M44 firing pin question

[brews4me]

Got a M44 1944 Mosin. Has the dreaded stuck bolt syndrome when hot and with ONLY certain ammo I have bought.
But the ammo that seizes it up when hot also has a really deep firing pin penetration!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Welcome to the board, you have a classic case of " sticky bolt" This is caused by old lubrication and lacquer from steel cased ammunition that has baked onto your chamber walls and becomes like a glue when you chamber heats up. Do a search on the board, you will turn up solutions to this issue, it's very common. Have you checked the firing pin protrusion with your bolt tool ? These come with every Mosin cleaning kit, looks like a screwdriver with notches along one side. Liberty Tree probably has some if you need one, click the banner at the top of any board page to reach them. Some primers are softer than others, the commies didn't always make things to the same specifications from one ammunition plant to another.

[zeebill]

Certain little habits will help you avoid sticking bolt syndrome if you can train yourself to act accordingly. One thing is to never chamber a round till you are ready to aim and shoo0t it. The next obvious move is to get it out of the chamber fast after shooting it and leave the bolt open till you are ready to shoot again. Then you go back to step one and on and on etc. Another thing I do is not to buy any steel case ammo or shoot any at any time. Many people will balk at that and say that is all they can find these days. You aren't going to get me to believe that so don't even try. JYD is 100% right when he says that combloc ammo varies greatly in specs but the catch is so does modern American made ammo at times too. Find something that works for you time and time again and spend the rent money to stock up, It doesn't get that cold outside in the summer months Honest! Years ago before you guys were around we had trouble with out of spec Albanian ammo that erred greatly in the rim thickness department. The catch was that stuff shot oh so good you tolerated it till your hand was bleeding from beating on the bolt to get it to move and open, I have some of that stuff still out in the shop and when I really want to frustrate myself I pull some of it out I have not had to get the normal tools of destruction you guys use out to stop the sticky bolt syndrome in years since I started using ss brushes and carb cleaner on the bores of new to me rifles. That means heavy gloves and outside in the air in the winter but as an aside very few weeds grow through the cracks in the concrete anymore. That and 165 pound pressure compressed air take just about anything out of the chamber and bore. Needless to say the wood is some where else safely hiding from any over spray. Oh wear safety glasses too as when that gets in your eyes your gonna hate yourself for quite awhile! I do not have time to spend three days scrubbing with kroil or Hoppes so I use the heavy duty industrial quick methods but suit yourself but be careful no matter what method you use. Bill

[mogunner]

I shoot nothing but lacquer cased Monarch in my Mosin's and have yet to experience a sticky bolt. Never ran into it in any of my previous ones either, but then I had a meticulous cleaning regimen that I did on all "new" purchases.

[brews4me]

I have not checked firing pin with a tool but have every reason to think it's ok as it seems to work well with a different ammo that seems to cycle well and not stick ever.

mosin 2.jpg

[Junk Yard Dog]

The firing pin tool is included in every Mosin cleaning kit issued by the Soviets and other users of the Mosin rifle. It's there for a reason, the commies didn't spend money on anything without a good reason. If you don't check your firing pin protrusion then you have no clue if it is in spec or not, and fired primers are not a tool for checking this. Just because this batch of primers didn't puncture doesn't mean you will be as lucky with the next batch. I am going to assume you haven't checked your rifles headspace either, never mind what some dealer, or importer said they did or didn't check. These rifles are 70-120 years old, it's risky enough shooting them without doing every possible safety check, and when it's your life, or the lives of people standing next to you, you do the check yourself. Headspace gauges can be had from Brownells, or Midway, even eBay, you need the No/Go gauge to do the basic headspace safety check.

[mogunner]

I have not checked firing pin with a tool but have every reason to think it's ok as it seems to work well with a different ammo that seems to cycle well and not stick ever.

mosin 2.jpg

I have rifles that will shoot four or five different manufacturers ammo just fine but have a problem with just one. Be it that they have slightly harder primers or seating depth, having the correct protrusion is absolutely required. Like JYD said, the Russians wouldn't have made the tool if it wasn't needed. And your photo shows a strike not nearly as pronounced as it should be.

[steelbuttplate]

I had 30 rounds of green case ammo like that ,no stamp but a 2 digit , soft point, that shit would stick in rifles that had never stuck before. I threw most of it down thru the woods. I never have a problem with zinc coated wolf or poly coated brown bear, Or copper washed milsurp. I have some cans of '53 brass milsurp that is primo. Like they said, check your pin protrusion. That first shell case is scary lookin.

[zeebill]

I shoot nothing but lacquer cased Monarch in my Mosin's and have yet to experience a sticky bolt. Never ran into it in any of my previous ones either, but then I had a meticulous cleaning regimen that I did on all "new" purchases.

Go buy a lottery ticket for you have been very lucky so far! I too clean very hard and check very close when I get a new to me rifle and most times experience little or no trouble. When you have 6 safes full of Mosins of all variety let me know how your luck is running. Bill

[mogunner]

I shoot nothing but lacquer cased Monarch in my Mosin's and have yet to experience a sticky bolt. Never ran into it in any of my previous ones either, but then I had a meticulous cleaning regimen that I did on all "new" purchases.

