Making a Mosin Nagant a Shooter

Part 1 Bedding

 

 

Here is part one of making a Mosin Nagant a shooter. Of almost all of the Mosins I have handled excluding the Finns, the bedding of the receiver section has been horrible. In the many refurbishments these rifles have gone through the stock has been swapped many times. I have found that bedding the receiver makes the biggest difference when it comes to making a Mosin accurate. I would rate this as a 5 on a scale from 1 to 10 when it comes to difficulty. This project should be undertaken by an individual who is comfortable with working with tools and is knowledgeable of firearms and the workings with a Mosin. This is NOT the correct way of doing a bedding job, but I am working with a $100 rifle and I am not going to spend $50 on materials. I came up with this method and found it to work wonderfully but yet has a minimal cost of materials. Total time to complete this project should be approximately 1hr work time and a 24hr cure time.

 

Required materials:

Brake cleaner, Heavy gear oil, drill and bits, JB Quick weld, rags, and a woodworking clamp.

1. This is one of the most important steps you take. Do a little research on your rifle and make sure it is not, I repeat, NOT a collectable rifle. There are many resources on the internet that will help you identify a collectible and valuable rifle. Although Mosins are cheap, there are some very valuable and collectible specimens floating around.
   
2. Remove the rifle from the stock. Strip the receiver all the way down to nothing but a barreled receiver. Remove the trigger assembly and the interrupter assembly.
   
3. Put a little brake cleaner on a rag and wipe the INSIDE of the stock around where the receiver sits to remove any residual cosmoline. Take a little time with this and use a small acid brush if needed. You need to be sure the cosmoline is completely gone or the bedding will not stick to the stock. Be cautious with brake cleaner as this will remove the original shellac on the stock.
   
4. Take a small drill bit and drill some little divots in the stock around where the chamber is and the tang of the receiver sits. These little divots should not be deep but they will give the bedding something to “bite” into. If the wood of the stock is completely soaked in cosmo I take a small chisel and just scrape away the surface layer of wood.
   
5. Take an acid brush and coat the receiver of the gun and the rear half of the barrel in a heavy oil. I prefer a heavy gear oil. The oil acts as a release agent so that once the bedding material cures the barreled receiver can be removed from the stock. The bedding compound will not stick to the oil. Go liberal with the oil making sure to get into every nook and cranny including the threaded screw holes. If you miss a spot, there is a chance your rifle could be permanently bonded to the stock. This is a bad thing. Always test your release agent with the bedding compound you are using. Mix a small batch of compound up and coat a small scrap object such as a piece of brass in release agent. Put the small piece in the compound and let it sit. Once dry try removing the piece of brass. If it comes out effortlessly then the release agent should work.
   
6. Take some masking tape and put it around the outside of the stock where the receiver sits. Take a sharp shop knife and trim the masking tape around the profile of the stock where the receiver sits. The purpose of the masking tape is to catch any dribbles or spills of the bedding compound. As you press the barreled receiver into the stock the excess bedding compound will ooze out.
   
7. Mix a descent sized batch of bedding compound. I actually prefer to use JB Quick Weld. It’s cheap and from my experience it seems to work quite well for this application. Put the JB weld on the stock around where the chamber sits, the forward lug, and the rear tang. I put quite a bit of the compound on, and just remove the excess.
   
8. Take a small clamp and in the middle of the receiver put pressure on the receiver pushing down into the stock. This pushes the receiver into the JB weld and presses out the excess.
   
9. Wipe up all the drips and dribbles of excess JB Weld using a rag. I like to use cleaning patches. Once you wipe some excess off, toss cleaning patch in the trash. Use them like mini rags. Once the excess is removed, remove the masking tape on the stock and wipe up any excess that remains.
   
10. Let the barreled receiver sit in the stock at a minimum overnight. You want it to fully cure before trying to remove the rifle from the stock. If the bedding compound is not fully cured, it has a possibility of warping or cracking when you remove the stock.
    
11. After waiting overnight, you are ready to remove the barreled receiver from the stock. First say a quick little prayer that you just didn’t glue your stock to the barreled receiver. Now with even pressure start pulling the stock away from the barreled receiver. I start at the end of the stock and work my way back giving a slow even light pressure. Don’t pull too much because you risk cracking your stock. If your release agent worked, you will hear a “POP” and the 2 will separate.
    
12. That’s it, now just take a drill bit and ream out the 2 holes for the trigger guard and trim the excess around the magazine slot in the stock. There is now a perfect impression of the barreled receiver in your stock.
    

Here is the finished product before I re-drill the holes for the front and rear action screws.

 

 

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU SCREW UP YOUR RIFLE!! This is my method of doing it and it works quite well for me. I am just sharing my way of doing it. THERE IS A CHANCE YOU CAN GLUE YOUR RIFLE TO THE STOCK! If you dont feel comfortable about the possibility of screwing up your rifle do not do this project!

 

Part 2 is bedding the trigger guard.

Nice!

Excellent Eric!

Very cool, I think this should be a sticky..

I am going to be writing as I go on a rifle that I am building my Dad. I am pulling out all of my tricks to make a tack driver so as I make progress I will do a write up. The final installment will be installing a PU sniper scope setup on it. But unfortunately my mounts are held up in customs right now so I have no clue as to when I'll get to that part.

This will be made a permanent blog. =P

perfect way to ruin a piece of history. you dont need any of that to free float the barrel.

Free floating and bedding are 2 different animals. Bedding in addition with free floating makes has a high potential for making a shooter. Now I would never do this to any of my valuable rifles, such as the M1D's, M1c, 1903a4, No4 Mk1T, or even my Rguns PU's, ... but this is a $79 rifle, and I have many, many, many more that remain untouched. If there is ever a global Mosin shortage, I am a rich man.

take a lesson from the Finn's a lot less work and always works

Well done!