1946 Izzy M44 project rifle.
This was a $50 bubba M44, minus the bayonet and ground off lug, snatched up to serve as an ammo burner on the range. Just another short carbine to use and abuse, it is receiving in excess of $300.00 in new clothes inclusive of a Boyd’s walnut stock with Devcon pillar post bedding, Mojo rear sight, Truglo front blade, mercury recoil suppression tube, Limbsaver magnum pad and a hundred hours or so of work.
The original stock was nothing to get excited about being just average with handling dings and dents. The metal, however, appeared to be unissued and unused with no wear at all and no copper fouling in the pristine bore.
1946 must have been a rough time in Russian gun factories. I conjure images of slave and conscript labor along with herds of children using hand files …
The front sight was so crudely made with the base dovetail being cut on an angle that canted the whole sight and the post being drilled off center and bent to compensate that it just had to be replaced.
The bolt is extremely bright with no signs of wear at all. The firing pin didn’t even have any powder residue in the hole or on the pin. It was, however, extremely tight and stiff when cycled.
Having thoroughly cleaned and polished it, and with minimal lubrication, I took it out to the range to get the sights adjusted.
Warming it up with a good sixty or more rounds, cycling the bolt became progressively more and more difficult and flipping it open required a good hard smack with the palm to get it open.
I was beginning to suspect a chamber throat gummed up with poly and lacquer but the copper washed steel case 7.62x54R I was using is relatively clean and leaves no deposits.
It eventually got to the point where the bolt wouldn’t open and I had to put it away.
When I got home, it was still pretty warm and the bolt still stuck. It required a smack with a large rubber mallet to finally get it open and remove the empty shell. The empty showed no signs of sticking or deformity and fresh shells fit easily into the chamber.
The bolt, with no bullet in the gun, would bind and stick badly when cycled.
Disassembled for close and magnified inspection, the problem became quite clear.
The various mating surfaces that turn against each other were very roughly cut with sharp and jagged edges. Several of these areas had coarse file marks visible indicating these areas were hand formed with a coarse file and never polished down. The parts were grinding and grating against each other rather than easily slipping by. Without copious lubrication, they simply bound up to the point of complete lockup when hot. Compared to a well worn and loose bolt on the M38, which despite its beat up appearance is very smooth, this bolt was positively crude in manufacture.
Continued below ..
This was a $50 bubba M44, minus the bayonet and ground off lug, snatched up to serve as an ammo burner on the range. Just another short carbine to use and abuse, it is receiving in excess of $300.00 in new clothes inclusive of a Boyd’s walnut stock with Devcon pillar post bedding, Mojo rear sight, Truglo front blade, mercury recoil suppression tube, Limbsaver magnum pad and a hundred hours or so of work.
The original stock was nothing to get excited about being just average with handling dings and dents. The metal, however, appeared to be unissued and unused with no wear at all and no copper fouling in the pristine bore.
1946 must have been a rough time in Russian gun factories. I conjure images of slave and conscript labor along with herds of children using hand files …
The front sight was so crudely made with the base dovetail being cut on an angle that canted the whole sight and the post being drilled off center and bent to compensate that it just had to be replaced.
The bolt is extremely bright with no signs of wear at all. The firing pin didn’t even have any powder residue in the hole or on the pin. It was, however, extremely tight and stiff when cycled.
Having thoroughly cleaned and polished it, and with minimal lubrication, I took it out to the range to get the sights adjusted.
Warming it up with a good sixty or more rounds, cycling the bolt became progressively more and more difficult and flipping it open required a good hard smack with the palm to get it open.
I was beginning to suspect a chamber throat gummed up with poly and lacquer but the copper washed steel case 7.62x54R I was using is relatively clean and leaves no deposits.
It eventually got to the point where the bolt wouldn’t open and I had to put it away.
When I got home, it was still pretty warm and the bolt still stuck. It required a smack with a large rubber mallet to finally get it open and remove the empty shell. The empty showed no signs of sticking or deformity and fresh shells fit easily into the chamber.
The bolt, with no bullet in the gun, would bind and stick badly when cycled.
Disassembled for close and magnified inspection, the problem became quite clear.
The various mating surfaces that turn against each other were very roughly cut with sharp and jagged edges. Several of these areas had coarse file marks visible indicating these areas were hand formed with a coarse file and never polished down. The parts were grinding and grating against each other rather than easily slipping by. Without copious lubrication, they simply bound up to the point of complete lockup when hot. Compared to a well worn and loose bolt on the M38, which despite its beat up appearance is very smooth, this bolt was positively crude in manufacture.
Continued below ..
