Mosin Nagant Rear Sight Help

RelicDoug

So I recently bought a surplus Mosin Nagant 91/30 and upon further inspection, the rear sight elevator seems to be seized in place. The two buttons on it won?t depress nor will it slide forward or backwards on the tangent. The rifle itself was in fair to good condition, and the part I?m talking about is pretty heavily pittted. I was wondering if anyone has had this problem or knows of a way I could fix it?

rufe-snow

Wrap a rag soaked in kroil or liquid wrench around it. For a couple of days. Put a plastic bag around the rag, so the it will stay soaked. And not leak on the wooden stock. Those aggressive solvents. Really are bad for wood finishes.

After a couple days, compress the buttons. With adjustable jaw water pump pliers. Use a brass drift, to hopefully move the elevator.

charliemeyer007

You can take it out of the stock, then soak the metal down with Kroil or your penetrating oil of choice. A soaked rag does help to hold the solvent in place. Wrap the unit up in plastic (bags) and put it in a warm place to soak for a week or two.

A heat gun/hair dryer and maybe a propane torch if you are careful can help free up stuck parts. Do not over heat the metal - you can easily draw the temper in springs and things. Tapping with a small brass or lead hammer can help shock the corrosion welded parts apart. Nylon and rubber hammers don't work as well for me and steel one will mare the surfaces you strike.

Not that I need a mosie, but I wish I had bought a few of the minty ones that were less than $100 a pop.

Deep pitting is usually a sign of salt water or blood.

added You could try and work the barrel band loose first. Maybe an extra set of hands to hold in the retainer while you try and move the band with say a brass drift and a hammer.

Kroil is well worth finding/using, even if you have to wait for mail order. Real gun and car parts stores are a good local place to look.

It is starting to sound like your rifle isn't in the best condition so maybe a little brute force will not cause any real loss in value. Personally its an old war horse, so a fresh oil stain on the stock or a ding from a hammer slip isn't a big deal.

RelicDoug

quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
You can take it out of the stock, then soak the metal down with Kroil or your penetrating oil of choice. A soaked rag does help to hold the solvent in place. Wrap the unit up in plastic (bags) and put it in a warm place to soak for a week or two.

A heat gun/hair dryer and maybe a propane torch if you are careful can help free up stuck parts. Do not over heat the metal - you can easily draw the temper in springs and things. Tapping with a small brass or lead hammer can help shock the corrosion welded parts apart. Nylon and rubber hammers don't work as well for me and steel one will mare the surfaces you strike.

Not that I need a mosie, but I wish I had bought a few of the minty ones that were less than $100 a pop.

Deep pitting is usually a sign of salt water or blood.


Your idea of taking the receiver and barrel off the stock is a good one. However, the tensioned leaf of metal that holds the end barrel band won?t budge. It also seems to be the victim of rust. Should I just clamp it and hope the band slides off, or is there some other way to get it to loosen in order to take off the stock?

TRAP55

More than likely has solidified cosmolene under it. Put a BB or something of similar size on it just behind the band stop. Use a C clamp on it to squeeze the band retainer spring into the stock.
Once you have the band off, remove the spring and clean the crap out from under it. To remove it, on the opposite side you'll see the head of a pin in the stock, that's the pin the spring is attached to. Drive it out with a pin punch.

Tflogger

A heat gun is useful, warm up the band's and the cosmoline behind them softens. You can also bleed the grease out of the wood.

mrmike08075

Full removal of / abatement of cosmoline and other POL products or refinishing of the mosin nagant stocks can be problematic

The stocks (excluding those made in North America) are usually arctic birch treated with chromium permanginate to provide water proofing under harsh extreme cold conditions - water permeating the stock in such conditions would result in ice intrusion expansion and stocks breaking

This product is persistent and seeps deep into the wood making it very near impossible to remove

Many of these stocks get ruined or badly blemished or discolored when owners attempt to restore these arms

Just a word of caution

Mike

RelicDoug

Fixed it! After tapping it with a brass hammer, I got it to slide. I then took it off the tangent and proceeded to dunk the springs and buttons inside in hoppes no9 and then in CLP. I then reassembled it without much problem.