Loose Barrel Bands on a 91/30 Mosin-Nagant

[nognig]

The subject line says it all! When I fire my 91/30, the barrel bands aren't tight enough to stop the top piece of wood from working its way towards the front sight.

Is there a way to tighten the band?

NN

[kf4zra]

not on the standard russian 91/30.

when you remove the bands is there a decent size gap b/w each side of the band? if so, you may need to just replace them. they arent that expensive.

there should be a spring that holds the bands in place, its not uncommon to see these missing. the spring is in the lower stock. if they are there, and the bands are anything near snug, the top piece should not move.

if you are missing the springs, they are fairly reasonable too.

if it turns out that you need any of these parts, lemme know, i have some layin around i would let go for a buck a piece, plus a stamp.

[Steve in PA]

I had this problem with the rear barrel band. Same thing would happen, after a few rounds the top handguard would move forward.

I raised this question on another milsurp board and got an answer. As long as the spring was okay to put a couple of small pieces of leather, etc.....between the upper and lower handguards at the end. I did, slid the band in place and took the rifle to the range a week or so ago. Fired something like 30rds through my 91/30 and no more handguard slippage ;f

[Rick O'Shay]

Hi-temp O-rings from your local hardware store might be just the thing. My 91-30, although an ex-sniper, was only accurate on the first shot. The next four rounds missed the paper altogether. I used three O-rings along the barrel, then installed the stock and handguard. The thing shoots much better now. There's a slight gap between stock and handguard, indicating that I probably should have used slightly thinner O-rings.
(The O-rings serve to "float" the barrel. A poor man's "bedding".)

[kf4zra]

i do know that on some of my finn mosins, they used thin pieces of brass to shim the barrel.

[nognig]

Thanks for the ideas guys! Shims sound like the easy answer.

I couldn't think of the word "handguard" when I wrote the original email. I gotta stop posting early in the morning.

NN