Dirt Cheap Rifle [followup] Sticky Mosin Nagant Bolt

[JoeProBono]

So I bought this Mosin and sure enough the bolt sticks to the point that you have to slap it your palm hurts.

Reading up, I discovered this YouTube "solution" which seemed rather labor intensive.

Sticky Mosin Nagant Bolt? Making your Mosin Rock part 1" M91/30 M38 M44 M39 Finnish Russian

[JoeProBono]

Applied some Remingington 40-X Bore Cleaner and the one minute cleaning process solved the problem

[Disambiguator]

[Yo-Yo]

Practicing for next season's Top Shot II?

[Doogle]

"I've been known to have a sticky nagant bolt"

[Salgak]

When in doubt, Ed's Red.

The real problem with most Mosins, is that they are thoroughly saturated with Cosmoline. . . SEVERAL bouts of cleaning help, as does simply disassembling the rifle, and soaking the bolt and receiver in a good solvent.

Hence, my suggestion of running down to the local hardware store, and getting materials for a batch of Ed's Red.

Instructions here

[Doogle]

"I've been known to have a sticky nagant bolt"

[humblegunner]

If it’s only sticky during extraction after firing, mine does the same.
It’s not the bolt, the shell casing is heated and expanded.

Yup, ya gotta whack it.

[AngryJawa]

The thing's probably got a cubic yard of Eastern Europe under all that cosmoline. Wrap it in a couple black garbage bags and set it on your dashboard for a day until most of the cosmo melts away. Wipe, change bags, repeat.

Then clean it until your elbows hurt.

[AngryJawa]

+1 on the Ed’s Red. Good stuff.

[JoeProBono]

>Yup, ya gotta whack it.

Been whackin it and , so far, my palm is calous free and hairless;-{)

[humblegunner]

Whackin’.

You’re doing it wrong!

[StarfireIV]

Ammo could be a factor. A lot of mil surp is coated with a corrosion inhibitor which becomes tacky like glue and compounds with the number of shots fired. In belt fed weapons which crank up like a performance car on premium gas, this is not a problem, but in a one-at-a-timer, this gets sticky. Some cases have a higher copper content which makes them not as flexible as well. An example of this is South American "CBC" marked cases. These can lead to a contusion laden raw paw.

One of the most jolting experiences for the young man I once was involved firing 8mm Mauser out of an old 98. I went from a box of Remingtons to surplus fodder which I was told later had been taken out of MG42 links. I went from >thud< to >WHAM< in a suddenly skipping heartbeat.

Also, a good chamber brush is a must and needs to be used in an oftentimes ignored area.

[Lurker]

I've had really good luck giving these old Mil-Surp rifles a good long soak in Simple Green.

[JoeProBono]

Used to work for Wackenhut, they taught me all I know.

[nin_kasi]

A lot of the “stickiness” comes from the shellacking that coats the cartridge to prevent the steel cases from rusting. Even if you feed it brass ammo, rest assured that at some time in the past, that rifle was on a steady diet of shellacked steel, and the cases heated after firing have deposited this material in the chamber. This plus the fact that many of these rifles came over well coated in cosmoline, and weren't all cleaned out as effectively as you might have hoped. Bore cleaner and a .410 wire brush, sometimes recommended chucked in a cordless drill, will often be enough to de-gunk the chamber. I also found that light polishing of the bolt also helped a great deal, as does learning how to “palm” the bolt handle just right.
Mosin Nagants are fun, even if their surplus ammo prices per case have doubled in the last two years, they're still plenty reasonable.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[Lurker]

That’s the stuff. Strip the rifle and soak it overnight. You’ll be shocked at how much Cosmoline the other methods didn’t get.

[humblegunner]

[smokingfrog]

SOLVING THE PROBLEM