Safety Queation on Moisin-Nagant Rifles

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FullerH

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Nov 25, 1998
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I posted this in a thread on a converted Moisin-Nagant and it seems to have gotten lost. When I bumped it, Rat suggested that it probably should have its own new thread, so here goes:

I remember reading in one of the original editions of "Small Arms of the World" by Walter H. B. Smith many, many years ago that the firing pins on Moisin-Nagant rifles had a bad habit of kicking back through the bolt into the eye of the shooter, killing him. Smith included it as a warning, but never having owned one, I never paid that much attention to the warning. Is it really true and, if so, under what circumstances?
 
I own 2 and have never heard of it. Of all the russian WWII history and weapon history I have studied I have never come across anything of this nature. I will do some research on the matter.
 
The mosins have some of the most overbuilt bolt assembly's ever. You must be confusing it with something else.
 
37 million were produced and they are heavy duty rifles used in conflicts from 1891 into the korean war and even Vietnam. I have never heared of a destructive failure or even severe malfunction in climates ranging from siberia to the humid climate of SE Asia. Even the whole corrosive ammo problem and possible corrosion of the barrel did not seem to pose a problem in all those years.

Looking at the construction of the bolt the only catastrophic failure could be a pierced primer bleeding hot gasses thru the firepin hole , pass a threaded firing pin and sear into the eyes.

I have checked on several Military surplus rifle forums, and haven't found any reference to any catastrophic bolt failure.
 
If I remember right this rifle did not have a safety catch and relied on a heavier trigger and not keeping one up the spout?? I may stand to be corrected in that it was not a nice rifle and was primarily produced for WWI and, with various bickerings the French Government didn't get around to replacing it before the Germaines came visiting in WWII.

As it was heavy duty it just would not wear out and it was just kept too long.
 
Mongo-man said:
37 million were produced and they are heavy duty rifles used in conflicts from 1891 into the korean war and even Vietnam. I have never heared of a destructive failure or even severe malfunction in climates ranging from siberia to the humid climate of SE Asia. Even the whole corrosive ammo problem and possible corrosion of the barrel did not seem to pose a problem in all those years.

Looking at the construction of the bolt the only catastrophic failure could be a pierced primer bleeding hot gasses thru the firepin hole , pass a threaded firing pin and sear into the eyes.

I have checked on several Military surplus rifle forums, and haven't found any reference to any catastrophic bolt failure.
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And they are still used today in Afghanistan and Africa by militiamen, and even some government forces.

If I remember right this rifle did not have a safety catch and relied on a heavier trigger and not keeping one up the spout?? I may stand to be corrected in that it was not a nice rifle and was primarily produced for WWI and, with various bickerings the French Government didn't get around to replacing it before the Germaines came visiting in WWII.
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The Mosin does actually have a saftey system of sorts. Of course, as the old Colt as say, you're the safety. Also, the cocking piece can be rotated and slid against the reciever to prevent firing.
Mosins were Russian. Ross' were Canadian. French carried Lebel. German's with Mausers.
 
Unfortunately, I do not have access to that book at the moment or in the forseeable future, so I cannot check it. Does anyone here have one of the older editions of Small Arms of the World, say prior to 1965?
 
I just looked at a 1977 edition (not a 1965 or earlier) of the book and no mention was made of such a problem.
 
Tim-Gabz said:
If I remember right this rifle did not have a safety catch and relied on a heavier trigger and not keeping one up the spout?? I may stand to be corrected in that it was not a nice rifle and was primarily produced for WWI and, with various bickerings the French Government didn't get around to replacing it before the Germaines came visiting in WWII.

As it was heavy duty it just would not wear out and it was just kept too long.
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you are correct there are no manual safeties on these guns.
 
I do not believe that Walter H. B. Smith actually participated in the writing of any of the editions after about 1965 or so. They may have changed under the authorship of others.
 
No, the Mosin Nagant does indeed have a safety.

You yank the striker back, rotate it to the left, and let it down.

It's just not the least bit apparent, you need a gorilla grip, and it's very difficult to engage and disengage.
 
kozak is correct regarding the safety, i'm not sure about the gorilla part but the other part is spot on. As far as catasrophic bolt/firing pin failures like you mentioned i've never read anything like that. Now you can have the firing pin protruding too far and pierce a primer which is quite exciting but no firing pin through the eye. The mosin nagant family of rifles has a pretty long and distinguished record and even today they provide a lot of bang for the buck in terms of surplus rifles. later, ahgar
 
I own a Mosin Nagant M44 and I have never heard of this. I have put about 440 rounds through mine and it has been flawless everytime. Stiff bolt after I fire a round but thats normal.
 
reconseed the stiff bolt after firing is called "sticky bolt". You can adress this problem by using a good bore solvent on a 20 caliber borebrush. The shellac in the chambers melts during firing and forms a glue like substance, especially with steel casings. Put the caliber bore brush with solvent and put it in a wireless drill. Then spin till all the shellac is out of the chamber.
ot will get rid of the sticky bolt.
 
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