The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Last Sunday I ordered another Mosin Nagant Type 53 from SOG. UPS delivered it today! Well, they attempted to deliver it and I was not home because I did not get a shipping notification until around noon today. So I called UPS and had it held at their office and picked it up tonight. The first thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the box was how good shape the stock and bluing was in. It looks a lot better than the last one I ordered. As I was looking it over something struck me as odd. I had to go pull my other T53 out of the closet and compare them side by side. Sure enough, check this out.

This is my new T53 fresh out of the box. I need to disassemble it and see how everything looks. The bluing and wood are both in very good shape. Here are both my T53's side by side. The first one I ordered is on the left. Today's new T53 is on the right. Do you see it? I ordered both of these from SOG with the hand select option, about a month apart. I am tempted to order another one just to see if I get one close to these two. Its probably not a really big deal, but I think this is cool.

Nice looking T53s. Do they match at all? What are the odds they would be so close. Bunkysdad has a Finn91/30 that is real close to my Finn 91/30.

Yes, the wood on both is about the same color. The bluing on my first one is wore down a lot more. The 2nd one is overall in better shape. They both also have matching numbers except for the bolt, and they are both imported by CAI, but the serial number assigned by CAI is not nearly as close.

The serial numbers are very close to each other, closest I think I have seen, with a Soviet rifle that would mean nothing, but I believe the Chinese serial numbered the rifles like we do, starting with one and going up from there. Very cool .

Nice !! How about some overall pics. If i ever get my C & R i might be able to see what SOG has !!!1

Jim

Wow! what are the odds of that?! nice!

nice t53, i keep seeing nicer and nicer versions pop up. I am getting very tempted to order one now, before they all looked way too beat up and I heard of some bad bores too.

I had a chance today to take a few more pictures. I have to work tonight so I may not get to take it apart for cleaning and inspection until tomorrow, but well see how much I can get done before midnight.

Sorry, these first two pictures are just a little bit blurry. I forgot to use the macro function even though I should have been far enough away to not need it. There is a real nice star in the stock. Tula? I also noticed the 5 indentations and thought of Junk Yard Dog's video on the bolt. You think these 5 indentations could be from the firing pin? There is a light haze on the wood. Well see if it is still there after wiping the stock down with lemon oil.

Very cool. That's the closet I have seen number on any Mosin.

Not the Tula star marking, they didn't stamp M44 stocks like that in 1944, the only year they made the M44. Chinese inspection stamp I would suppose. Nice

I posted this picture up top, but I will post it again to show the matching serial numbers. Just like my last T53, the bolt has a different serial number. But it cycles very smooth and locks up tight. I have not checked the head space yet, but I expect it to pass. There is the number 50 stamped behind the cocking knob. This same number is also stamped on the trigger guard. This is the best picture of the bore I could get. It's dirty but it looks like it has really good lands and grooves. A little further down the barrel I can see a lot of crud both in the grooves and on the lands. But I cannot get it in the picture. Ill take another picture after cleaning. I think this bore is going to clean up nicely.

The matching numbers is something you don't see very often with these.

Looks like a very nice T53, congrats!

Cy

It keeps getting better. I got it stripped apart and there is no rust and no pitting. There is one spot where all of the bluing is gone that appears like it was rubbing on the stock. Ill post pictures after I get the metal clean.

Very nice indeed! Congrats you got a nice one and with serials being that close I would say you hit a home run! Bill