Mosin Firing Pin Question

[McNally M.]

Hey guys, I'd like to voice a concern I have and I need you all to tell me whether or not its baseless or an actual issue confronted by mosin owners.

I have gone shooting a few times using a rifle whose bolt I pieced together. I used common Russian military surplus 7.62x54R ammunition. I was shocked when I noticed that I was getting 1 to 2 misfires every 5 shots. I even came home with about 5 duds that wouldn't shoot every I cycled them two or three times. I had a look at the duds and noticed that the primers were pushed in, causing them to go defunct. I had a look at the other bullets that did go off and noticed the pin struck deep.

Is it a possibility that too much of my firing pin is exposed and is punching the primers too hard? Using my nifty Mosin firing pin too I checked to see if the pin was exposed too much but it feel on the maximum mark and not any more. But I am wondering if my pin is still exposed too much. Am I crazy or is this a problem that some Mosin Nagant owners face?

[OniKoroshi]

There are 2 measurements. Min and max. Min is supposed to touch but the max isn't.

Touch the 75 but not touch the 95.

[meltyman]

I believe many have said the some surplus ammo has hard primers. If the firing pin gauges ok and is not piercing the primers, I'd say the gun is fine and it's just bad ammo.

[McNally M.]

I believe many have said the some surplus ammo has hard primers. If the firing pin gauges ok and is not piercing the primers, I'd say the gun is fine and it's just bad ammo.

I haven't heard of Russian surplus having a back track record for not firing though. Are there bad batches every now and again?

[cruddymutt]

I have never had a 7.62x54r not fire. Not to say it cant happen, just doesnt sound like a common acurance like you hear with the Yugo 8mm surplus.

[OniKoroshi]

Pics of the duds?

[meltyman]

Honestly I am just repeating what I have heard. Haven't had any trouble myself. Were the primers that were pushed in dented at all? With the primers getting pushed in, it just sounds to me like they are too hard, and the force from the firing pin is transferred into moving the primer rather than denting and setting it off. Another q, is it possible they were pushed in prior to any attempt to fire them?

[meltyman]

I definitely could be confusing this with the Yugo.

[J.S.Riesch]

[Vlad 11]

If the pin is within specs, its probably the ammo

I have had a few bad batches of 7.62x54. One can never tell how or if the ammo was stored properly over the last 40 years. Not common but it happens

Try some different ammo

[oftenindeed]

Primers that are struck too hard with the firing pin are actually pierced and explode often causing gas to blow back into the shooter's face. That's why too much pin protrusion is bad. I've never seen it but that's what my understanding is. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The question I have is your firing pin spring. You cleaned it and the entire bolt of cosmoline? Maybe the problem is with the spring if your firing pin protrusion is within spec.

[Datamancer]

I've had my firing pin adjusted out too far and gotten misfires. You'd think it would be LESS likely to misfire with the pin out further, but that wasn't the case with mine. It was pretty severe too, like 1 out of every 5 rounds.

Are you sure you're using the proper notch on the firing pin tool? One of those notches is there just to clear the raised border around the outside of the bolt head.

-~D~-

[TMcC]

What others have already said...

On the bolt, the line that is etched on the end where you can adjust the pin is normally pretty close. Still, you must measure the min/max protrusion, especially since it sounds like your bolt came from different bits and pieces of others.

If you're sure everything is clean, the spring is good, the protrusion is correct (AND the the adjustment is not moving between shots) then you could always pick up a cheapish box of Serbian Prvi rounds to try out. They run ~$15 per 20 rounds.



Good Luck.

[notme92069]

Like everything else these days, I'm sure there are videos on Youtube to show you how to adjust your firing pin.