What can I do with this '42, is it even safe?

[bocephus]

Hi, noob here with two 91/30s. The first one I didn't really care for when I saw it at my local sporting goods place but I had been wanting one and I figured for $100, what the hell. It's a 42, you can barely see the original stamping on it and every single piece has been electroscribed. The very next day I came across a 39 that I liked immediately so I got that one too and it works great, real nice grouping so far.

So this is about the 42. I cleaned it of its cosmoline first, boiling water and dish soap on the metal parts, blow dryer on the stock. Lubed it back up and apparently not enough. I lubed it the way the USAF taught me to lube a M16. On initial dry firing testing I couldn't even get the bolt handle to lift up. So I eventually got it open, lubed it up quite a bit more and it was working "okay". I'm on some acreage so I can take it off my work bench and test fire immediately. I fired a single round through it and the bolt jammed a little, so I lubed a little more and the bolt seemed decent. I'm using Hoppes #9 as my only lubricant currently, no grease. I then ran 5 rounds through it without a problem. Except I noticed all the casings are coming out with 2 parallel scratch marks on them, I'll put a picture of that below. I then cleaned the 39 without a problem.

Today I decided to do an accuracy testing of them both and a first firing of the 39. The 39 was great, the 42 was all over the target. At this point today I've shot 4 rounds through the 42, finishing off the generic brown paper packed rounds from the gun shop. I opened up a generic white box from the sporting goods store and put 5 more rounds in the 42. First shot no noticeable issues, go to open the bolt and it's stuck. If we say bolt closed is 0 degree and handle up is 90, the handle was getting stuck at 70-80 degrees.

So I open the floorplate and 3 rounds fell out. Leaving that open I was able to jiggle the bolt handle and get the last live round out. With that round out the way I got the bolt open with a little bit of effort and found a cracked casing. I decided to not shoot anymore through that rifle and went and cleaned them out.

Is the cracked casing in any way related to the other issues I may have here or was it just a unlucky round? Is there anything I should do with this rifle at this point? Is it fixable, scrap for parts, use it to practice doing things like restoring a stock, hang it on the wall with a bayonet and impress my friends?

[websterz]

Looks like a burr in the chamber...time to take the steel wool and a cleaning rod chucked up in a drill to it. Go slow and check often. It's not an impossible problem to overcome.

[redspoon]

Welcome to the forum bocephus like websterz said check and clean that chamber real good and get a set of headspace gauges from okie.
His info is at the top of page. good luck
Post up some pics of your mosin when you get a chance.

[bocephus]

Thanks, I cleaned earlier today but just got done lubing and putting everything back together. The bolt on the 42 wasn't too bad at all after putting back together this time. I should definitely debur it. After i do that I think I'll get it another test round. I just noticed that the front post was a little bent and shaved down. I'm a little intrigued by this, possible battlefield sight adjustment? I did notice today while shooting that the 39s post sat a little above the rear sights V, while the 42s front post sat down in the V.

[Three_Dogs]

Bocephus, Not to worry, Sometimes issues occur, we are here for you. All is not lost. +1 to advice above.

[desdem12]

Check chamber with strong light and magnified glasses and then if you need to use a qtip and run it in there and see if the cotton catches on something, then repair. A good cleaning and then light oiling on the bolt should be sufficient.

[Ban-One]

Wow, look at the scratches on those cases! I had a carcano produce cases like those and as has already been said it was a burr in the chamber. It is fixable.

[mrb7]

As far as the cracked case goes, what ammo were you using?

[bocephus]

The one that split came from a box of 20 I got from the sporting goods store with 7.62x54R written in pen on it. It was the first one I fired from that box. They're silver tipped with a red stripe where the bullet meets the casing, there's also a red strip around the primer. They have 10 72 stamped in the bottom.

[bunkysdad]

I really like Brad's (desdem12) idea about using the cotton swab in the chamber to see if there are any snags. From there you can determine the next move, but remember, keep it simple. And I would not worry to much about 1 split case unless a pattern developes. The scratches are a pattern, and I would thing the hard bolt operation is a pattern.

