The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

hello, I'm new to the board and new to MN's. looking for info on this rifle and curious about some circumference difference in the barrel just outside the nose cap. it is hard to see in the photos of the barrel that I currently have but there is no doubt that you can feel the barrel swell just in front of nose cap apprx 3-3 1/2" down from end of the barrel. is it poor workmanship i.e. bad milling? doesn't appear to be any damage inside of barrel it just appears to swell for appx 1 inch of the barrel at that location. bought for my teenage son but I won't let him fire it until I figure out if the barrel is dangerous or not. thanks will try to get better pics of swelling to post later. like I said it's definitely there but hard to see in photo.

Pics would help. My old eyes can't make out the shank date. What kind of Mosin is this?

qz2026 wrote:Pics would help. My old eyes can't make out the shank date. What kind of Mosin is this?

Looks like a 1942 Izhevsk.

Must be the Viagra in the surplus ammo

Miller Tyme wrote:Must be the Viagra in the surplus ammo

millman wrote:

qz2026 wrote:Pics would help. My old eyes can't make out the shank date. What kind of Mosin is this?

Looks like a 1942 Izhevsk.

if you look in the original post I asked for help in identifying the rifle first... hence the receiver end pics...... then, as I said in original post - the pics of the barrel swelling is hard to see (in my current pics) and I will post more pics of that later... also I said I am new to Mosin's but from what little I know and I'm also guessing here its a 91/30 1942 Izhevsk but this is my first MN so I'm nowhere close to an expert. and don't know why the date looks more like 1972 than 1942 but I assume it has to be 42

has anyone seen any barrels that have bad milling resulting in what appears to be oversized portion of barrel i.e. swelling?

Odds are that it is fine. In 1942 cosmetic quality control was pretty much out the window. Pics will tell. Another way to tell is push a patch through the bore. If it gets looser at the apparent swelled area, then it is bulged. If it stays the same as in the rest of the bore, the "swelling" will be an external cosmetic issue.

Here are some pics. ill try to get more. you can see that the last four inches of barrel also appear to be repainted.

Looks like rough wartime maching practices to me but maybe my eyes decieve me.

That is a classic spot to find a "ring" in a barrel caused by the momentary buildup of high pressure behind a bullet when the rifle is fired with something like dirt plugging the muzzle. Easy way to tell, remove bolt, point the end of the receiver at a strong light source and then look in the muzzle, if you see an area of rifling a few inches in that looks like a dark ring around the bore and all the rest of the rifling reflects light normally then the barrel is done. It's a wallhanger at that point. No, it won't explode the next time it's fired but accuracy will be finished and ammo is too expensive to waste. On the other hand rough finish work is expected on a wartime built rifle, most especially one made during the USSR's darkest hour. That barrel looks fairly clean for a 1942.

I would also think when you run a tight patch down the bore from the muzzle you would also feel a bulge if there is indeed one there.

I will try that tomorrow. thanks for the advice

Is there a machined in taper in the barrel from receiver out to the crown? A thousand or two at the receiver then down to factory specs at the tip. (Hope I explained myself properly).

John

You can also lay a straightedge along the barrel as close as you can to the muzzle and down the barrel. Any outside bulge will show up.

There's no doubt from your photos that the barrel is of a wider diameter there. But unless it's a digital artifact, the bulge looks stepped. That's the result of turning, not swelling. Every time I look down a bore I "think" I see irregularities. Get one of those bore lights so you're not just reacting to dirt, rust, or uneven sunlight. Turn the barrel as you shine the light down it. None of my Mosins are shiny inside, so I can't go by irregularities in the reflection the way you can with a shotgun barrel.

When it comes to wartime Mosins irregularity is the regularity, I am only surprised what I don't see something that is a bit off.

JYD has the right of it.

Junk Yard Dog wrote:When it comes to wartime Mosins irregularity is the regularity, I am only surprised what I don't see something that is a bit off.

Any Military rifle made in the heat of a shooting war that has machine work done to it is suspect. That basically says one thing, they all are suspect! When a barrel has suspect looking machine work obvious on the exterior of the barrel I always wonder what other surprises it has in store for me? I have a buddy who collects K98's and German stuff. He has about a half dozen unsafe to fire rifles that were made by slave labor to arm German soldiers and were sabotaged by the labor force. He covets these rifles most of all the rifles he owns. When all of us try and get a rifle that is war time dated how often have you thought of the quick and nasty machine work that may have went into those rifles? Otto may have had a lot of homemade Vodka the night before he made your rifle to try and forget the horrors on the war? You just never know!

Milsurps come with a legacy of the horror of the war they fought in and no warrantee's! Try and remember that when you grab a new looking refurb next time and head for the range with no safety checks or cleaning. The responsibility for doing those checks falls right on you and no one else! Bill

One thing about the wartime Mosins, I have yet to see one of them that looks as rough or crude as a Japanese last ditch type 99, they were truly shit. The Soviets didn't let things slide that far, and with countless thousands of wartime built Mosins in collectors hands I haven't seen a report of too many problems, or any that I can recall just now. However remember with any of these rifles wartime or not, Finn, Russian, German or whatever, they are antiques used 50-100+ years ago. It's best not to push them too much any more than you would take a Model T Ford out of a museum and run it down the interstate as fast as it will go. Bad things can happen.