Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Took my Mosin to the range last week and experienced a major problem. The bolt was hard to close with a round chambered and refused to open after firing the round. I had to place it on the floor and apply pressure to the entire weapon to open the bolt and eject the spent round. It was in excellent shape and had no signs of swelling or other problems--could have been reloaded with minimum fuss.
Any ideas and suggestions?

Silver Tipped Steel Cased Czech Surplus Ammo?

I bought some Russian surplus ammo in the spam cans some years ago. I found that the "Quality Control" was a LITTLE bit wanting. Some rounds would not chamber. Did not force them or they may have given the same results as you recieved. As I on occasion would use my M91/30 or M44 for bolt action military matches I did not want to have one of these rounds in my competition ammo. I would open a can, sit down and load then cycle the bolt. Any round that would not chamber was taken down for bullets and powder. This stuff was probably manufactured in a Gulag.

what kind of ammo? have you shot this rifle before without the problem? if it's a rifle new to you, the extractor could be bent and having trouble slipping over the base, the extractor groove at the base of the chamber could be dirty, or the ammo could be too long or the rim too thick.

a little more info would be helpful. good luck, and y'all have a good day! Keith

Sounds like normal Mosin Nagant "Sticky bolt" syndrome to me. I do the twenty gauge wire brush on a section of shotgun cleaning rod chucked into my drill to really give the chamber a good scrubbing. Lots of lacquered milsurp ammo can cause a nasty build up that hardens after a while in the chamber. A few passes with the 20 gauge brush and a good bore cleaner fixed a lot of mine up.