T53 bolt issue (now with obligatory pic!)

[DSpangler]

I just recently purchased my first C&R, a 1954 t53. I've cleaned the cosmoline off and reassembled everything. Problem is, the safety is almost impossible for me to engage, and even harder to disengage. Any suggestions? The bolt is clean and oiled. I haven't shot it yet (range is not easy to get to, and I haven't checked headspace).

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[JNieman]

That's Mosins for you.

No one ever uses the safety for that reason. It's a bitch. It's a **** design.

 

[Sugarbug]

That's Mosins for you.

No one ever uses the safety for that reason. It's a bitch. It's a **** design.

+1

You're not going to be humping around with that rifle with a round in the chamber are you? I don't like safeties on any gun... much less one I only shoot from the bench.

 

[sportsbud]

The only thing you can do is polish, the points on contacts on the bolt, and shave a coil or two(not too much) off the mainspring, if you dont care about value you can weld a ring on the back of the cocking handle so you can get your finger in to twist it, with a Mosin your safety is a PITA!!!
This is an example of something that can be done, sever sights sell replacement cocking knobs that have this pre-done for around 50 or so...

 

[DSpangler]

Well, it took everything back apart and on a whim, rolled the firing pin across the table. Looks to be bent ever so slightly. How in the hell did someone manage to bend this monster of a pin???

 

[sportsbud]

Well, it took everything back apart and on a whim, rolled the firing pin across the table. Looks to be bent ever so slightly. How in the hell did someone manage to bend this monster of a pin???

Really? wow...
Here is a replacement...
https://www.buymilsurp.com/bolt-spare-part-kit-mosin-nagant-rifles-p-41661.html

 

[DSpangler]

So as not to offend, a picture of my rifle, complete with Russian sling.

 

[dwr461]

It was more common for rifles designed in that era not to have safeties. Look at French rifles up to and including the MAS36. No safeties at all. The French army by standing order forbid the solder to carry a rifle with a round in the chamber. They had modern rifles but the strategies were straight out of Napoleon's time. The solder's trained to load only on command and fire only on command. Therefore rounds were kept in the internal magazine at best but not in the chamber. When the unit encountered bad guys they would then be told to load and fire. I think that maybe the French military also thought they'd line up in fields before shooting at each other too.

I think that the Russian Imperial Government had a similar policy in effect when this rifle was designed but am not 100% on that.

Dave

 

[GaryCCR]

I had the cocking ring put on my Mosin but I later added the Timney trigger with a thumb safety. I took apart my bolt and polished the metal parts with 600 800 1000 1200 1500 grit sandpaper and Mother's mag and alum polish then lubed it with C5-A and it's slick as greased owl Shnot! Without the cocking ring I found the safety useless.

 

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Brass Stacker makes a nice cocking ring that is a simple bolt-on. Also, if you lay the rifle on your forearm with your arm bent at 90 degrees, your upper arm will brace the rifle on the buttplate and allow you to easily engage or disengage the safety.

It's not a "**** design", as was stated above. It's a very sound, simple design that is very safe. It disengages the sear and locks the bolt, making the rifle impossible to fire.

I trust that safety more than any other rifle safety I've encountered to date!

Josh

 

[JNieman]

Nope, it's still a **** design. It takes incredible force, compared to other safeties of similar era, it's slow to disengage, and because of the difficulty, users are more likely to just NOT use the safety at all.

It's ****.

I 'get it' that you're a Mosin fanboy but seriously just stick to what the things are good for; being cheap. Don't be intellectually dishonest and try to claim it's something it isn't.

Steyr 1895 - flip a switch on the cocking piece
Various Mausers - flip a switch
Enfields - flip a switch
Winchester 1895s - tang safety
Mauser 1871 - wing type safety
German k98 - 3 position safety

So no, for it's time, it was a crappy design, bulky, cumbersome, slow, and obsolete long before it was issued.

 

[Josh Smith]

I still must disagree.

I'm not a "fanboy" as you call it. I have, among several others rifles, a Gewehr 88.

It's an excellent design for the shooter, but it's a **** design for the average soldier. Very precise inletting, pillar bedding, and a sleeved barrel that screams sub-MOA (and it does it too, with proper handloads). However, the sleeved barrel lets water sit and rots the barrel out. This is one of several problems encountered by soldiers on the battlefield.

The Mosin, on the other hand, needs lots of work to make it a good design for a shooter, but for the soldier operating in sub-zero conditions, it's excellent.

Consider the intended use.

Josh

 

[DSpangler]

Ok, so I carefully straightened the firing pin out, it was rather easy. Next I took an old t-shirt and some flitz polish on the parts of the bolt. The safety engages much easier. Problem is, now you cannot operate the bolt without hitting it extremely hard. If you pull the trigger, it "fires" as it should but you cannot operate the bolt. If you pull back and re-cock the firing pin yourself, you can rotate the bolt almost open but I still have to hit it to get it to fully open.

WTF?

 

[sportsbud]

Hmm.. did you throw some lube on the contact points? sometimes it needs it right after polishing to smooth it out...

 

[GaryCCR]

Ok, so I carefully straightened the firing pin out, it was rather easy. Next I took an old t-shirt and some flitz polish on the parts of the bolt. The safety engages much easier. Problem is, now you cannot operate the bolt without hitting it extremely hard. If you pull the trigger, it "fires" as it should but you cannot operate the bolt. If you pull back and re-cock the firing pin yourself, you can rotate the bolt almost open but I still have to hit it to get it to fully open.

WTF?

Take some tension off the action screws, sometimes if the stock is cut poorly the magazine can interfere with the bolt, it's rare but it happened to me and lube the Frak out of it!!!

 

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Not trying to toot my own horn. You might find these helpful. Sorry I don't film well:


Excuse the mess. I'd been looking for something, if I recall.


This is the one I think should help you out the most; it's long though.

Really a simple design when you tear it down, lots of these were made rather expediently and suffer from shortcuts. When buying Mosins and even certain German arms, expect to have to smooth out parts that appear to have been milled out with dull spoons.

It's part of the charm

Regards,

Josh