So, I'm new to Mosins. Bought a 1942 Izzy 91/30 still covered in cosmoline a few weeks back. Imported by Century. I spent a few weeks cleaning all the cosmoline off, scrubbing the bore, and thoroughly cleaning/lubing the bolt.
As I've only been shooting handguns I've been going to an indoor range, and they were more than welcoming of the Mosin, as long as I had non-magnetic rounds. Found some Herter's 180gr soft points and some ultra expensive Hornady hunting ammo at Cabela's. More than I wanted to pay, but I was dying to shoot the damn thing.
First 50 rounds went without hitch, and was amazingly fun. Then the bolt started getting a little tough to operate. I noticed the empty cases were also a little sticky. Finally at 53 it wouldn't budge. I let it cool a while and was able to pop the bolt open, but I had to use a brass cleaning rod to pop the spent case out. As far as I can tell, I had no expansion in the cases so I don't think it's a headspace issue. Could it be years of built up lacquer and cosmoline that just got too heated and stuck?
I tried chambering a few empty cases after removing the stuck one and they worked fine, but the bolt wouldn't close on the one that was stuck which still looked the same as unfired rounds (the stuck case was a steel case from the Hornady 150gr SST hunting rounds, the Herters were brass cased and seemed to be much smoother in operation overall).
Any thoughts?
As I've only been shooting handguns I've been going to an indoor range, and they were more than welcoming of the Mosin, as long as I had non-magnetic rounds. Found some Herter's 180gr soft points and some ultra expensive Hornady hunting ammo at Cabela's. More than I wanted to pay, but I was dying to shoot the damn thing.
First 50 rounds went without hitch, and was amazingly fun. Then the bolt started getting a little tough to operate. I noticed the empty cases were also a little sticky. Finally at 53 it wouldn't budge. I let it cool a while and was able to pop the bolt open, but I had to use a brass cleaning rod to pop the spent case out. As far as I can tell, I had no expansion in the cases so I don't think it's a headspace issue. Could it be years of built up lacquer and cosmoline that just got too heated and stuck?
I tried chambering a few empty cases after removing the stuck one and they worked fine, but the bolt wouldn't close on the one that was stuck which still looked the same as unfired rounds (the stuck case was a steel case from the Hornady 150gr SST hunting rounds, the Herters were brass cased and seemed to be much smoother in operation overall).
Any thoughts?