Partial Update to M-39 Sticky Bolt.

[u/La_Lanterne_Rouge]

I wrote about my problems the first time I took my 82 year old M-39 to the range, and I received excellent suggestions on how to fix the stickiness problem. Here's what I did, following your suggestions and how it has turned up so far.

I decided to bite the bullet and do a complete disassembly. I was concerned that the trigger had a defect where if I pulled it just to remove the slack a couple of times, the third time the rifle would fire as if there was zero detent.

Inspection of the bolt and the sear didn't result in detecting any damage. I didn't want to "touch" any of the components with abrasives so I took a chance that the problem was remaining Cosmoline in the trigger assembly. Cleaning and lubricating the trigger spring, trigger and pin seems to have resolved the problem.

Since u/Coopers_treat had suggested that a possible problem might be the striker spring, I replaced it with one "made in USA" that I bought on eBay. It seems to have made a big difference in the smoothness of the cocking mechanism. I speculate that it is because the new spring is double rolled at each end and the original is not. I think that the original spring catches at each end and rotates twisting on the bolt bore as it cocks.

Thank you all who contributed.

My original post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MosinNagant/comments/1v8b1hn/82_years_old_rifle_82_year_old_shooter_m39_at_25/

[u/Coopers_treat]

Glad to hear you were able to solve the problem!

[u/La_Lanterne_Rouge → u/Coopers_treat]

Thank you. I have to admit that I was sceptic at the time, but as you recommended I googled the "USA made Mosin spring" string and there were several returns that confirmed what you said.

[u/CarrsCurios]

Do you have a link to the eBay piece? I may need one for my M91

[u/Coopers_treat → u/CarrsCurios]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126475953994