I have two cans of surplus ammo from two different batches, both from Factory 188. One of my Mosins does not like the first batch (damn hard to open the bolt), and it really scratches the cartridges from the second batch (silver tip round). My other Mosin will feed both batches, but scratches the cartridge from the first batch (the batch that won't feed into the other Mosin).

 

 

Is this normal for Mosins? Can I use the ammo or am I damaging the rifles?

on the one that is hard to open the bolt ,, take the bolt out and take a 12 gauge brass brush on a cleaning rod then put it in a cordless drill , dip it in your cleaning solution then polish the chamber .

 

on the one leaving the marks look for burs around the leading edge of the chamber , maybe change out the follower from the other gun .

 

Or mark the round with a fine tip sharpie and place the mark up, then chamber the round at least this will tell you where its hitting .

Normal. The Soviets didn't build their rifles to function smoothly. Beat the crap out of it, it'll work better.

 

Like junkmanted stated, clean your chamber if the bolt is sticking. There's likely cosmoline in there gumming up the works.

Thanks! I'll spit shine the chamber. So the cartridges getting scratched is normal then, no harm done?

the scratches look to be from the interruptor, fairly common. If you want , take the gun apart and look the interruptor over for any burrs, it more than likely isn't the chamber.

I gave the chamber a solid polishing and it feeds fine now, no more stuck cartridges.

 

As for the scratches, here's what I've found. The scratches are happening on the bottom of the cartridge. When I push the bolt forward with a new round, I will suddenly feel a little bit of resistance. This happens when the rear of the cartridge reaches the open end of the receiver. If I continue pushing the bolt forward, the cartridge will get scratched. However, if I back off and let the cartridge "settle", and then push the bolt forward, I will not feel the resistance and the cartridge will NOT be scratched.

 

This is happening with both Mosins. Is this something to worry about?

the scratches look to be from the interruptor, fairly common. If you want , take the gun apart and look the interruptor over for any burrs, it more than likely isn't the chamber.

slide a round into the chamber with out useing the bolt. If it goes all in smoothly then the bolt is making the bullet scrape on something. If it doesnt then check the chamber for bur's or hard cosmo thats doing it. There might be a piece of broken shell or something jammed in there. take some pic's and post them