[JonM]

one of the most important aspects of owning a Mosin 91/30 is keeping the bolt clean and in proper working order. unfortunately there is not much info on exactly how to take the mosin 91/30 bolt apart and put it together. while there are some vids and a few pictorals none of them explain the relationship of each part to its neighbor.

two key pieces of gear for the mosin that everyone should have is the bolt tool and broken shell extractor. the extractor is used to remove a stuck case that has seperated its base from the rest of the case. the bolt tool is needed to properly set firing pin protrusion.

the extractor is used by dropping it into the chamber then closing the bolt on the stuck case then open the bolt and pull the rest of the case out. unscrew the extractor and discard the broken case. put the extractor back together and its ready for another round.



to remove the bolt depress the trigger and slide the bolt out the back of the rifle.



hold the bolt in your left hand with the bolt handle towards you and the bolt head to the left as in the picture below.



wrap your fingers around the bolt handle and your thumb against the bolt face.



with your other hand pull the cocking knob and rotate it towards you. this releases the spring tension of the fring pin spring



with the bolt in the fired position and out of the rifle the bolt head and connector rod will come apart.





the large notch on the bolt tool fits the flat skinny part of the firing pin.



after unscrewing the firing pin all the way the rest of the bolt will come apart. the cocking knob will seperate from the bolt body. at this point its fully apart and can be cleaned easily.



the confusing part is how the hell does it all go back together????? well its not as hard as it seems. the cocking piece and bolt body both have cuts that mate up as shown below

[JonM]

holding the two parts together insert the firing pin spring



next insert the firing pin. an easy way to screw the firing pin into the cocking piece is use a piece of soft wood to compress the spring and then use the bolt tool to screw the firing pin in a few threads. once it catches you dont need to compress it and can screw in the firing pin at your conveinence



all the mosins i have seen have reference index marks cut into the back of the cocking piece. with the firing pin fully screwed in use the bolt tool to line up the notches with the screw slot.



you can see there is a square protrusion on the cocking piece. it fits into a corresponding notch on the connecting rod



slip the connector over the firing pin so the notch and cut line up.





on the other end there is a small square that fits in a corresponding cutout on the bolt head.

[JonM]

now rotate the bolt head so the little protrusion on the bolt head lines up with a corresponding cutout on the bolt handle.







there are 3 small notches on the bolt tool for measuring he firing pin protrusion. use the tool to confirm the firing pin is set correctly. if not use the bolt tool to twist the firing pin up or down so the center notch just almost hits the firing pin. correct protrusion is shown below



now we are back to where we started. with the bolt in your left hand and thumb on the bolt face and fingers applying light pressure to keep the parts together, pull the cocking knob and rotate it away from you.




now you have the bolt back together and in the cocked position.



holding the trigger down reinsert the bolt into the receiver.



hope this helps.

[Jpyle]

Great post JonM...a must read for all new Mosin owners. Just might want to add a reference to which notches in the firing pin tool are used to gauge a correct protrusion. i.e. which one should the firing pin pass under and which one should it not.

One other note of caution, be careful when rotating the bolt cocking knob when it is under tension...the edges of the bolt on my Mosin are razor sharp and I damn near removed all the skin between my thumb and finger when it "bit" me.

[JonM]

thanks. i did put correct notch thing in there i just transposed two pics. i fixed it so it should read right now.

if you grip the bolt like in the pic your fingers and hands never touch the connector rod and you have total control over the assembly.

[Chainfire]

That will be a really good post for all of the new Mosin Nagant owners.

I will tell you though that I never unscrew the firing pin as you demonstrate. After the guide rod and head have been removed I hold the bolt in my left hand with the firing pin pointed down and aganist a wooden block, depress the bolt and unscrew the cocking knob. I find that method easier to control the firing pin spring.

That said, you method works well and was well photographed and demonstrated.