I am a new proud owner of one M-44 (1945) and a M-38 (1941) . I was wondering if any of you have any tips on how to clean and care for these Rifles. What brand of lubricant? Were and how to be stored when not being fired? And care of these rifles after being fired. I Thank you for all of your help.
P.S. All the serial numbers match and the rifles were sold to me At a "mint" condition !!!!!!!
Last edited by Soldier Medic; 05-14-2008 at 09:24 AM.
Reason: got my facs straight
Congrats on joining a fun group of mosin shooters! I recommend reading the sticky's about cleaning and upkeep.
As for storage. Keep it in a safe and in the lowest humidity area in your house. I store with the bolts open to keep air flowing through the bore. But I usually shoot them pretty often so it is not that big of a deal. ALways being cleaned! Remember that most surplus ammo is corrosive so clean immediately and keep them oiled.
Welcome!
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Dedicated to SwedeSteve, Arkansashunter and Ezearln. Rest in peace my friends.
yup tex has it right. and i just want to stress again that surplus ammo is carrosive so clean as soon after shooting as posible.
of and if you not used to these high power rifles you might want to get a slip on but pad they can have quite a kick.
For details, read the stickies on cleaning at the beginning of this board.
Basically... disassemble to 4 basic parts (barrel, bolt, magazine, & stock), and clean metal parts with mineral spirits, disassemble and clean bolt, lube and reassemble the bolt, Remoil, or similar lube all other metal parts. Clean bore with Hoppes, or similar, bore cleaner. Run a BoreSnake through a couple of times to finish...
go shoot. :-)
I store mine in soft cases (no kids in the house, but use trigger locks), or in a locked gun rack. I live in the desert so humidity is usually not a problem. Keep a light coat of Remoil on her and you should be good to go.
A Gunsafe is a good idea as well, or like Rich (mooseman) use an old chest freezer (locked I think) for storage.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Mosin Nagant. Arguably the coolest bolt action rifle you can buy for under $100.
__________________ Remember when seconds count... the police are only minutes away.
Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your "new" Mosins as much as I have mine. This is the right place for information. Like several others have said, read the stickies at the top to get off to a good start. You will develop your own cleaning techniques in no time.
I see you're located in Pass Christian. I was stationed in Gulfport when I was in the Navy (early-mid '70's). I guess it's changed some, but I loved it down there!
Oh yeah... did anyone mention cleaning with Windex very soon after shooting MilSurp ammo?
You can never have too many reminders... Great and cheap ammo but corrosive as can be. A few shots of Windex and a patch... followed by the BoreSnake will keep er shiny.
__________________ Remember when seconds count... the police are only minutes away.
hi been looking in for a while and thought id add my 2cents in. after shooting corrosive ammo i rinse with a mix of apple cider vineger and water 2/1 then rinse with water. the vineger neutralizes the salts, i work with alkaline corrosives and vineger works if you get it on you. remember vineger is acid so rinse it out. i do this at the range when my rifle is still nice and warm and then i let it dry take it home and run solvent and oil. comes out spotless in just a few passes.
Welcome to G&G!
I think you will find opinons on cleaning that run the gamit!Keeping in mind that when these rifles were made there wasnt the technology we have today on chemicals. I dont use windex in my barrels but thats my choice! I use hoppes #9 solvent a brass brush and a bore snake and cotton twill patches .Take a look at JAC's post in stickies on cleaning . Again welcome
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You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers
I dont use windex in my barrels but thats my choice!
I think what Marion is telling you here is that you can use anything that contains ammonia. The ammonia is what neutralizes the corrosive salts in the primer of corrosive ammo.
You need something with ammonia in it (like Hoppes #9) or make up your own brew..
Ok, now I've finished the artical and found that everything I believed was bunk.. (according to the author)
I guess I need to consider going back to my old black powder shooting days and use hot water and dish soap, and rinse with more hot water.. A coat of oil and my barrel looked (and stayed looking) like it was brand new.
I thank you all for the warm welcome!!!!!!! I wish to learn allot from this forum and possibly make good friends with all of you. I fired that M-44 in my back yard and it gave me a good push. These round is unlike the Ak47 I had to pick up in Iraq(my job was 2 treat wounds and suppress fire[I ran out of M-4 and M-9 Ammo twice, lol]).
I shoot a lot of different rifles and have shot a lot of corrosive ammo. Probably around 30,000 rounds of it. I use the old warm water and soap to clean corrosive salts out. Then just clean with Hoppes #9. I guess Im just more green than a lot of people in that I dont use a lot of solvents.
When I started collecting rifles I bought a couple of American Gunsmithing Institute videos on rifle dissassembly and minor repair. They always recommended using water and Simple Green to clean gun parts.
The good thing about this is it is very easy on your hands your lungs and your environment. I can easily use this in my basement next to the dryer without haveing to worry about blowing the house up.
When done with the disassembly and cleaning the parts with Simple Green, you clean the bore with Hoppes or whatever you use, then dry the parts, oil the metal with Breakfree, reassemble and use a little more Breakfee to coat the metal then wipe it down.
Thats the way I do it.
BTW welcome to G&G Soldier Medic and PaperShreder.
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It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
Oh yeah... did anyone mention cleaning with Windex very soon after shooting MilSurp ammo?
You can never have too many reminders... Great and cheap ammo but corrosive as can be. A few shots of Windex and a patch... followed by the BoreSnake will keep er shiny.
I got one of them little metal two section whatever bottles with my M44. One side said "W", the other half said "H" I put Windex in the W half, and Hoppes in the H half. Ready for instant cleaning at the range.
!!!!!!!
(j/k)
