2 1943 Izhevsk M91/30 "shooters" from AIM

[MarksmanTim]

As others have posted, I received the 2 M91/30's I ordered from Aim from their "shooter" category. I was a bit disappointed to get 2 of the same year, but that's just the luck of the draw.

Not too much to say about them. Neither is counter bored, one bore looks a little "brighter" than the other, but rifling seems OK. Some light rust here and there on the outside. I have not torn them down, nor do I plan to for the next couple of weeks. Both have wood stocks. One has a laminate heel splice. This one also has the deepest finger grooves in it still. The stock has been refurbed as evidenced by the mark, but they must not have done much to it. Other stamps are very visible. I think both stocks have a Tula hammer in a circle in the upper corner by the buttplate. The other stock has some round plugs in it, which I thought only the Finns did.

I'll update this post once I tear them down, but probably nothing of interest to be found, except maybe some rust.

Oh, and as you can see both were wartime expedient receivers... one is more harsh than the other.

Also, these pics are exactly how they came out of the box. No wipe down, etc. Someone else removed the bluing/rust on the receivers.

Rifle #1:

both.jpg

#1 long.jpg

#1 mid.jpg

#1 stock.jpg

#1 other side.jpg

#1 receiver.jpg

#1 bolt.jpg

[MarksmanTim]

Rifle #2:

#2 front.jpg

#2 mid.jpg

#2 stock.jpg

#2 side receiver.jpg

#2 receiver.jpg

#2 bolt.jpg

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Junk Yard Dog]

Great looking wartime receivers

[desdem12]

I think these are great. The history is evident just looking at the pictures. These suckers were out in a battle and lived to have the stories on them. I would take these out and do some heavy testing at the range. You will be surprised I bet.

[Rongo]

[Titanium Hammer]

I too thought only the Finns did the plugs on the stocks as I've never seen such repairs on Soviet stocks. Very cool!

[Three_Dogs]

[bunkysdad]

You got twins! Just not identical twins.

[bcposton]

If and when AIM does these again I want to order some! Every one I have seen on here looks better than the non-shooter grade refurbs to my eyes. These have character!!

[husker51]

[MarksmanTim]

They were definitely well worth the $100 ea (including shipping).

I just need to address the active rust and give them a good oil. I probably will not shoot them any time soon. OK darn it, I love shooting! I'll likely put 20 rounds of surplus down each barrel before a final cleaning and putting them away.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Junk Yard Dog]

Last time I bought a Mosin cause it was selling on the cheap it was when Chris at Trinity Arms had a sale some six years ago. $55 each plus shipping I think it was, he had one hex in the mix that had ben rejected because of EP serial numbers, that's no issue to me, and a mix of late 30's and wartime years with minor cosmetic issues. I bought five just for the hell of it, didn't regret it then, damn sure don't now

[rustytruck]

I would suggest that the consensus is that the AIM shooters are awesome. Mine is very cool, and I haven't seen a bad one yet from anyone esle.

[Celt]

very nice!

[MarksmanTim]

Well I finally broke down these 2 rifles for cleaning and inspection. I finished one and broke down the second to see if there was anything interesting to find.

The first rifle surprised me when I found a shim under the tang! I didn't think the Russians bothered to shim anything, let alone a typical rifle they were refurbing for WWIII. There are also no tang date/markings on this rifle. The next thing that thoroughly surprised me is that the bore shines as bright as the best bore I have, or better! It is a true "mirror bright" bore, ZERO pitting, rifling looks normal, the crown was relapped as per most typical refurbs, but it is not counter bored. The rifling looks strong at the muzzle too. I took a picture of the last two dry patches I ran down the barrel after cleaning, that's how good it was coming out! Only my 91/38 comes out this clean. Hopefully later this week I will be able to see how she shoots.

Maybe this rifle stayed behind the lines guarding some big wigs during the war and didn't see heavy use without cleaning.

stock shim.jpg

patches.jpg

Next I disassembled the other '43. This is the one with all of the stock plug repairs. There is also a decent repair up by the fore end. This one has a tang date, but you can't make out the whole thing. My guess is that it is a "3" that's missing. This rifle has shims under the magazine! Wow 2 plain jane Russian refurbs with stock shims! I also have an M27 that has magazine shims, but it doesn't seem too typical to find. I didn't go any further into cleaning this one yet. The bore looks a lot darker than the other one (preclean) so I'm not holding my breath.

shims.jpg

stock repair.jpg

tang impression.jpg

tang date.jpg

[desdem12]

[racerguy00]

Tim, I dig the laminate toe on the hardwood stock. Not a common feature. Great rifles.

[Celt]

Nice! I got shims on the 42. I didn't think they did that either.
Very cool, those"shooter"rifles were a score!