*Mosin Nagant Ammo Problem (Need help)

Hey guys

I just bought a 20 pack of some Military surplus stuff, full metal jacket, silver tip.

I went out to the range last saturday, and I fired the first round... I tried to pull the bolt up and it wouldn't unlock. So I just placed the gun, with the bolt facing down on the bench and just put all my weight on it, it finally unlocked and the bullet case lost it's shineyness.

Does it happen to your guys' guns too? What can i do to stop this problem? It's essentially a sticky bolt problem, how do i get rid of it, it's really bad.https://www.milsurps.com/images/imported/deleted.gif

Thats the ammo I use, left one is brass case, right is the military stuff.

Buff the chamber to a mirror finish and keep it very, very lightly lubricated. This works well with many but not all my guns. I have an SA marked 1923 vintage 91/30 and a 1970's sneak target that are just plain stubborn ejectors. I've done every trick in the book with those two but they still put up a fight, good luck-SDH

I've read quite a few complaints about Czech silver tips sticking in the chamber. As sdh says buffing the chamber usually helps.

When the heat and humidity gets going m MN won't cycle the heavy ball well. I just take a piece of 2x4 and whack the bolt open. :madsmile:

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Originally Posted by happydude

When the heat and humidity gets going m MN won't cycle the heavy ball well. I just take a piece of 2x4 and whack the bolt open. :madsmile:

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I watched a guy at a shoot recently shoot a MN, he had to whack the bolt handle with his hand to get it open...perhaps it's a feature of the things?

yes that silver tip stuff tends to cause the bolt to stick. I believe its the coating they put on the cases to preserve the ammo that heats up and then sticks.

I don't recomend using lube on cases as your going to end up with all the force straight back on the bolt face and not the chamber walls.

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Originally Posted by woodchopper

yes that silver tip stuff tends to cause the bolt to stick. I believe its the coating they put on the cases to preserve the ammo that heats up and then sticks.

I don't recomend using lube on cases as your going to end up with all the force straight back on the bolt face and not the chamber walls.

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Whatever it may be, I'll take a No 4 Enfield over a MN any day...

It's not case lacquer, it's the mild steel cases. they are designed for use in a semi-auto. In a bolt cation, the cases over-expand and grip the chamber walls.

If you use brass cases in that same rifle, it will start working like butter again :)

Yep, hit the nail on the head. The steel case hardness has a lot to do with CZ silvertip locking a bolt up. Hungarian LB is also steel cased but must be made of a milder steel, they cycle like brass would. I have over 20 MNs and some experianced a sticking bolt. I cleaned the chambers with a .410 shot gun brush wrapped with a patch. I used laquer thinner first to cut all the hardened cosmolene and then went to Hoppes cleaner. The rifles would then cycle ok, not like a brass shell would, buy you don't need to pound the bolt open with a 2x4. Actually the CZ silvertip seems to be one of the more accurate and reliable surplus loads, I like it.

ah that explains it,

The Hungarian ammo is "brass washed" steel cased and that makes the difference

Also check to make sure you got all the cosmo out of the reciever area where the bolt locks up with the lugs...

This is often the cause of sticky bolts.

Never had a problem with my MN and about 2000 rounds of czech silvertip...

I used to have sticking problems with some of my hungarian surplus, i cleaned the chamber and cleared all the grunge out of the bolt face. What a difference!

I've had similar problems with CZECH ammo in my SKS, after it gets warm, the cases stick. The CZECH ammo is also the most corrosive ammo I've ever used!

Do as Cosmo says. I used a chamber brush mounted on a drill , dipped in a lacquer thinner and rotated slowly in the chamber. Depending on how dirty yours is it may take a several times of repeating the process, but so far it worked for me every time. As far as the Czech ammo ,this is one of most accurate 7.62x54R on the market. If you have a chance , it's good to heat up the chamber (shoot the rifle) and than clean it while warm (temperature softens the hardened cosmoline in the chamber).

I used a 12 gauge wire brush connected to a section of shotgun cleaning rod chucked into my power drill. Dipped the brush in some good ol' Hoppes number 9 and spun the drill. Repeated a couple times then used a 20 gauge mop to clean the gunk raised out of the chamber.

No more sticky bolt.

In the 70's and 80's I shot a lot of steel cased Russian ammo from the 1930's that the Finns had captured and then surplused off in the US about 1960. It was all steel cased, copper washed, and had no difficulties with extraction.

With all the surplus I've seen since 1995, the brass cased stuff is no problem, and the only rifle I can get the steel case to freely extract from is a new-condition M39.

Buy some Bulgarian, try to find some Albanian, or maybe get some brass-cased commercial, and your problem will go away.

CDD