Mosin Action

[Willtallica]

I visited the range last weekend, and I allowed the follow shooters here to try out my garand. One of them had a rifle I never shot before, the m-38 - mosin carbine.

I could practically lift the action with my pinky finger.

I looked inside the of the chamber, and at the bolt's sides. It was all polished, and worn smooth. It was dated 1938, and was in excellent condition. Obviously battle hardened, but the remarkable thing is the action.

How can I have that same action when lifting the bolt?

[SteveWag]

Buy a M38?

Steve

[Willtallica]

Do It Urself! <<<<<<<<<***

Has anybody herd of this crap?

[Willtallica]

I don't know if anyone gives a shit, but here's the story: after feeling a mosin bolt push up like butter I aint settling for the shitty action on mine so I'm looking into what's called copious polishing, because I've been informed that it should give me an action that's as smooth as butter, and if it works this will be one of the most awesome, exciting mods out there period.

I'm awaiting further input on the matter.

[TC66]

I have both the M-38 and the M-59. Both of them are smooth as silk. But the thing is they are also loose. They are battlefield guns that were meant to get dirty and deal with battlefield conditions. Polishing the lugs is probably going to be your best bet. Don't over polish though you don't want it too loose.

TC

[djturnz]

Just give it a toothpaste action job.

[newmanski44]

djturnzit,
what brand of toothpaste works best, crest or colgate, pepermint or reg. ??



Thanks
Semper fi

[Jackal]

Will, do you know of the link where the guy turned his mosin into something that resembled an m700? It was extensive conversion work but I lost the link.

[Perkascene]

I never read about anyone doing this and am in no way suggesting it, but would valve lapping compound work? Put a little on the lugs, work the action for a bit, clean out the lapping compound thoroughly, oil gun as you normally would, and see if it helps. It would basically do the same thing polishing would, but you'd only abrade the surfaces of the lugs and the receiver that made contact. As long as you don't overdo it, it shouldn't do any harm to the action.

Any thoughs from the experts on this one? I also find my mosin action requires a little bit of coercing to work. I'd be interested in trying to make it a little easier.

[Tomcat088]

You won't hurt the action in any way by polishing the lugs. To be perfectly honest, on most production rifles you have to mill a few thousandths off the lugs to get them to be square in the first place. If it's too much though, then the bolt handle has to be retimed. Either way, you aren't gonna take off that much metal unless you're using a really abrasive compound and getting after it. It'll just clean up the bolt lugs and will make it feel better.

I'm not familiar with valve lapping compound, but if it's fine, then it probably wouldn't be any problem. As far as toothpaste, the gel stuff will NOT work properly. The stuff that works the best is the older paste stuff, that has a bit of a grit to it. The grit is actually the shell of microscopic organisms like diatoms, but anyway, it works. Remember that you will need to clean out the action and there is a chance that you got some in the firing pin channel. You may want to cover up the firin pin channel. I don't know how well either of those compounds are diluted with things like degreaser, brake cleaner, or lighter fluid, but if they aren't then you may have to disassemble the bolt. This can be a real pain, well not disassembling, but getting them back together.

I saw where someone showed a diagram of trimming the spring, I'm sure this will change the feel of the bolt. As you raise the bolt handle, you're actually also cocking the firing pin and compressing the spring. If the spring is shorter then it won't have the same constant as before and will be easier to lift. You have to be careful when trimming springs though because if you trim too much sometimes the spring won't have enough force to consistently set off the primer. You're trimming the spring that drives the firing pin forward. It might work with most ammunition perfectly fine, but it could affect the reliability on hard primer ammunition. This also might not be an issue because most battle rifles are designed to have hard hitting firing pins to drive though dirt, gunpowder and junk in the channel. I haven't ever taken a Mosin bolt apart, but on most bolts you will need some tools. Sometimes getting them apart is easy, but putting them back together and tensioning that spring can be difficult WITH a tool and almost impossible sometimes without one. Hope that helps.