Band spring broken

[Bill Hollinger]

Well my big fingers did it this time! My son and I were out shooting the Mosin-Nagant 91/30 and M44 and my the hand guard 91/30 kept kept sliding forward and past the band spring. I kept pushing it back in place and it kept sliding forward as I shot. So, me being a little frustrated with it, I pulled out on the band spring so it would put more pressure on the band. Well you guessed it, it snapped!

Is there a good place to pick one of these up on the cheap? I looked on eBay and they are all $10.00 to $15.00 and plus shipping on some. TIA

[jmoore]

Don't know about finding a cheaper spring other than checking the local shops and finding a discarded stock or fore end. But the real mystery is keep ing those errant handguards in place! Why do some rifles insist on being ornery and others don't?

[Bill Hollinger]

Are you saying yours slides forward also? I just thought it was mine

[Aragorn243]

You could just throw that rifle away and get another one.

Seriously, I'd keep my eye out for a sale of parts from someone who put a synthetic stock on his. Might cost a bit more but you'll have spares for other things too. I've seen them on ebay before.

[Bill Hollinger]

I put a bid on a set of two. We'll see

[jmoore]

Are you saying yours slides forward also? I just thought it was mine

There's a couple...

I understand the need for a handguard and why it was added to the '91 (after the fact in the case of this rifle's initial design and fielding) and '91/30, but it seems only the Finns got it right more often than not. I would think a slightly wider rear band would have done the job on the 91-30.

I can imagine the junk that got frozen to the early '91 barrels causing blocked sights and other consternation. Probably as big a problem or bigger than "too hot" barrels causing burns...

[Bill Hollinger]

Well the hot barrels I get. Jeff and I shot his M44 the other day until grease oozed out from the stock and action. It was so hot, the wood could barely be touched. Good times!

[bangstick]

Can u tell me what spring your refering to cant picture it! Steyr95carbine,Russian mosin Mdl44,Mdl91,Yugo48a,yugo24/47,yugo/59/66, 1936k31primo,CZ52.

[Bill Hollinger]

Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rear barrel band spring.

[Patrick Chadwick]

So why not just silver-solder the pieces together? The whole band spring was probably made from moderately high-carbon steel, so even if it is heated to silver-soldering temperature (about 670 degrees C) it will not go dead soft, but should remain springy enough for the purpose. And a silver-solder joint can be blackened afterwards, so it's really just a question of a bit of skill with a blowtorch.

I use a small butane torch for this kind of job, and the secret is to take the trouble to have the parts clean and fixed in position (iron fence wire is useful for making impromptu jigs) before applying the flame, otherwise you need 4 hands!