[zeebill]

With the split case being the first one and then having the marked cases after that there is the distinct possibility that the case splitting caused the burr to worsen or may have been the cause of it. Those marks are consistant and somewhat deep so the normal cleaning with a brush and maybe steel wool on it with a drill may not work. You may have to take it a step farther and use a dremel with a small flapper wheel on it. Just take it a step at a time and try what the guys have told you to see if that works. Just looking at the ammo I am flat guessing it is Bulgarian and could be the Heavy Ball stuff the first shipments of which they had some troubles with on cases and other things. If that is old ammo from a dealer that sat around awhile it could be that old stuff. Don't panic I have at least a dozen rifles I shoot from time to time that started out with burrs or tracks made in the chambers from armorers removing the last chamber reamer while it was still running and leaving the track or making a burr. They are fixed easily if you are careful and will shoot wonderfully for years after that. You should get a headspace tool to check that out and also should check firing pin protrussion too. Learn how to do those three simple things and you have the makings of a Russian Armorer for that is basically all the field Sargents had to do. Don't jump to any conclusions and just work systematically and these rifles are a piece of cake. Good Luck there and let us know what you are finding! Bill

[bocephus]

The scratches were first, the split case was the 11th round I put through this rifle. I used the firing pin tool on both rifles. It should touch the 75 and not touch the 95 right? I've read up on stuck bolts and deburring, I'll definitely do that before I shoot the 42 again.

[Junk Yard Dog]

That shitty commie ammo has been known to do that, it's a case failure, caused by a weak spot in the case or the case corroding and becoming weak. You will have this happen from time to time with surplus ammo, if it happened with commercial brass then you call up Winchester, or Remington and raise hell, for a buck a round you have that right. With the cheap surplus you have no recourse but to put up with it, most of this shit was produced before many people here were even born, in some cases before their fathers were born. Looks like you have a burr in the chamber of the round is scraping something on the way in or out of the chamber, check the area around the chamber and see if there are and copper scrapings on anything.

[Mountain Man]

I have a load of Russian ammo dated in the mid 60's that spits like the one you showed. I have much older ammo that does not. I just think it is the kind of ammo you use. It appears to me that the Russian stuff is the most likely to split. I regularly shoot at least 5 of my Mosins and the Russian stuff splits on every gun.

[bocephus]

After cleaning the chamber with a chamber brush and steel wool it seems to be fine. Accuracy was good and I put 40 rounds through it today without much of a problem. It's still scratching the casing some but just a single line now instead of two. On occasion the bolt handle would only lift up 90-95% of the way, a smack from my palm would get it up. That happened maybe 3 out of 40 times.

[desert drifter]

By looking at your picture..the top 6 cases have annealed necks and shoulders. The split case doesn't. The reason they anneal cases is so thery're not so brittle and prevent splitting. The split case also looks like might be pitted, cant really tell. But being it was the first round you fired...and if the bore was heavily fouled from sitting for along time the pressure could have been just a little more than what the case could take. Good deal on getting 'er back in service.

Just my thoughts..others will differ and vary.

'drif

[libertytrooper]

From looking around the web, I believe that the rounds are manufactured in Bulgaria which is denoted by the 10 stamp. However, I cannot find the reference to 72 anywhere and am unsure of the characteristics of the rounds. This is how I chanced on this topic and I would be very interested in anyone who could let me know about the ballistic information for these rounds.

[bocephus]

Hey old post of mine.

Yes 10 is Bulgarian, 72 should be year.

Here's a newer post of mine, same rifle and I was quite pleased with the ammo.

http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... =5&t=10146

[Junk Yard Dog]

From looking around the web, I believe that the rounds are manufactured in Bulgaria which is denoted by the 10 stamp. However, I cannot find the reference to 72 anywhere and am unsure of the characteristics of the rounds. This is how I chanced on this topic and I would be very interested in anyone who could let me know about the ballistic information for these rounds.

Welcome to the board