broken extractor

[TRAP55]

Brian, a pic is worth a whole lot of typing!
If your extractor looks new, and had cosmo on it, good chance it was probably an unissued spare part.
1500 wet or dry to "polish" the angled edge of the extractor lip for smoother feeding.

[jr916]

Thanks for that measurement... mine is sticking out .061" or so from the rim of the bolt head, which should be plenty. However, about half the time the extractor still doesn't pass the rims of the catridges I'm loading and isn't flush with the rest of the bolt head like in your picture, but rather sticking out about 060" to the side. About a quarter of the time, the extractor will "snap" over the rim and extract normally, however every so often it will remain on the side of the rim and when I pull the bolt back the round doesn't extract, but the extractor (which is still sticking off to the side) contacts the right side of the receiver and doesn't allow the bolt to go back all the way or the round to extract correctly. Should I try floating the extractor further forward, even though it's about the same as yours?

[jr916]

The business end of the extractor should stick out past the bolt face lip about 2mm, with the rear flush with the rear of the bolt head.
With the bolt assembled and out of the gun, stick a round under the extractor lip, and flush on the bolt face.
The extractor lip should be flush on the case rim, with slight pressure on the case wall. Does that make sense?
The extractor should hold a loaded round snugly in the bolt face.
Here's a good "how to" remove and replace an extractor. Figures 12 & 13, and 28-31:
http://www.surplusrifle.com/finnishm...mbly/index.asp

When I stick a round into the bolt face when the bolt's out of the rifle, the round doesn't fit snugly but rather doesn't quite fit in straight and remains crooked due to the extractor lip being too tight/too close to the bolt face. Should I try to drift it forward a little more, or would polishing the underside of the extractor lip give me the extra room I need?

[TRAP55]

with the rear flush with the rear of the bolt head.

jr, this is the base point to start from.
When you have a round in the bolt face, with the rim under the extractor lip, the round should sit square on the bolt face, and the extractor should be flush with the bolt head body surface.
If it isn't, and the round is pushed at an angle away from the extractor, the extractor lip is too long.
It needs to be carefully worked back, keeping the angle and radius of the lip edge the same, until the extractor is flush with the bolt head body surface, with a round in the bolt face.
Dammit, I wish my camera was working!

[jr916]

I know, pictures help so much, but I get get what you're saying... however, the round isn't pushed at an angle AWAY from the extractor because it's too far out. The round is sticking TOWARDS the extractor, because the extractor lip is too close to the bolt face and the rim "won't quite slip under the extractor lip." I hope that makes sense. It seems the extractor is too CLOSE to the bolt face, not too far away. To remedy this, should I try to tap the extractor farther forward to give the rim room to fit in-between the bolt face and the extractor lip? Since it has been a PITA to tap it in further, would sanding/polishing the UNDERSIDE of the extractor lip (the part facing backwards towards the bolt face) create that same extra space I need for the rim to slide under it more easily (ie, to make sufficient room between extractor lip and bolt face for the rim to fit there)?

[Flyin Brian]

It would appear that you didn't get it pressed all the way in, since you mentioned it was still sticking out of the other end a bit. I'm wondering if maybe there was some crud or corrosion in the slot where the extractor fits in?

[TRAP55]

I know, pictures help so much, but I get get what you're saying... however, the round isn't pushed at an angle AWAY from the extractor because it's too far out. The round is sticking TOWARDS the extractor, because the extractor lip is too close to the bolt face and the rim "won't quite slip under the extractor lip." I hope that makes sense. It seems the extractor is too CLOSE to the bolt face, not too far away. To remedy this, should I try to tap the extractor farther forward to give the rim room to fit in-between the bolt face and the extractor lip? Since it has been a PITA to tap it in further, would sanding/polishing the UNDERSIDE of the extractor lip (the part facing backwards towards the bolt face) create that same extra space I need for the rim to slide under it more easily (ie, to make sufficient room between extractor lip and bolt face for the rim to fit there)?

A working camera, AND more coffee before I post!
I gotcha now!
If the rear is flush with the rear of the bolt head, you got the fix figured out. Go slow, keep the angle the same, and when you have the clearance for it to go over the rim, check to see if the extractor is flush with the bolt head body like I posted above.
Now I want to see your next post say "WOOOHOOO, I got it!"

[jr916]

It would appear that you didn't get it pressed all the way in, since you mentioned it was still sticking out of the other end a bit. I'm wondering if maybe there was some crud or corrosion in the slot where the extractor fits in?

No crud in the slot... I cleaned it thoroughly when I took the old extractor out. However, the new extractor had a hole punched out in the top of the dovetail area, I'm assuming in an attempt to make it a snugger fit in the receptacle in the bolt head. I think this made the dove-tail on the extractor too large, making it not go in 100% of the way. I'm also worried it's large size caused the edges of the bolt head where the dove tail slides in to "flare out" a little. My main question now is, do I try to tap in the extractor more, or sand/polish down the underside of the lip of the extractor so that rims will fit between it and the bolt face. Keeping in mind, the lip of the extractor is BARELY too close to the bolt face.

