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View Full Version : Mosin-Nagant extractor too hard



Junior1942
05-11-2007, 06:34 PM
Reckon I could take a file to the extractor on my M-N and lighten it some? I have to beat the bolt closed on a hand-chambered round. Looks like I could thin the extractor some, i.e., make the spring not so strong, and make it slide a little more easily over a rim.

twotoescharlie
05-11-2007, 07:16 PM
it would probably break within a couple of hundred rounds. it would be better to polish up the face of the extractor. been shootin' these old russians for over 40 years, never had a problem.

TTC

Junior1942
05-12-2007, 03:37 PM
I did it anyway. There's a little round gap/notch near the front of my extractor and on the top, and it looks like a Russian armorer used a round file and thinned the extractor somewhat there, probably to make it not so stiff. The extractor mic-ed .041" thick in the notch. Behind the notch and all the way to where the tab is to fit in the bolthead slot the extractor mic-ed from .045" to .052".

I put a file to the top, rounded part of the extractor, and made the extractor a somewhat even ~ .044" thick, leaving the .041" notch alone. It is now much easier to force the extractor over a hand-chambered round.

Logic tells me that if the thing broke it would break at the .041" notch, the thin section. I thought about filing some more and reducing the thick part to ~.042" but it seems to work fine as is. I can now force the bolt to the right by hand, and before I had to beat it to the right. In other words, it's now mucho easier to close the bolt on a hand-chambered round or on one which doesn't slide under the extractor lip for some reason.

crazy mark
05-12-2007, 11:37 PM
Junior,
They are designed to feed from the magazine not hand fed into the chamber. Unfortunately you will probably be buying a new extractor soon. A lot of the rimmed milsurps are designed this way. Mark

Junior1942
05-13-2007, 07:22 AM
Junior,
They are designed to feed from the magazine not hand fed into the chamber. Unfortunately you will probably be buying a new extractor soon. A lot of the rimmed milsurps are designed this way. Mark
I bet I don't. If it breaks, it will break at the spot where it's .041" thin and which was there before I thinned the rest to ~.044".

crazy mark
05-14-2007, 12:08 AM
Junior,
Just trying to point out what happens when not fed from the Mag. Most people cut a notch in their head space gauges because of this. I've had to replace one extractor already from loading one at a time and not from the Mag. Mark

Junior1942
05-14-2007, 09:40 AM
Mark, I'm thinking the extractor was made so strong on purpose, i.e., to get a death grip on a jammed case in battle. Hard extraction due to military cases seems to be common for these rifles. My fired Graf & Sons cases will fall out of the chamber on their own.

So a stuck case isn't my concern. My concern is missing a deer with round #1, and then having round #2 not sliding under the extractor. When I ramed the bolt home in that situation it wouldn't close. I'd have to lower the rifle and beat the bolt down and home.

A broken or missing extractor would be better in my situation than what I had before I used the file. I could fire, elevate the rifle with an open bolt, and the fired case would fall out of the chamber. Then I could slam the bolt home and closed and aim again--and probably miss again knowing me. . . .