How can I remove this black stuff without damage?

[sutts]

The barrel on my 91/30 has some patches of black stuff on it. Not sure whether it's remains of preservative or something else? Any idea how I can remove this without affecting the original finish please?

[Junk Yard Dog]

The commies used black paint to hide a multitude of bluing sins, it's perfectly normal to see such on any Soviet weapon, especially the refurbished ones. What's more surprising is it never seemed to occur to them to simply forgo the bluing altogether and just paint the metal with cheap, easy to apply black paint as others had done.

[AMCHornet]

I removed some of that from mine using lacquer thinner and found perfectly good bluing underneath. Lacquer thinner won't hurt bluing.

Results may vary.

[B24]

Pick it up handle it everyday for a couple of weeks and there won't be
any left on it. Poorest excuse for paint that has ever been made.

[Lavitias]

To be fair they probably didn't stop bluing them because "reasons" and they had to make sure the bluing guy kept his job even if he did drink several bottle of vodka a day while on the job. Plus this way you got to employ painters to cover up the messed up bluing so yay everyone gets jobs.

[Junk Yard Dog]

That paint is a part of the rifles history, a good representation of the slipshod way the communists did practically everything. Like everything else even their cheap cover up solutions have issues, the paint tends not to adhere to the metal well because they failed to properly clean the metal surfaces of oils first. The cure for this is to carefully blot the painted area with alcohol on a soft rag. Don't soak it or the paint will lift worse, let it dry and then apply clear shellac over the paint. The shellac is easily removed with alcohol and is not a permanent alteration to the metal. We stress preservation of history here over " pretty" protect the paint and the next owner after your taking your dirt nap will be able to appreciate how the Soviet Union did things. During a conversation with a helpful park service guide at the US Springfield Armory museum a few years back this sort of "fix" came up. I asked if the armorers ever fixed bluing problems or parkerizing issues with paint, by the look on his face you would think I asked something inappropriate about his mother. The "solution" to a bluing or parkerizing problem was to send back and redo the entire part until it was done right and would pass inspection by inspectors who had a very critical eye. I imagine I would have gotten the same reaction had I asked an armorer at the Mauser factory in 1909. During the press of war such shortcuts are expected if things have gone totally to shit as they did in the USSR by late 1941. It's less excusable when it happens in peacetime when the "refurbs" were done, then it's incompetence and laziness coupled with financial belt tightening. The USSR always was a 100 pound bear stuffed with 300 pounds of bullshit, at least they managed to construct the rifles themselves without clusterfucking that also, despite appearance's they do shoot well most of the time, and I don't recall any blowing up.

[AMCHornet]

I didn't know what it was at that time. I removed it thinking it was hardened Cosmoline so no reason to keep it on there. I know better now.

It is part of the rifle's history. I do not encourage removing it because that is against the rules of this forum. However, for the sake of your rifle, it is better for you to know a way of removing it without causing other damage than for you to not know and perhaps cause other damage by experimenting on your own.

[Darryl]

I didn't know what it was at that time. I removed it thinking it was hardened Cosmoline so no reason to keep it on there. I know better now.

It is part of the rifle's history. I do not encourage removing it because that is against the rules of this forum. However, for the sake of your rifle, it is better for you to know a way of removing it without causing other damage than for you to not know and perhaps cause other damage by experimenting on your own.

ALWAYS better to ask first on anything. Hell even I do from time to time. Figure what your plan is before you even think to start. Ask and these guys will tell you before you start. Asking after is almost a useless process. Always go SLOW.

Darryl

[Mosin_Shooter1891]

Some express distaste towards black paint and orange shellac for refurb three line rifles. It was done only as a preservatant, to keep rifles in the fight for later use. It does not need to be pretty, only to work which it does well. Three line rifles were made for open combat to defeat capitalists and facist enemy of Soviet Union, not to be as pretty as a Holland & Holland. They are more like a hammer or a wrench, a tool for spreading message of communism.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Incorrect, three line rifles were designed and first built for Czarist Russia, the later communist state simply inherited the design and changed it only slightly from it's 1891 original configuration. The three line rifle was designed to defeat the enemy's of the Czar, and later used to kill many communists both in the hands of the white Russian forces and the communists themselves when they started killing each other by the millions.

[Sonny]

I have a couple with the black paint on them.

They were sold as "shooter grade" and I picked them up on the cheap.

Funny thing is they really are great shooters but ugly as sin with the pitting on the bolts.

Have a look.

[ffuries]

I have a couple with the black paint on them.

They were sold as "shooter grade" and I picked them up on the cheap.

Funny thing is they really are great shooters but ugly as sin with the pitting on the bolts.

Have a look.

Damn those have had a hard ass life.....

[Sonny]

I have a couple with the black paint on them.

They were sold as "shooter grade" and I picked them up on the cheap.

Funny thing is they really are great shooters but ugly as sin with the pitting on the bolts.

Have a look.

Damn those have had a hard ass life.....

Probably laid on the bottom of the Volga river for awhile.

[Longcolt44]

That '43 Tula should shoot good the CH is saying it was or should have been a sniper. Check inside the action for old plugged holes.

[Sonny]

That '43 Tula should shoot good the CH is saying it was or should have been a sniper. Check inside the action for old plugged holes.

Holy smokes you are Right,it has two plugged holes.

Cool beans..thanks Longcolt44..

[Longcolt44]

[Mosin_Shooter1891]

Incorrect, three line rifles were designed and first built for Czarist Russia, the later communist state simply inherited the design and changed it only slightly from it's 1891 original configuration. The three line rifle was designed to defeat the enemy's of the Czar, and later used to kill many communists both in the hands of the white Russian forces and the communists themselves when they started killing each other by the millions.

The black paint and orange shellac were for the purposes mentioned regardless of targets. Thank you.

[sutts]

Thanks for the help guys, this forum really is a goldmine of information. I really love my Mosin - would happily collect a bunch of them if it wasn't for the UK gun laws. I think acquiring a number of the same model is frowned upon over here.

[sutts]

Thanks guys, glad I asked before trying anything stupid.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Incorrect, three line rifles were designed and first built for Czarist Russia, the later communist state simply inherited the design and changed it only slightly from it's 1891 original configuration. The three line rifle was designed to defeat the enemy's of the Czar, and later used to kill many communists both in the hands of the white Russian forces and the communists themselves when they started killing each other by the millions.

The black paint and orange shellac were for the purposes mentioned regardless of targets. Thank you.

I was talking about this statement-
Three line rifles were made for open combat to defeat capitalists and facist enemy of Soviet Union

They were indeed used against the enemys of the USSR, but the design was inherited from the Czar, not created by the Soviet Union. The SVT38 & 40, SKS, and AK series rifles were created by the Soviet Union.