New Members, Make your first post here!

[Junk Yard Dog]

New member from Northern California, waiting to get my Mosin out of "Jail" on the 12th.

Welcome to the board again

[homesteadfree]

Hello All!
I just bought my first Mosin, a New England Westinghouse and can't wait to receive it.
I'll take pictures and post them once it comes in.
Any suggestions on what to do before I take it to the firing range?

[Junk Yard Dog]

Welcome to the board, excellent first Mosin, M1891, clean it, inspect all it's parts, check the headspace ( okie headspace gauges available by clicking the banner at the top of any board page) if it passes then fire it.

[Tackett]

Well here's my first post corresponding with my first mosin!

I dunno what it is, or how to tell. But fwiw all the serials match. Unfortunately I do not have a before picture.

I wanted to preserve this piece instead of trying to "improve" it or "restore" it. I think I screwed it up though. I was using MEK to remove, what I thought was Cosmo off the stock. I think I stripped off the original shellack. Which sucks big time. Who knows who's DNA was buried in there! But anyway, it's all over but the crying now. I also very LIGHTLY sanded the stock with 800g sand paper to smooth out the texture created from stripping it. I've debated on taking some super fine steel wool and finishing it, but I decided to seek help before I did anything else.

On the plus side, there is no more Cosmo.

Let me know what you think, and if someone could point me toward some information, a mosin "primer" if you will, I can continue my research. I know you guys probably don't feel like spoon feeding me this information.

What do everyone's trained eyes see?








My untrained eye sees:
A refurbished izhevsk with hex reciever from 1931. Looks like a Tula bolt.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Well, at least if you had to screw the pooch this big with a milsurp you did it to a Molot import and not one of the older ones from the Ukraine Hoard. Suspicion is running in the direction that Molot gave these rifles a quickie spiff up job before shipping them out of Russia, but that is still just theory, you may have destroyed an original finish. When dealing with antiques the less you alter on them the better for retaining their originality and their resale value down the road, collectors want original no matter how ugly it looks. The Russians used shellac to coat the stocks, you can find some at any home improvement center and putting it on requires no skill to speak of but you will likely not be able to match the trademark red color without some trial and error. As for the sanding, major BAD, never sand an antique stock, you remove, or dull any remaining markings on it, and remove the military grade look of the stock. Only sissy sporters have perfectly smooth stocks.

The Molot imports are Mosins like any other, however what is in question is what Molot might have done to the rifles before shipping them out, in your case what you did is what we think they do, now it's been done twice. If you have to learn the hard way at least it wasn't with something like a M1891, or one of the Finn's, that would have hit you in the pocket hard, this sort of thing takes a $500 antique and turns it into a $120 pile of Bubba messed up parts. The great thing about the internet when you have access to it is that you can ask it any question you want and probably get an answer before you do anything. Never rush anything when dealing with antiques, a little research on how to clean your rifles stock would have turned up solutions that would have saved it's finish, this is something we could only dream about having 35 years ago when I started . Live and learn.

It's a 1932 Izhevsk M91/30 Soviet refurb imported by Molot within the last year from Russia.

[Tackett]

Well poop.

Thanks for the info! What a shame. :(
I guess I should try to find another and try not to pork it. Maybe after I finish this one I can sell it to someone and try to dig up another.

My purpose in getting one of these rifles was to clean it up without altering it (fail) and place it in a display case with a WW2 Russian uniform, and other odds and ends and turn it into something that would be at home in a museum.

My other question would be, can this be saved by grabbing an unaltered stock and transferring the butt plate with the matching sn to the new stock?

[Junk Yard Dog]

You can find a Soviet original stock to put on it, that will at least return it to it's proper look. With the Molot markings all over it many serious collectors will shy away from it, but a shooter would buy it. Next time out try to find one without all the Molot laser etchings all over it, that will be one of the older imports that came in from Ukraine, they came right out of the Soviet 20 rifle crates, and remain unaltered from the refurb after WW2. They look just like the Molot but without the added markings and with a positively original refurb finish on them. Price wise the Ukraine rifles are probably slightly cheaper.