Go buy a lottery ticket for you have been very lucky so far! I too clean very hard and check very close when I get a new to me rifle and most times experience little or no trouble. When you have 6 safes full of Mosins of all variety let me know how your luck is running. Bill

I've owned and shot over 30, is that good enough for you?

[zeebill]

[quote=mogunner post_
[/quote]

I've owned and shot over 30, is that good enough for you?
[/quote]

My smallest safe has 45 and it is over loaded a bit. Most all have been shot and enjoyed for over 40 years or so. Now what do you think my answer is? Bill

[brews4me]

All-
I checked the firing pin and headspace, all pass just fine.
Still confused why the one lacquer shell had such a deep penetration on primer??
I did get some Breakfree and trying to clean up the chamber!
Could it be that the green lacquer ammo that I posted with a deep primer strike should just be tossed to avoid any potential risks??? IT might just have crappy primers that are too soft???

[Junk Yard Dog]

All-
I checked the firing pin and headspace, all pass just fine.
Still confused why the one lacquer shell had such a deep penetration on primer??
I did get some Breakfree and trying to clean up the chamber!
Could it be that the green lacquer ammo that I posted with a deep primer strike should just be tossed to avoid any potential risks??? IT might just have crappy primers that are too soft???

The primers have a nicely defined strike without cratering that would indicate a possible headspace issue. They are within the range of normal, none have failed on you I assume? They are struck no deeper than some I have had from my rifles. I don't think the Soviets used harder primers for machine gun ammo as did some countries, but their puppet buffer states might have, and this ammo is from all over the ComBlock. Seems one factory simply supplied primer cups a bit thicker than another.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[quote=mogunner post_

I've owned and shot over 30, is that good enough for you?
[/quote]

My smallest safe has 45 and it is over loaded a bit. Most all have been shot and enjoyed for over 40 years or so. Now what do you think my answer is? Bill
[/quote]


You have a few hundred? That's it? Let me know when you start seriously collecting

[steelbuttplate]

I'm down to 28 (Mosins) and a dozen other milsurp long guns. . I was feeling really inadequate and defeated about this, but now I'm inspired. I'll buy another rifle every month, work a second job, pimp my chickens out, sell the '65, until I reach the lofty heights of the glorious 3 digit pack. Now if Dolk will just turn loose of a few.

[mogunner]

[quote=mogunner post_

I've owned and shot over 30, is that good enough for you?
[/quote]

My smallest safe has 45 and it is over loaded a bit. Most all have been shot and enjoyed for over 40 years or so. Now what do you think my answer is? Bill
[/quote]

So what you're saying is that I bought better ones than you did, I guess...

[mogunner]

I'm down to 28 (Mosins) and a dozen other milsurp long guns. . I was feeling really inadequate and defeated about this, but now I'm inspired. I'll buy another rifle every month, work a second job, pimp my chickens out, sell the '65, until I reach the lofty heights of the glorious 3 digit pack. Now if Dolk will just turn loose of a few.

28 Mosin's or 45, which is it?

[Longcolt44]

I ain't sayin' but it includes 12+ Finn Mosins.

[musketjon]

A mucked-up chamber isn't always the cause of sticky bolt. I polished the mating surfaces on the bolts where they slide against each other and replaced the fp springs with new-made, modern springs. Guess what? No more sticky bolt. I'm just ayin'.....
Jon

[zeebill]

[quote=mogunner post_

I've owned and shot over 30, is that good enough for you?

My smallest safe has 45 and it is over loaded a bit. Most all have been shot and enjoyed for over 40 years or so. Now what do you think my answer is? Bill
[/quote]


You have a few hundred? That's it? Let me know when you start seriously collecting

No No you misunderstood me. I'm only presently keeping a couple hundred. I only keep the valuable ones the chafe of the many others only clutter the place and make it hard to walk in the shop. They soon travel down the road to other collectors. Like refurbs there's only maybe 20 or so of them in there. I try to keep 50 gun or so safes for different things like the M39 safe has about 50 in there these days as I sold a bunch of them years back. I just cut down the 28/30's to about a dozen and a half selling off about 10 of them. When I hit 6 safes quality took over quantity and I sold a bunch of stuff mostly all duplicates. They go fine for price in local shows avoiding shipping and such because I like JYD bought these things years before the ridiculous prices on the internet now. JYD from what I see sells little and there are things going and coming in my shop constantly but frankly I see no reason to even mention it here or on other forums. Most of the people I deal with never post or read what is on here other than to maybe price things from time to time. They don't know who zeebill, JYD, Dolk, or any others on here are and I guess could care less who we are just dealing with there close personal friends privately. Luckily Over the years of picking up the chafe from their deals I became a place to send things for further trading and moving up in quality. I know what I have and most of it can be improved on so I keep looking. Bill
[/quote]