How does one restore the stock on a mosin?

[Osufan456]

My mosin's stock is quite nasty and has cosmoline in all the pores, I know this because every time I shoot it seeps out and take finnish off with it, it looks like I took sandpaper to it. It saddens me it looks so bad haha. So how do I remove cosmoline and re-Finnish stock?

[Tennessee_Mosin]

Do not sand the stock in form or fashion You do not refinish the stock.This forum frowns badly on sanding and refinished wood.

Just keep wiping off the Cosmo,and be proud of the dings and dents in the wood.It took many many years and lots of history to get that way.

My way to remove cosmo from the wood (this is one of the accepted ways) is to take the rifle apart wrap the wood tightly in newspapers.Then put the stock in a black garbage bag.The take outside on a hot sunny day and let set in the sun.The cosmo will come out of the wood and soak into the newspaper.You might have to do this several times.You should be pleased at the results.The after you are satisified rub the wood down with lemon oil and enjoy..

[Vendetta]

One does not restore. One simply preserves.

[Rongo]

This is a preservation site & we do not condone re-finishing stocks or any other kind of permanent modifications. Flaky stocks are a common result of owning Soviet arms & were considered normal in the field as well. That itself is part of the history these rifles have. Enjoy it for what it is.

[ParrotHead]

They way it is is the way it should be.

[martin08]

70-plus year old stocks get a aging on them. Makes them perfect.

[qz2026]

No need to refinish the stock. You just didn't get all the grease off of the rifle. For the inside I use a nylon pic with a 90 degree end to scrape the bulk of the grease off. This will significantly reduce the number of towels you will need for the next step and you would be surprised at the gobs of grease that will come up using this method. This really works well. Then I use old towels and wipe, wipe, wipe until the grease is gone. You can tell by the feel of the wood on your fingers. If still sticky, still feels "greasy" or resistant to running your finger across it, there is still grease on it. If you actually fell the wood, then 99% of the grease is gone.

[gurn]

Anyway as is the stock will keep your hands nice and soft.

[bunkysdad]

Just carry a towel to the range, or get a roll of the blue paper towels from the auto parts store. The heat from firing the rifle causes the grease to leak out so you can wipe it off. Keep is simple. Any attempt to refinish the rifle will lower the value to old bb gun status.

[Oldvetteman]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that leaving one of these rifles in its "original" chipped-shellac, greasy, beat up looking condition will increase the likelihood that Bubba will someday buy it and sporterize it because it is so rough looking? I know this sounds like I am advocating restoration vs. preservation, but I worry that when selecting a rifle to sporterize Bubba might decide to hack up the arsenal-rebuilt, chipped red shellac rifle, rather than choosing the rifle that has had the shellac removed and finished in oil. Lots of ways to look at preservation.

[WeldonHunter]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that leaving one of these rifles in its "original" chipped-shellac, greasy, beat up looking condition will increase the likelihood that Bubba will someday buy it and sporterize it because it is so rough looking? I know this sounds like I am advocating restoration vs. preservation, but I worry that when selecting a rifle to sporterize Bubba might decide to hack up the arsenal-rebuilt, chipped red shellac rifle, rather than choosing the rifle that has had the shellac removed and finished in oil. Lots of ways to look at preservation.

It really doesn't matter. Yeah these guys may be picking these rifles because "they made millions of them" and they're battle worn but altering a collectible rifle to make it less desirable to someone that may want to alter it worse is not the solution and removes it from the collectible pool of rifles too so you've done the same thing. Bubba will do what he wants to whatever he wants. We've seen bubba'd rifles that were hacked up like M91 Remington's and M28s and even a 1907 carbine. Looks aren't the only or main reason they do this. It's ignorance and a lack of caring about history.

[Greasemonkey]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that leaving one of these rifles in its "original" chipped-shellac, greasy, beat up looking condition will increase the likelihood that Bubba will someday buy it and sporterize it because it is so rough looking? I know this sounds like I am advocating restoration vs. preservation, but I worry that when selecting a rifle to sporterize Bubba might decide to hack up the arsenal-rebuilt, chipped red shellac rifle, rather than choosing the rifle that has had the shellac removed and finished in oil. Lots of ways to look at preservation.

Hacksaws, Dremels, sandpaper show no remorse or conscience. Bubba really doesn't care about restoration or preservation, he wants pretty or tacticool or thinks it some way increases value.

The preservation aspect is more educate those who don't know, before they go down those paths and do the unspeakable. To me, a restored Mosin, is a greasy, flaking shellac refurb, about as far into restoring as I go, wipe the wonderfully funky grease and shellac flakes off, clean, headspace check and enjoy. If I want a real nice pretty finished rifle, there is a whole slew of commercial jobbers out there.

[Gsragtop]

How does one restore the stock on a mosin?

You don't

[gurn]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that leaving one of these rifles in its "original" chipped-shellac, greasy, beat up looking condition will increase the likelihood that Bubba will someday buy it and sporterize it because it is so rough looking? I know this sounds like I am advocating restoration vs. preservation, but I worry that when selecting a rifle to sporterize Bubba might decide to hack up the arsenal-rebuilt, chipped red shellac rifle, rather than choosing the rifle that has had the shellac removed and finished in oil. Lots of ways to look at preservation.

Welcome to the club... First things first... with your name and avatar SHOW US THE PICS OF YOU'R CORVETTE!!!!

[djbuck1]

'Just saw an M91, 1895 Tula described as "refinished to near mint condition." Ruined.

[gurn]

'Just saw an M91, 1895 Tula described as "refinished to near mint condition." