91/30 sniper problems

[curt1950]

I bought my first 91/30 the other day, finally shot it Saturday. Out of 10 rounds fired 3 had burst primers and 1 had a cracked case. Looking/cleaning it today it seems that the bolt is really loose , much more than in my other bolt rifles. Thinking about it , it seems that its not the original bolt and the numbers were stamped on it just to make it look original. tomorrow I'm going to call jg and see what they say, it seems to me that if I pay for a sniper and extra for hand picked for bore and condition then everything should be good to go. What are your thoughts about it?

I never had dealings with JGsales before but they seem ok, nice to talk to ect. this is not about them yet but more about what I should expect for my money.

[C&Rtrader]

Did you check the depth of the firing pin protrusion?

[curt1950]

No, I don't know anything about them yet, still looking up info. other than when and where it was made and that kind of stuff I'm still trying to fill the void between my ears.

[Discogodfather]

I head-spaced mine to make sure, the bolt head on mine was loose as well but tightened when either the gauge or the round was in the chamber. Headspace on these is off the rim so the gauge is just a disk, picking up a no-go is very very cheap.

Did the primer blow out on your cracked base? Is it printing on the bolt head?

My PU is a molot refurb.

[C&Rtrader]

Check YouTube for videos on measuring firing pin protrusion. Might be an easy fix. You will be able to tell if it was out of spec when you shot it before.

[curt1950]

Check YouTube for videos on measuring firing pin protrusion. Might be an easy fix. You will be able to tell if it was out of spec when you shot it before.

WoW... a lot of stuff on youTube, gonna take me a while to work through this.

thanks!

[TRAP55]

Curt, what ammo were you using?

[Vlad 11]

Pin protrusion check should be job #1, you can check and adjust in under a minute. Other than that might be the ammo

it seems to me that if I pay for a sniper and extra for hand picked for bore and condition then everything should be good to go

J&G have repro snipers btw. In addition they have a disclaimer to have gunsmith check any surplus rifle. They do not check them for function

Mosins are simple enough that anybody can learn the basic checks for them in short order. Most problems are easily fixed

[NOTABIKER]

so you buy a 70 year old surplus military rifle and you do not go threw the basic steps to properly shoot it. the most basic thing you do is take that provided firing pin go no go gage and you check the firing pin depth. i admit you should not have to do this but it is part of playing with old firearms. i have bought maybe 20 unfired mosins in the last 2 years .i clean them properly and check the firing pin adj. i have never had the problem you are having. i also have a PU sniper .no mosin should be taken out and shot for the first time without completely taking the bolt apart and cleaning it and adjusting the firing pin. I might seem harsh but these are not rifles you take out of he box and shoot. would you take a car that has not run in 50 years and fill the gas tank and expect to just drive away.

[emcon5]

J&G have repro snipers btw. In addition they have a disclaimer to have gunsmith check any surplus rifle. They do not check them for function

The last batch they had were Group West imports of Molot processed PU snipers. They are not repros.

It would be easy to tell, the repros JG used to sell (about 2 years ago) were Century imports and had the bigass billboard import mark.

The recent ones will have the <ГИС> diamond proof mark from the Klimovsk Proof House, on the action, barrel (under the handguard) and on the bolt.

This does mean that they were test fired, and from what I can see from looking at the videos on the C.I.P web site http://www.cip-bobp.org/ I believe they had their headspace checked.

[18Dmedic]

At least a good cleaning.

[Marcus von W.]

Adding to everything said above: Photos of the rifle and the problem ammo would help a lot.
As stated above, the firing pin protrusion also needs to be set correctly.

[curt1950]

Thanks everyone, the rifle was taken apart and cleaned with brake cleaner and a tooth brush. the bolt was soaked in thinner while cleaning the rest of the piece then blown down with compressed air and checked for function. at the time I didn't know about the firing pin setting but it looked ok to fire. The stock looked like it had been dipped into lacquer and big runs of the stuff aloud to dry, ugly ! I sprayed the stock with brake cleaner and used a rag to wipe the lacquer off to find a nice blond stock under all that. I used fine scotch brite to smooth the stock a little and put a sealer on it. I didn't want to do too much to it because as I was cleaning it a bunch of stamp marks that I couldn't see originally became visible.

The ammo was new S & B production hunting ammo. I've been reloading my own ammo for 40 years and it looked ok.

I'll call J & G today and see what they say, it is a new to me rifle and does come with a guarantee, but it does look like headspace and firing pin needs to be checked.

[eighteenninetytwo]

"would you take a car that has not run in 50 years and fill the gas tank and expect to just drive away" : if it had a chevy 350 in it yes

[NOTABIKER]

"would you take a car that has not run in 50 years and fill the gas tank and expect to just drive away" : if it had a chevy 350 in it yes

well the header gaskets would be shot, the valve covers would be leaking , the valve guide seals would cause it to smoke and the water pump would be leaking
now a ford 289