. They are almost sharp too. Without pictures I can't tell you much more. I'd be careful doing stuff you see on youtube to fix things. If it's the cams that are causing it to hang up sometimes just some oil or grease on certain places will help. Is it hanging up with a round in the chamber or without? These rifles are not going to be smooth like a modern rifle so don't be to quick to "fix" perceived problem with them because you might make things worse. I'd concentrate on making sure the chamber is safe first. I just took some pictures of a different rifle's chamber and you can see a bit better what that area looks like we're talking about. I used a flashlight as an additional light source because it's dark outside. Just be patient. Try to get some clearer pictures even if you have to do it outside in natural light. Try a bunch of different angles with the camera and the lighting. As for the price of the rifle you described, $250 is way high even in today's market. The fighting in Ukraine and the embargo on Russia has the market shorted right now. Here's a list of some other online sources to show you what these are going for. The list is small now but hopefully this won't be the case indefinitely. I have a friend that's an importer of mostly surplus ammo from Ukraine and other sources in that part of the world and he told me last week things are mostly on hold for now. He thinks things will open back up once Putin stops screwing with Ukraine. The really need to sell what they still have if the Russians haven't taken it. http://gun-deals.com/index.php?dealtype ... 4&subcat=5

[Tuck]

I'm not counting it out at all. I really want to fire it, I just want it safe to do so. I'll see if I can try for more pics again tonight. I'm good with the old school operations of Mosins, I think that's part of what makes them interesting. I have a 72 Ford Bronco that still has a 3 on the tree as well. The bolt has a definite hang point though, feels as if it has a detent where it shouldn't. I'm pretty sure it's at the cam. I'm skeptical of everything on the web, so YouTube is more of a guide than a how to. I don't care to slick it up or do a trigger job, I just want the hang point gone. Oh, it hangs with or without a round.

With the current sitting president, & Hillary the likely next one, I don't see Putin feeling any real threat, so who knows how that'll shake out.

[Tuck]

I think these pics are about as good as it gets. It's still hard to see how sharp & rough the thin area is. There's a ding in it too, as well as in the thicker area. I can take it to a gunsmith on Monday who may check it for free, I'm not sure. I don't know when my headspace gauges will be here, so I have some time to kill, unless I leave for Arizona next week, then it'll be quite a while before anything happens. This may be good enough to shoot, but I'd like a warm fuzzy on it, or a willing volunteer to fire the first 5 lol.

[Tuck]

WeldonHunter, after looking at your pics again after I posted, the cutout area seems the same, although the flake came from this area. I'm assuming that's ok for the extractor.

[Vendetta]

I almost lost my dinner when I read cerakote. Welcome to the forum.

[WeldonHunter]

My main point about the youtube stuff is there's all kind of guys with fixes for things that don't need fixing. If you come across something and are considering doing it you might want to run it by us here to see if it's even something to try. From the pictures I can see there's something strange about that chamber. The area where you asked if it's damaged below the extractor channel. That probably isn't going to affect anything. The other parts looks like there's some unevenness around the face of the chamber and it looks like that area where the relief for the extractor starts is lower than usual. Again I know you've tried with the pictures but they're still a but unclear. To much light reflection. That's sometimes the problem trying to help out via pictures. I don't feel confident enough to tell you whether it's something to be concerned with or not. If it was in hand I'd be able to tell you better but this is a safety issue. It may be ok but I'm not sure.

[Tuck]

I almost lost my dinner when I read cerakote. Welcome to the forum.

Lol. Thanks. Just seeing if anyone was awake.

I'll probably let the gunsmith take a look at it. Might help to check headspace when the gauges come too. Hopefully it's more cosmetic, I don't know. I've been inspecting aircraft for almost 30 years, so I tend to notice imperfections (that actually kills me when I look at my project truck). Had the rifle not been so gunked up, I would've seen that before I bought it. Anyway, like I said, it's giving me a heck of an education on Mosins. I hope it's ok. Even if it's a refurb, I like the look of it a lot & it's grown on me. As for the bolt, I'm going to try greasing it to see if it'll loosen up before I do anything else. I appreciate the help so far with the rifle. There's a lot of knowledge on the board.

[WeldonHunter]

I almost lost my dinner when I read cerakote. Welcome to the forum.

Lol. Thanks. Just seeing if anyone was awake.

I'll probably let the gunsmith take a look at it. Might help to check headspace when the gauges come too. Hopefully it's more cosmetic, I don't know. I've been inspecting aircraft for almost 30 years, so I tend to notice imperfections (that actually kills me when I look at my project truck). Had the rifle not been so gunked up, I would've seen that before I bought it. Anyway, like I said, it's giving me a heck of an education on Mosins. I hope it's ok. Even if it's a refurb, I like the look of it a lot & it's grown on me. As for the bolt, I'm going to try greasing it to see if it'll loosen up before I do anything else. I appreciate the help so far with the rifle. There's a lot of knowledge on the board.

Make sure you have disassembled the bolt completely and cleaned it internally. Then reassemble it and reset the firing pin protrusion. I can't find the post about it but Millman put some pictures up, I think, of where to put some grease to help ease opening the bolt. Remember that these rifles recock on opening so you're compressing the firing pin spring on open. Ok I found it. http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... 5&p=278786

[WeldonHunter]

I forgot one thing. Jim aka JunkYardDog did a few videos on the bolt. He shows how to disassemble and reassemble it and check firing pin protrusion here http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... =66&t=9544 and here http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... 66&t=11475

[Tuck]

The bolt was completely disassembled & cleaned, but it has always hung up just shy of full vertical. I'll take a look at the cam area in the video & see if I can rectify it.

I've read so much of this site already that my eyes are crossed. Of course I should've come here BEFORE I bought the weapon, but it was an impulse buy on an outwardly great looking rifle. There are so many more things I'll be looking for on my next one, if there are any to be found around here, all thanks to this site! It's good to have gurus available. Sucks to be a newbie, but I'm much less of one than I was. I won't consider myself experienced at all until I can put some holes in paper, no matter how much time I spend on cleaning & assembly.

[WeldonHunter]

The bolt was completely disassembled & cleaned, but it has always hung up just shy of full vertical. I'll take a look at the cam area in the video & see if I can rectify it.

I've read so much of this site already that my eyes are crossed. Of course I should've come here BEFORE I bought the weapon, but it was an impulse buy on an outwardly great looking rifle. There are so many more things I'll be looking for on my next one, if there are any to be found around here, all thanks to this site! It's good to have gurus available. Sucks to be a newbie, but I'm much less of one than I was. I won't consider myself experienced at all until I can put some holes in paper, no matter how much time I spend on cleaning & assembly.

The chamber issue is most important right now. If it turns out the rifle is ok to shoot you might find simply using the rifle will help with the bolt issue along with a little grease in the areas pointed out in that thread. Keep in mind these rifles are made from parts of many other rifles and that includes the bolts. The bolts on these rifles were assembled from the parts of bolts from other rifles that the wear surfaces had seated to each other and now they need to do that with the new bolt surfaces.

[Tuck]

Got a little feel good. Headspace gauges came in & it checks good. If I can get the smithy to look at it Monday & say it's ok, this thing goes to the range at the 1st opportunity.