I've heard of the problems regarding the mosin sticky bolt. however is the sticky bolt problem in anyway related with having failiers to extract the shell upon opening the bolt?? This started happening for me after putting about 20 rounds through once the built up some heat. Some rounds i would open the bolt and eject no problem, some the bolt would lightly stick but still eject once opened, and others would not extract despite opening the bolt ( where the bolt stuck or not).

 

Since the problems seemed to vary with different conditions, I dont know if this is totally seperate issue from the sticky bolt issues.

sticky bolt is caused by two things, burrs and cosmoline. Inspect your spent brass for any common scratch marks. That may indicate you have a burr that is making extraction difficult. Once you get 20rds through the gun, some of that cosmoline heats up and creates a glue making extraction difficult. Search youtube for a solution on how to get all of the the cosmoline out.... its relatively easy.

Check your brass. If you see cracks in it, that can be the cause of a stuck bolt.

cracked brass??? From what?

thanks guys. i'm aware that most likely the cause of the sticky bolt is some cosmo + lacquered shell combination. But i just want to see if i possibly have another problem on top of the sticky bolt. Hopefully once the cosmo is all gone I wont have any problems removing the shell, but if the bolt stops sticking and the shells are still stuck im going to pissed. haha

cracked brass??? From what?

 

Because a lot of that surplus ammo is ancient and not always of the highest quality. Also, because some of the chambers on Mosins are oversized enough that the brass swells beyond its capacity to stretch.

Another option is to cut ONE loop out of your bolt spring. The spring is responsible for the overall tension on the bolt, and how hard the primer is struck. Cutting off one loop will make the bolt easier to open, but cutting off too much will make the rifle inoperable. I cut a half loop off mine.

 

If you don't have any spent shells handy, just run your finger around the chamber area and see if you feel any burrs, etc.

Yea, I dont have any spent casings, but I examined them briefly at the range and I didnt see any issues with the casings. Cleaning yesterday I also did not notice any burrs, everything looked smooth. Ill take a closer look later today when I get home.

you may need to tune your extractor. Take the bolt head off, tap the extractor off with hammer and punch and bend the extractor just a little bit inwards. Put the extractor back on and try again. You may need to do a little at a time, remember baby steps. It is common to need to do this on refurb mosins, and it is a really easy fix.

you may need to tune your extractor. Take the bolt head off, tap the extractor off with hammer and punch and bend the extractor just a little bit inwards. Put the extractor back on and try again. You may need to do a little at a time, remember baby steps. It is common to need to do this on refurb mosins, and it is a really easy fix.

 

 

Well i cleaned the crap out of the mosin and went shooting on saturday.. the sticky bolt went away, the extraction problem did not.. I will take your advice and work on the extractor.