wife bought a M44 Mosin Nagant as a nice gift for me attempemting tooad rifle with Mosin Nagant stripper clips Not doing well What do I need to know? Thanks
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wife bought a M44 Mosin Nagant as a nice gift for me attempemting tooad rifle with Mosin Nagant stripper clips Not doing well What do I need to know? Thanks
Didnt mean to thank you for the post. Hah
I do not own a Mosin, I have a Kar98k, but the loading methods should be the same. When pushing down on the stripper rounds, push down with your thumb on the part of the bullet closest to the clip (the base). Otherwise you will "bend" the bullet against the clip and no sliding motion will occur.
The brass stripper clips don't seem to be as easy to use as the steel. It takes a bit more practice than some other varieties of rifles to find the best technique. Don't be gentle! That said, you'll bend some clips beyond repair at first, but they were made to be disposable.
I have some Hungarian heavy ball that came loaded on strippers. They physically will not work in any of my MN's. They seem to be made of material that is too thick to allow the rounds to be pushed through with any reasonable amount of force.
Whilst the brass strippers will destroy themselves during a failed loading operation, sometimes the steel ones are too tough to use. make sure they're not a real tight fit in the rifle before using and get them to bottom out before mashing down on the rounds themselves. Gloves may minimize blood loss! Do keep that thumb right next to the stripper whilst pushing the rounds into the mag and wiggle them a bit as you go. Gritting your teeth may also help as well as playing MG42 (or MG08/13 for WWI Mosins) firing sounds really loudly!
Conducted loading trials yesterday w/ 91/30's and a Westinghouse '91
Ammo-
Steel cased laquered (Czech)
Steel cased copper washed (USSR)
Brass case (Chinese and unknown origin 5-pointed star headstamp)
Brass and steel clips/chargers
The 91/30's were easier to load than the '91 as it had a nicely machined but tight charger slot. Mess up w/ the Westinghouse and things really got stuck!
Easier to mess up w/ brass clips- they would seize up w/ less force applied and would often spew rounds out in all directions.
Properly executed, no real difference in force required regardless of clip or case type!
For best results, MAKE DADGUMMED SURE that you DO NOT allow the top of the clip to pivot forward- this will stop everything cold! I found that it was easiest to execute repeated flawless loads whilst grasping the rifle w/ the left hand at the "grasping grooves" , muzzle upwards at about 30 degrees and then seating the clip all the way in the slot (w/o forcing into the mag well!), then positioning the right thumb slightly rearwards w/ the tip actually between the lips of the clip. When pressing down the rounds, maintain REARWARD pressure w/ the thumb so that the clip remains 90 degrees to the action or w/ the top tipped slightly to the rear.
No dramas unless your thumb won't fit at all between the charger lips- a little is all that is needed! DO NOT press the rounds in with a forward position on the rounds; the clip will surely rotate forward and bind.
Again, the steel stripper clips are more forgiving. No lube used!
Once you've done a few good loads its quite easy if there's nothing out of spec. Practice! (I even did these trials right handed just to make sure it all works the same because I normally do it from the LH position.)
Mosin chargers are a serious waste of time and money. Most repros are about worthless, and the originals are hard to find and expensive, and usually many are actually repros anyway.
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Originally Posted by MIKE33
Do keep that thumb right next to the stripper whilst pushing the rounds into the mag and wiggle them a bit as you go. Gritting your teeth may also help as well as playing MG42 (or MG08/13 for WWI Mosins) firing sounds really loudly! 
