I finally got to fire my 1934 Tula 1891/30 this past Sunday. I only put 10 rounds through it; I guess my shoulder isn't as fully recovered from the surgery as I thought it was. I'm still sore.
I've read everything I can find on this rifle before I ever took it out to fire so I anticipated some difficulty with the bolt. I'd cleaned the chamber extensively as recommended, but the bolt became tighter than I expected. I was wishing for a 2x4 or rubber mallet to cycle the bolt!
I fired 5 Brown Bear rounds with the green, lacquered steel case. The other 5 were copper washed with no lacquer. Both behaved about the same.
I saved my "brass" to evaluate it. It looks like the case is swelled about 1/4" from the rim. It is easily seen with the naked eye. I have tried the used brass back into the chamber and it does hang that last 1/4" or so, and the bolt is tight; nearly as bad as it was when I was firing it. There's a photo of one of the shells at:
IMG_1426.jpg picture by n9iui - Photobucket
It's hard to evaluate the chamber. I can't really see into the chamber very good as it is so recessed. Has this same thing happened to anyone else? How did you solve it? It sounds as though the chamber may be eroded about 1/4" in. Is this common, and is there any way to fix it? HELP!
On the other hand, I was really shocked at the power of this thing! My wife and friends were digging the effect the shock wave of the round made in the grass all the way to the target. And the report was a lot lower in pitch than I expected. It sounded more like a small cannon than a rifle! Freakin' awesome!
I've read everything I can find on this rifle before I ever took it out to fire so I anticipated some difficulty with the bolt. I'd cleaned the chamber extensively as recommended, but the bolt became tighter than I expected. I was wishing for a 2x4 or rubber mallet to cycle the bolt!
I fired 5 Brown Bear rounds with the green, lacquered steel case. The other 5 were copper washed with no lacquer. Both behaved about the same.
I saved my "brass" to evaluate it. It looks like the case is swelled about 1/4" from the rim. It is easily seen with the naked eye. I have tried the used brass back into the chamber and it does hang that last 1/4" or so, and the bolt is tight; nearly as bad as it was when I was firing it. There's a photo of one of the shells at:
IMG_1426.jpg picture by n9iui - Photobucket
It's hard to evaluate the chamber. I can't really see into the chamber very good as it is so recessed. Has this same thing happened to anyone else? How did you solve it? It sounds as though the chamber may be eroded about 1/4" in. Is this common, and is there any way to fix it? HELP!
On the other hand, I was really shocked at the power of this thing! My wife and friends were digging the effect the shock wave of the round made in the grass all the way to the target. And the report was a lot lower in pitch than I expected. It sounded more like a small cannon than a rifle! Freakin' awesome!