An earth shattering kaboom: My Mosin Nagant 91/30 1st shoot AAR

[chraland51]

Your story and photos reminded me of my much younger days when my Dad and uncles would take us out with them to target shoot at one of the local stone quarries using a huge pile of sand or crushed stone as the backstop. I taught my son how to shoot using a Norinco SKS, a .45 calibre black powder rifle and a Mossberg 500 12 gauge. When I visit him in Florida, we usually go to one of the nearby indoor shooting ranges and empty a few boxes of ammo at some bad guys paper targets. Target shooting, contrary to many anti-gunners, is a sport that can be enjoyed by families. My son is a paramedic/fireman in West Palm Beach and quite often sees the darker side of firearms.

[crmguns]

Originally Posted by jblomenberg16

Glad you enjoyed the MN! My M38 is still one of the favorites to have fun with, and throws a nice fireball.

A couple of tips to help your fail to feed, fail to extract problem.

1) Fail To Feed: With the gun completely unloaded (check and double check), drop the magazine floor plate. You will see that the spring for the mag follower threads into the floor plate. Make sure that screw is tight. If it is loose, it allows the spring to rock a bit, and can present the last round too low to be picked up by the bolt.

2) Fail to Extract: Again, gun unloaded, clean the chamber really well with a copper bore brush. I don't remember the exact caliber, but I think a .45 brush might be close. If you have one of those universal kits, try to find the one that fits best. You want a bit of a tight fit.

A good tip to making the cleaning go quickly is to put the cleaning rod into a cordless drill, and have at it for a few minutes. I'd recommend some Hoppes 9, or some bore paste to help clean and lubricate as you are turning the brush.

The ammo that runs through these things is often lacquer coated, and that lacquer will deposite in the chamber over time, making it tight. After a case has fired, it will heat up / expand, and can lock itself in there pretty tightly. I had a buddy break the extractor on his M44 trying to remove a stuck shell.

This will also help with getting the bolt to lock in when loading a new round.

Enjoy!

the 7.62x54r is the same diamater as a .30 cal ( 30-30, 30-06, 308, ect...)

[jblomenberg16]

Originally Posted by crmguns

the 7.62x54r is the same diamater as a .30 cal ( 30-30, 30-06, 308, ect...)

Yep, I know that is the bore size / bullet diameter. Like those calibers, the round itself has a necked case. I'm talking about the base case diameter before it is necked down to 7.62mm (.300"). I want to say it is roughly the same as a .45 cal bore brush. That will help clean the chamber and prevent the case from sticking.

[crmguns]

sorry I guess I didnt read it that close, but yes you are right a .45 brush would be the best match. I mesured a 7.62x54r casing with a mic and it is allmost exactly .45