Wondering if anyone else has this issue?

I haven't fired anything else to compare to, so i'm firing the Russian stuff, brass looks to be from 1977, berdan primed. When I finish firing and try to use the rod to knock out the brass it's impossible to get out with the rod. I have to use the edge of the wood seating bench and thrust the pistol forward having the edge of the 2x4 strike the rod which dislodges the brass.

I thought perhaps chambers, so I put some fine steel wool on a drill and went to town. They look smooth and shiny to me. I've tried making sure they had a light layer of ballistol...still no good.

What I 'suspect' is that since the brass extends past the chambers that when it is fired the brass that the very end is expanding just slightly beyond the width of the end of the chamber since its not supported there for like 1/8th of an inch. Thus making it harder to push out.

Is this common? any fix to it? if not then in war I imagine it was shoot 7 rounds then beat people to death with it, throw it at them and dump it for something better asap.

Good possibility. Should be able to see signs on the case, like scraping on the extracted case. That section of the case is actually supported by the inside of the barrel as the cylinder moves forward when fired. Surplus ammo which tends to be loaded rather hot, so it would be real easy for that to happen. You could try dissembling and cleaning the gun as there may be build up between the cylinder and the end of the barrel so it can not move completely forward allowing the case to expand between the barrel and cylinder. Also would give you a better chance to check for burs or any other obvious defects that could be causing it.

This is usually the problem. barrel throat is too big.

Not much you can do...either live with it or sell the pistol and try a different Nagant.

Yea I'd rather figure it out, this ones MO marked and dual year stamped. So I like it not having seen many of these.

Try the Prvi/Hotshot stuff. My experience with Russian surplus (14-round cardboard boxes) was the same, it's hard to extract.  
The commercial stuff was easier.  
I keep a unsharpened pencil in my range bag for extraction.

That's a great idea. I'll have to try that. Going to pull it out tomorrow and investigate see if I can find a fix

+1. I think the russian stuff is a little hotter and that may be the reason for the brass expanding too much. I've never had an issue with Hotshot.