Check this out... http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?153049-Out-of-battery-Mosin-ignition!

 

I know there were a hundred theories given in those two threads, but here's my take on it.

If you load a round on top of the magazine (not in it), the nose of the bullet can catch on lip around the chamber. If the round is at the right angle, the rear of it can rest on the notch on the right side of the receiver which, in turn, puts the primer exactly where it needs to be for the extractor to hit it, when you try to close the bolt. Given the chain of events described by the "victim", it's likely what happened. His description indicates that he was in a hurry and frustrated. He already had a failure to pick up that round out of the magazine, so he dropped it out of the bottom and set it back on top before trying to ram it home. He admits doing this with the rifle at his hip (which would create the angle needed) and the "shadow" of the bolt handle, burned into his hand, would indicate that he was doing it with some force, as he was using the heel of his hand to push the bolt.

I don't think there was anything wrong with that rifle.

My .02

John

 

While this is the second "out of battery" mosin "accident" I've read about in the last couple of years, the rifle and it's design were not at fault. Operator error was. I can not imagine what poses a person to force a bolt in a bolt action rifle. The Mosin by design were "soldier proof" and we still find people who have managed to outsmart a 100+ year old design. I might sound cold but I have very little tolerance for stupid in handling ANY firearm.

 

Thats one gun I'd like to give a once over before it gos playing again. Irregardless of what the fault is it "MUST" be found. Are you close to a good smith?-SDH

 

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr....com/showthread.php?153049-Out-of-battery-Mosin-ignition!&p=1183688#post1183688

Earlier posts.

 

I dunno... that's clearly not firing pin protrusion especially considering the fact that the "bolt was closed about 3/4 of the way". Clearly operator error, which could be remedied by a careful study of the function of the design. This is why I **always** tell people to examine their new weapons (disassemble them, operate them, figure out how the mechanism functions) before you try shooting them! This could've ended much worse (the lugs didn't even engage from what I can tell, so he's incredibly lucky the bolt didn't break every bone in his hand) and he's extremely lucky it didn't.

 

The one thing I do not like about the CMP matches is there are no alilbis. Now I realize especially at Perry that would cost a lot of time and the matches would go way past dark. The reason I do not like them not having alibis is when shooting a bolt action if you have a dud or round that does not go off you have to eject the shell and keep going. Not a problem unless you have a click and bang round and your in rapid fire stage. It could easily go off after you have disengaged the bolt lugs. When shooting surplus ammo it is somewhat common to have duds. I usually leave it in the chamber for a at least 15-20 seconds. Try again and 50% of the time it will go. Wnen it doesn't it makes me feel like I have a potential bomb in my "space". Never had one go out of battery from this, but I have had some click and bang ammo and some just slightly delayed detonation. Being that I shot the MN at Perry last year and used some old Hansen ammo I didn't have to much to worry about, but if I was using my Bulgarian HB I would run the possibility of have a dud. The ammo is pretty reliable but on occasion it happens. To me this is the danger of click and bang ammo.

I agree with the post above that suggests detail cleaning your rifle, especially the bolt so that things function as designed. In other words so the bolt doesn't hang up because of grease or dried cosmoline. Last summer I had feed problems with a very clean M39. Stuggled with it for quite a while. The reason was the interupter was filthy dirty with old grease and dirt. You couldn't see it until you disassembled the rifle. Took a different M39 apart last week to fix a nasty split in the stock. Same thing, bore clean, follower/magazine clean, but the interupter was filthy with crud. The point being if your simple "solider proof" rifle is not functioning properly you run the risk of poor preformance or worse. I say this to myself as much as anybody because I fell into this trap thinking that if what I could see was cleaned up that the rest was ok. It was not. Food for thought. Be safe and favor center. John.

 

"interupter"?, sorry what part is this? maybe it goes by another name? part location please? thnaks

 

The interrupter is the small shelf in the magazine that keeps the rifle from feeding two rounds at once. If you take one single round and push it all the way into the magazine, you'll see that it doesn't come up far enough for the rim to engage the feed lip on the bolt. You'll also see a small piece of metal sticking out of the side of the magazine that's holding the round down below the feed area. That small piece of metal is the interrupter. Its only purpose in life is to keep you from having a massive jam in the magazine by having more than one round try to feed at the same time, and if it gets too dirty it can jam and interfere with bolt and magazine function (I had a NEW M91 with an extractor that was stuck in position and wouldn't allow rounds to feed out of the magazine)

 

thanks Paladin, learn something new every day. I have to run to the safe and check my M39 to see if it is dirty.

 

I clean the interruptor with either a gun "toothbrush" with nylon bristles or an actual old toothbrush.

My theory on the Kaboom, there was a round already in the chamber and the shooter forcefully tried to chamber another one and the tip of the bullet acted as a de facto firing pin, igniting the primer on the chambered round.

Also, when I hear or read about "kabooms" I always think that there is usually more to the story that the poster does not think to include or does not want to, but not always. I have had a failure in my semi-auto Kahr Arms Thompson 1928 due to a bad lot of Speer Blazer .45 ammo, got a "squib" and it lodged in the bore, and the next round struck the stuck round and bulged my barrel.......lucky I didn't have a KaBoom.

But sometimes, the poster "forgets" to mention some kitchen table gunsmith job or some kind of home cooked handload with uber sensitive "match" primers and then when something happens it's "those _____ rifles are crap!!"

 

It's nearly always user error. There's really no such thing as idiot proof. We're ingenious beyond the designers' wildest imaginations.