One of the things I adore about my Mosin is that if the bolt is sticky, or the bullet doesn't want to feed, not only can I slap it around like a red-headed stepchild without fear of breaking it, but manhandling it is actually the proper course of action. It's a hundred year-old design built to be used by illiterate famers in the harsh Siberian winter. When the bolt would freeze to the receiver, a soldier would grab the heaviest thing he could find -- a chunk of wood, a hammer, his booted foot -- and wail on that bolt handle until it released.
Apparently I'm not the only Mosin owner to experience "sticky bolt" syndrome, because over at 7.62x54r.net, they have a humor section entitled "AK vs. AR vs. Mosin-Nagant" filled with typical military dark/gallows humor with the following example:
You know you have an AK if...
You consider it a badge of honor when you get your handguards to burst into flames.
You know you have an AR if...
You consider it a badge of honor when you shoot a sub-MOA 5 shot group.
You know you have a Mosin if...
You consider it a badge of honor when you cycle 5 rounds without the aid of a 2x4.
For the rest of the article, go here.
PDF
I had never understood the 2x4 reference until now. My bolt cycles nice and smooth.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I learned, you have to load the cartridges in right or you are going to have trouble chambering them.
I feed off of stripper clips. You'd think that would put them in right, wouldn't you? But sometimes the damn rounds just don't want to nose up and into the chamber, which in inconvenient for me but potentially life-ending on the battlefield.
ReplyDeleteSo I slap that bastard. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. When it doesn't, I have to get the Mosin tool and pry the round out.