Mosinowner
Grandmaster
- Aug 1, 2011
- 5,927
- 38
I have been using ammo that isnt sticky but it is costly so. My bolt is sticky but my wallet is getting a lot lighter.Sticky Bolt might not be an Ammo problem:
Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2006) - Surplusrifle.com
Thanks I found some polish ammo on chargers I'm gonna check out.My experience with 7.62X54R in my Mosin has shown that the surplus "coated" steel ammo is more likely to cause a bolt to stick closed. Sometimes that stuff is even sticky when you handle it!
That having been said, I believe that the old coated stuff is rapidly being sold (and shot up) so now, I see that many on line vendors are selling later production "copper washed" steel (I think it is sometimes referred to as bimetal case also) surplus ammo. This stuff doesn't make the bolt on my Mosin stick closed, and is still cheap, cheap shooting.
The popular cleaning/polishing techniques for the bolt, chamber, and lugs help even more on chambering a round.
Shop around. Sometimes you don't have to buy a full 440 round "Spam Can", since some retailers break the cans down and sell in 5 round packages. This allows you to buy just enough to test before comitting to a full can or two. I'm sure you'll be able to come up with some less expensive surplus ammo that your Mosin likes. Have fun!
Privi makes the wolf gold line and S&B makes the winchester metric.It may not be cheap. And sure, for many, it defeats the purpose of owning a Mosin (i.e. good, cheap fun). But, in my experience, Sellier & Bellot 174gr HPBT Match is the best production ammo I have shot from my M44 Sporter.
The 180gr Sellier & Bellot FMJ is also a great performing 7.62x54R cartridge.
Don't give into the Winchester white box ammo. It never gave me any reliability. I would shoot 174gr Wolf Match over the Winchester stuff any day. Internet-land told me Winchester uses .308 bullets instead of .311...
I say try all different types of ammo, and see what shoots best through your rifle. For me, it's S&B 174gr HPBT Match.