The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I'll make a few statements and ask a question. Please feel free to correct me if I have any of this wrong. It appears to me that most of the Russian 91/30 were treated to a Red shellac finish without a actual wood stain. From photos posted and comments made at least the refurbs were exposed to this treatment .

The T53s that I have seen have all types of visual appearances. Some a solid grease that seems to go all the way through the stock and can only be called black, with no finish. Others a brown color and yet some almost a shade of blonde . Since I have been told that these rifles were not rearsenaled , at least to the extent of the Russians, and they were CHU wood what was the ORGINAL stock finish treatment ? With alot of these exposed to jungle type conditions I doubt that shellac would have held up for very long.

Another question is where did all the cleaning rods go ? Were they all lost in the field when they were used to hold Hotdogs for roasting over a campfire ? Surely someone , somewhere actually used them to clean their equipment. Just seems strange that it is more common to see them without rather than with.

Just a couple of questions, and maybe a joke ? Thanks.

I know that when I was in the Army, we would get bored and load up a blank in our M16 and toss a section of cleaning rod down the barrel, and using our night-vision goggles, hunt racoons in the middle of the night.... many MANY cleaning rods were lost in this manner I can vouch.

mogunner wrote:I know that when I was in the Army, we would get bored and load up a blank in our M16 and toss a section of cleaning rod down the barrel, and using our night-vision goggles, hunt racoons in the middle of the night.... many MANY cleaning rods were lost in this manner I can vouch.

Ha we did the same thing. Or turn screw top bottles into mortars with a carpet tube and some MRE heaters.

The Chinese used an oil finish on the type 53, only the Soviets used Shellac, it is possible that a Soviet stock could get on a type 53 as Albania would have had some Soviet weapons in inventory, parts get swapped during repairs.

Junk Yard Dog wrote:The Chinese used an oil finish on the type 53, only the Soviets used Shellac, it is possible that a Soviet stock could get on a type 53 as Albania would have had some Soviet weapons in inventory, parts get swapped during repairs.

do you know the type of oil used? I'm guessing they used Tung oil since its native to China and the chinese used it for alot of other things but really no clue.

I don't recall, but the information is probably known.

For the T53 a good application of lemon oil should help the stock out a lot. I just aquired a few of the latest offerings & have posted in detail on how I got them cleaned up. here's a link, hope it helps you in deciding to leave the old beast be.

http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14541

Junk Yard Dog wrote:The Chinese used an oil finish on the type 53, only the Soviets used Shellac, it is possible that a Soviet stock could get on a type 53 as Albania would have had some Soviet weapons in inventory, parts get swapped during repairs.

JYD there are the remnants of a shellac finnish on my matching T53.

Something the Albanians did maybe?

Since neither the Albanians, nor the Chinese will let us in on anything to do with weapons we have to go by examples that we find.

My T53's are from about 1989-90 import. I am pretty sure they came from china with all of the othe chinese goodies of the "happy time".

Two of mine came in at that time, but neither show a stock finish past ground in filth, if they ever had shellac it was work away long ago, oil they have, lots of it. The Vietnam capture is similar with the stock in better shape, no sign of shellac, but then who is to say that at times they didn't use it.

I'll drag it out and get some photos this evening.

My T53 from Omega came to me in an M44 stock, complete with refurb stamp on the right side of the buttstock. It had nothing to show that it was ever shellac'ed inside or out, just the usual coat of "nasty" on the outside. I cleaned it up and it's almost a blonde in some areas and brunette in others...like a bad dye job.

OK. I drug the all matching T-53 out from under the pile, and took it outside for some natural light pics. The weathers is so freaking humid here, that right of the bat the camera fogged up, and gave me fits for the first few minutes, but finally I got a few pics.
This is an al matching 1955 2 T53. It was imported in the late 80s-early 90s from China. I can't say for sure, but I would guess that it never saw a refurb of any kind. It definitely has a shellac finish. I have another one. The infamous "Carp Sniper" that the older members might remember. It has a motor oil, and ground filth finish. It is not all matching. My point to all of this is that the Chinese definitely used a shellac finish on at least some of their rifles.

PS I had to include at least 1 pic of Pete claiming anther rifle for his own.

I thank everyone for the input and photos. If and when I get a little smarter I might be able to post photos as you guys do.

A few good examples that , to me, bear witness to different types of finish. Done by who and when will probably never be answered. Sort of a side note to all of this was that I did some research as to the Chu wood properties and that led, partially, to the questions. Supposedly, from internet sources, this wood is somewhat of a gray color naturally. Also in finishing it is not , again internet sources, a type of wood that just gets a cover sort of finish. Seems to need a pigment to really make it " presentable ". Although it does have some interesting graining.

More to the pigment argument I notice the mellow yellow color in some of the examples. It also looks like it could flake off. Of course I can't do more than speculate from photos. There has to be more to this ?????? Then of course there is the obvious shellac example . What's in the shellac or under it that gives it color?

kitty likes the chinease shelac lol

daveshady wrote:kitty likes the chinease shelac lol

Kitty eats dead birds, so there is no accounting for taste.

The birds I can see, but what's up with the chewing up the snake and then spitting it up business? Almost looks like the stock on a Soviet style refurb, same sloppy shellac job. I wonder if it was arsenal done or done on a more local level in some Chinese village. They probably imported the shellac from the Russians.