I just bought my first Mosin Nagant and it is the M44 version. I got it for $180 and though I love it to death, it has caused me some minor headaches.

 

Going to make a long story short here:

Took it to the range the and shot 1 round through it. I pulled up the bolt to eject the round and it got stuck. Range Master gave it the "Soviet slap" and it released. He then fires another round but then the bolt wouldn't go forward.

 

Go home and my Green Beret neighbor gets the bolt to function again but it keeps stick. Also, the gun has a nasty hair trigger and sometimes goes off if you smack the bolt.

 

He recommended cleaning the hell out of it so I tried traditional gun oil with little change to the smoothness of the action. Today, I have sense scrubbed the chamber with acetone and a toothbrush while letting the bolt sit in acetone for hours. I've gotten VERY little cosmoline out of either which tells me the previous owner already did this.

 

I then found someone used a 20 gauge brush attached to a drill to clean the chamber so I did that as well. The bolt is still sticky but not as bad as it was. Though the trigger is still very loose!

 

If you smack it on the side, butt or even just TOUCH the bolt, it sets off the firing pin.

 

Suggestions? Recommendations for a gunsmith?

Non-chlorinated brake cleaner (green label) cleans cosmo and gunk like nothing else.

Non-chlorinated brake cleaner (green label) cleans cosmo and gunk like nothing else.

 

I have cleaned it with acetone as I said. I also cleaned the bolt with boiling water after. No cosmo is left on that sucker.

 

The major issue is the hair trigger now.

Im not a gunsmith!

Now that we got that out of the way... I had a similar issue with a Mosin (98-30). Strip the gun down to nothing but parts. The trigger works on a spring that catches the firing pin as you close the bolt. This spring may need some serious cleaning. Mine actually had a burr on it and a little work with a diamond file fixed the problem. The burr was causing it to not keep the firing pin because of poor contact. As for the sticking bolt, I use a very light coating of Tetra gun grease on it and it helps.....a lot!

Sorry for the crummy description. I hope it helps you some.

Ken

Hello,

I also have a M44 and they are wonderful guns! I am not a gun smith but I tend to think that the bolt has cosmoline in it. I would completely disassemble the bolt by following the video below. It might also be a weak spring in the bolt but I would completely clean and lube the bolt first to see it that helps.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzbpkvYA-iY

 

Thanks!

Hello,

I also have a M44 and they are wonderful guns! I am not a gun smith but I tend to think that the bolt has cosmoline in it. I would completely disassemble the bolt by following the video below. It might also be a weak spring in the bolt but I would completely clean and lube the bolt first to see it that helps.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzbpkvYA-iY

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks but I have cleaned this bolt so thoroughly that you could eat off it. I took it apart, let it sit in acetone. Scrubbed it in the acetone with a toothbrush. Then I cleaned it off with boiling water and finally put a coat of Remington oil on it.

I did some further research and found a thread on the AR15.com website which you can check out at the link below. One instance which caught my eye was the post at the bottom from ComBlocGunner which said that he fixed the slam fire issue with his Nagant by "I fixed mine. The problem I determined, was that the sear was not preotruding up into the reciever far enough to stop the cocking knob from moving forward. The solution was to take the sear out, and Dremel the underside of the reciever where the sear rests on it. After a little material had been ground out, the sear went farther up and now there are zero slamfires." I am not sure if this is same issue you are having but its a good place to start.

 

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=14&t=330964

I did some further research and found a thread on the AR15.com website which you can check out at the link below. One instance which caught my eye was the post at the bottom from ComBlocGunner which said that he fixed the slam fire issue with his Nagant by "I fixed mine. The problem I determined, was that the sear was not preotruding up into the reciever far enough to stop the cocking knob from moving forward. The solution was to take the sear out, and Dremel the underside of the reciever where the sear rests on it. After a little material had been ground out, the sear went farther up and now there are zero slamfires." I am not sure if this is same issue you are having but its a good place to start.

 

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=14&t=330964

 

Good find

The first step with any milsurplus gun should be stripping it down to its smallest parts, removing all the gunk, and checking the parts for wear and damage. This includes the trigger components, because until you take them all out and inspect them you don't know if someone took a file to them, if they are worn out, or if there is a bit of dirt or a rock or a primer or whatever stuck on the components making them misbehave. I went through a phase were I spent lots of time fiddling with milsurplus rifles (Mausers in particular).

Alright, despite many of you insisting that I clean my gun 10 times over... I took it to an actual gunsmith for a diagnosis. He said some Bubba wanna-be gunsmith went and filed down the sear in hopes of making the trigger lighter for his dainty fingers. He ended up making it worthless.

 

I just ordered a new sear and trigger assembly to see if replacing it works.

Glad to hear it. I think a lot of us are on autopilot when answering questions about surplus guns because they usually come down to: clean it.

Glad to hear it. I think a lot of us are on autopilot when answering questions about surplus guns because they usually come down to: clean it.

 

Which I can respect to some certain degree but I felt like you guys were beating a dead horse on that one. If anyone has any advice on replacing a sear, I'm all ears though. That one I am not practiced at.

punch the trigger pivot pin. Unscrew the screw that holds the sear in, remove the entire assembly. To install put the sear inside the trigger, put the assembly in the gun, install the trigger pin and tighten the screw that holds the sear. Maybe 30 seconds max. Really easy fix.

Which is why I said the FIRST step is to clean and INSPECT every part because someone might have taken a file to then. It could be Bubba or it could have been a bored Russian equivalent 60years ago.

I have remedied the hair trigger and bolt issues. But now it looks like the follower assembly is another problem! It is very loose and the reason it seems to be loose is because the pin on the magazine is loose (it moves side to side slightly). Is there any way to tighten this pin? I have tried with pliers and wrenches but it won't budge or squeeze.