I picked up a Polish Nagant carbine the end of last year, and finally got a chance to try it at the range last week. For the life of me, I couldn't get the thing to feed from the magazine! I'd try one round in the mag, and a full mag. All that happened was the bullet nose dived and stuck in the mag well.

Ammo was spitzer milsurp, hep me!

I suspect you have two minor problems.Take down the rifle and make sure there isn`t any cosmoline and dirt fouling up the interruptor of the magazine.Carburetor cleaner or brake parts cleaner works well.Make sure stock is off the gun of course.I have gotten dried grass,sand and other gunk out of there before.They won`t work right if they ain`t clean.When you open the bolt you`ll see it on the inside left part of the reciever.It should move freely without a gritty feeling by pressing with your thumb.If that aint it try this in the next paragraph.I suspect you might have a weak spring that holds up the follower.

Open the magazine from the bottom.Pinch the follower and floorplate together and pull out to remove the mag assembly and lay it on a table/bench just the way it came out of the gun.You`ll see a little pin that the follower pivots on.Drive it out(from the right side to left) with a ball point pen tip or whatever.You might have to wiggle the follower a little to get the pin out,but it will come out.Once that is accomplished....take the spring and bend it some.....not Hercules or Incredible Hulk style...just a little.Then replace in opposite order and try again till it works.

So in summary:
1.Clean the magazine interruptor with brake or carb cleaner(outside with safety glasses)thoroughly.You`ll probably see all kinds of stuff come out.
2.Strengthen(bend) the skinny little follower spring gently little by little until it works with a full mag of 5 rounds.
3.Lightly lube the places that the cleaner dried out.

That should do it real nice and problem free no matter how you stack the ammo in the mag.I`ve had several Mosin`s that required this treatment to operate right.Just don`t go crazy on that little spring....gentle like is the key word here even if you have to do it a few times.It`s easy.Just take your time.

While you`re at it,check firing pin protrusion.
There should be armory score marks on the back of the cocking knob that lines up with the screw slot when flush.If the screw head ain`t flush it has to be moved.The screw is actually the back of the firing pin.Protrusion should be 2mm.And you can`t adjust it in cocked position.You`ll just gnarl up the screw.So decock it(or dry fire unloaded) and then adjust till flush.Nobody wants a pierced primer or a barely dented one.Good luck with your Mosin...I love all of mine.

Thanks for the tips. It sounds like a problem with the follower, as the interupter seems to function freely.

No problem.Glad to help.If someone has already had the follower apart the pin might have to be driven out left to right.I doubt if this is the case though on this rifle.It`s an easy fix for a nice gun.Good Luck.
Mick

....ahhhh... someone else had the same problem I had.... it has nothing to do with the magazine, follower, or spring.... wanna guess?? Look at that big ol rim on the cartridge... when loading the magazine, you have to be sure that you push the cartridge down with the rim AHEAD of the rim below it, then slide it back in place. This places the rims "stairstepped" up from the bottom. Start with the cartridge about a half inch forward of the back of the magazine..push it down, then slide it back. Repeat for each cartridge loaded. If you inadvertently get a rim behind the one below it, voila!! You get nose-diving cartridges as the rim hits the one below it. You'd think they'd put instructions on this thing, wouldn't you?

Actually, if the interupter and spring are working properly, the rifle will feed no matter how the rounds are placed.
I currently have 8-m44 and m38 rifles that I shoot regularly, none fail to feed the cartridges and I load with stripper clips almost all the time.
If all the importers would put Tula's instructions with all of the Mosin Nagants, they would eliminate a lot of grief for their customers.

Thanks for the kind words Terry8mm.It is an easy fix for those rifles and like you said you can stack them in there any way and they will feed properly.

ok.... so I can load them any way I want to, and still get them to feed, as long as the magazine and spring are working "correctly"? Thanks for the info... I'll check it out...