[jr916]

A working camera, AND more coffee before I post!
I gotcha now!
If the rear is flush with the rear of the bolt head, you got the fix figured out. Go slow, keep the angle the same, and when you have the clearance for it to go over the rim, check to see if the extractor is flush with the bolt head body like I posted above.
Now I want to see your next post say "WOOOHOOO, I got it!"

I'll get on the polishing of the extractor lip tonight... all I have is 220 and 440 grit sandpaper, is 440 OK? It got my trigger sear/spring nice and polished and it really made trigger pull much smoother and a little lighter. I'm also unsure of how I'm going to polish that underside of the extractor lip with it still installed in the bolt head...

[TRAP55]

I'm also unsure of how I'm going to polish that underside of the extractor lip with it still installed in the bolt head...

You're not, and when you're all done, you'll be the best damned Mosin extractor remover/installer on the CalGun forums.
If you have a set of calipers with a depth gauge rod, you can pretty much figure out how much has to come off, and get lucky doing it once....maybe twice.
440 will work, I use a set of stones, then cover the stone with 1500 to polish.

[Fate]

One of the original sources for the coin type headspacing gauges: http://yankeeengineers.com/ The Field gauge is the only one needed by the average milsurp shooter/buyer.

To the OP: Have you thoroughly cleaned out the extractor slot in the breech? That often gets really gunked up and might require dental tools to remove fossilized cosmo. It's often overlooked and could be the cause of some of your issues.

[jr916]

One of the original sources for the coin type headspacing gauges: http://yankeeengineers.com/ The Field gauge is the only one needed by the average milsurp shooter/buyer.

To the OP: Have you thoroughly cleaned out the extractor slot in the breech? That often gets really gunked up and might require dental tools to remove fossilized cosmo. It's often overlooked and could be the cause of some of your issues.

I just prefer okiegauges, because they ship WAY faster and for free, and I got such incredibly good customer service from them (helping me out with general knowledge on headspace, gauges, and even other Mosin topics), that I swore I'd recommend them to all the milsurp guys I can who need gauges. I agree most should only get the field gauge unless you're a gunsmith or FFL.

Is the extractor slot up towards the chamber, or further back behind the right stripper clip guide? Sry for the confusion, I wasn't sure if you think this dirt slot may be interfering with closing the bolt on a round, or interfering with sliding the open bolt back and forth along the axis of the barrel. Thx for the help

[jr916]

You're not, and when you're all done, you'll be the best damned Mosin extractor remover/installer on the CalGun forums.
If you have a set of calipers with a depth gauge rod, you can pretty much figure out how much has to come off, and get lucky doing it once....maybe twice.
440 will work, I use a set of stones, then cover the stone with 1500 to polish.

Haha, **** this is gonna be a PITA. It may be easier to just drift the extractor in further to get the extra space I need than it would be to remove it, polish the lip, the re-install.

[Flyin Brian]

2 pics - 2,000 words

All this talk about extractors got me thinking...

I pulled the bolt out of the M91 that is giving trouble with extracting spent cases. I had already cleaned it with Hoppes and a dental pick, so I figured since I need to replace it anyways, I might as well pull the extractor. I built a nice sturdy reloading bench over the weekend so I stuck the bolthead in the press and pulled lightly and it easily pressed the extractor down about 2mm. Now that it was halfway out, I set it on the edge of the bench and lightly tapped it out using a brass punch. You would not believe the amount of crap that was stuck behind the extractor!! I cleaned out the channel and then brushed it out with a gun cleaning brush and hoppes then applied some gun grease. I pressed the extractor back in and the rifle extracts flawlessly now

Here is a pic of the bolthead sitting in the press; on the left is before I pressed it in and on the right is the final product. I then laid the end of a tiny chisel on the extractor edge and pressed again just to make sure it was in all the way. I'm stoked... just saved $25.


Here is a photo from the side, showing how the edge of the extractor is just about even with the rim of the bolthead. jr916, is this how your extractor is lined up?

[Fate]

I just prefer okiegauges, because they ship WAY faster and for free, and I got such incredibly good customer service from them (helping me out with general knowledge on headspace, gauges, and even other Mosin topics), that I swore I'd recommend them to all the milsurp guys I can who need gauges. I agree most should only get the field gauge unless you're a gunsmith or FFL.

Is the extractor slot up towards the chamber, or further back behind the right stripper clip guide? Sry for the confusion, I wasn't sure if you think this dirt slot may be interfering with closing the bolt on a round, or interfering with sliding the open bolt back and forth along the axis of the barrel. Thx for the help

It's the quarter circle up by the chamber. This is the slot the extractor fits into when you've chambered a round/bolt closed. If it's gunked up, you can break extractors because the locking lugs force the bolt to the "right spot" but the extractor has no where to go so it breaks.

I wasn't saying the Yankee gauges were better than the okiegauges. In fact, I've not looked into the market since I got my Yankee ones years ago so I didn't even know about the okie ones. I do know Yankee Engineering kinda went MIA when their AOL hometown website went down. I guess okiegauges picked up the slack.