[Tackett]

Alright. My eyes are now officially peeled!

I guess in hindsight since I had no intentions of actually firing this, I should have just left the Cosmo on it.


Buds has some m44 carbines for 250....think that would be worth grabbing for my display?

He also has some Tula 38s for 255.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The M44's are likely Molot imports, nothing wrong with that so long as you understand what you may be buying, price is in the normal M44 range. Sometimes Molot hides their markings under the handguard on the M44's. Do some reading in the Molot sub section of the Mosin forum to get an understanding of them. Tula M38? Or Tula made in 1938? A Tula M38 would be a very rare item and worth well over that price.

[Tackett]

It says Tula m38

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/mobi ... nt_762x54r

I'm really thinking about jumping all over it.

[Junk Yard Dog]

In the little bit of history they give you it mentions that they were produced at Tula in limited capacity in 41 and again in '44, but they do not say what you get will be a Tula M38. A Tula M38 is a $350-$400 or more rifle, a Izhevsk M38 1942-44 is a $275-$325 item, the harder to find years will be considerably more money. 1939, and 1945 are the hardest years of the M38 to find and expect a $500 price tag if the seller knows what they are, 1940-41 a little harder to come by, but obtainable.

[KnightSight]

I bought 5 hex receivers 91/30's two weeks ago and just finished cleaning my first one, a 1928 Ishevsk. I've since bought a laminated stock 1942 91/30 in excellent condition. Obviously, I have the bug already . I also bought an original 1943 PU scope. It is also in excellent condition. I would love to find a nice sniper rifle to put it on.

Thanks to all for the great advice I've already found here!!

KnightSIght

[Junk Yard Dog]

I bought 5 hex receivers 91/30's two weeks ago and just finished cleaning my first one, a 1928 Ishevsk. I've since bought a laminated stock 1942 91/30 in excellent condition. Obviously, I have the bug already . I also bought an original 1943 PU scope. It is also in excellent condition. I would love to find a nice sniper rifle to put it on.

Thanks to all for the great advice I've already found here!!

KnightSIght

Welcome to the board, nice start to the collection , if you get a PU sniper it will likely have a scope on it, very few PU's or any other Soviet sniper will be found without a scope.

[kc9ljo]

Hi All,
Long time gun nut, first time Mosin Nagant owner. Found an M91/30 locally for a fair price and they have been on my radar for a long time so I bought it. Now I'm here to learn about it. I know I probably should have learned about them before I bought it, but what the heck I'll live on the edge.
Thanks

[Junk Yard Dog]

Hi All,
Long time gun nut, first time Mosin Nagant owner. Found an M91/30 locally for a fair price and they have been on my radar for a long time so I bought it. Now I'm here to learn about it. I know I probably should have learned about them before I bought it, but what the heck I'll live on the edge.
Thanks

Go ahead and live on the edge, I had no clue what my first milsurp was when I bought it, I didn't even know it was a milsurp, and because the internet wouldn't be around for another 15-20 years I was years figuring out what that M1869/71 Swiss Vetterli was . Welcome to the board, enjoy that first rifle

[Gripen]

Hopeful soon-to-be Mosin owner here. I've already got a couple Mausers (Yugo M24/47 and M48), a Gew.88/05/35, and a Budapest M95 Stutzen, and hope to add more milsurps as funds allow.

[Junk Yard Dog]

hola

Welcome to the board

[Junk Yard Dog]

Hopeful soon-to-be Mosin owner here. I've already got a couple Mausers (Yugo M24/47 and M48), a Gew.88/05/35, and a Budapest M95 Stutzen, and hope to add more milsurps as funds allow.

Welcome to the board, there are several of us here with GEW88's, and many Mauser owners

[Modean]

Hi guys. Great forums, I have learned a great deal reading here. I have the beginnings of a mosin problem with a 91/30 and an M44. Pics to follow.

Greg

[Junk Yard Dog]

Hi guys. Great forums, I have learned a great deal reading here. I have the beginnings of a mosin problem with a 91/30 and an M44. Pics to follow.

Greg

Welcome to the board Greg, we all seem to have a Mosin problem around here, not enough Mosins