I have several Mosin Nagant rifles. My latest, which I have not shot, has a terrible sticky bolt problem.

 

However, if I pull back and cock the firing pin manually, it's MUCH easier to cycle, although not what I would call smooth. Far from it, but manageable.

 

Note: I have not put ammo into this gun yet, so I have no idea how it would behave "live."

 

I've watched about 20 videos on this problem, and they all suggest different solutions. To me, the fact that it's easier when I pull the pin back manually means one of four things:

 

1) The spring is way too tight

2) The spring is somewhat tight, and the metal surfaces could use some polishing

3) The metal contact surfaces can use some serious polishing, maybe to the point of removing a tad of metal

4) a combination of the above.

 

Any suggestions?

clean it then shoot it and go from there,, polishing is ok but a last resort would be removing material .

Have you tried disassembling and cleaning then lubing it?

 

A minor polish to the contact surfaces couldn't hurt either.

 

i just obtained a mosin full of cosmoline, a 1936 round receiver model.  after cleaning it, the bolt was very sticky. i took the bolt completely apart, cleaned it even more, then put some Rem Oil on the spring and internal components to get rid of any residual water. It cycles much better now. Before shooting it, I plan on doing a better lube job with a heavier gun oil.

 

Make sure the bolt (and chamber are) good and clean.

 

bolt dis-assembly is described here:  http://www.surplusfirearm.com/2012/03/23/mosin-nagant-bolt-disassembly-reassembly/

 

BTW, I love how absolutely simple these guns are. My only other surplus gun is an M1 Garand which is somewhere on the other end of the spectrum.

have a look here

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have taken the gun apart and fully cleaned the bore, disassembled the bolt assembly and cleaned that completely. Checked the headspace. Now I'll follow Eric's advice in the video: clean the bore with a shotgun bore brush, then work on the firing pin. Probably won't get to this for a few weeks, as I'm working on another Mosin

I had virtually the same issues you are describing. I have a 1939 Tula. I put 49 rounds though it for the first time on Monday and the bolt got stickier and stickier. That Video folks are mentioning is great. I didn't have to go as far as that yet though.

 

There is a groove cut in the end of the barrel for the extractor. The chamber was clean and I discovered that groove had some cosmolene in it still. I used quips and could not clear it. I borrowed my wife's hair dryer and after getting that area warmed up enough I sprayed non chlorinated brake cleaner there until it cleaned up. The bolt cycled pretty good after that.

 

In terms of modifying the spring as in the video, I didn't want to do that myself. I ordered a lighter spring from crspring.com which also seemed to help.

 

 

I have the same problem.  The warmer the barrel gets, the stickier the bolt gets.  Thanks for the thread.

I cleaned the bore with a .20ga brush as well as polishing the bolt/firing pin. I even sanded the diameter of the spring down a bit and ended up cutting about a 1/2 inch of of it. The gun works like a dream now.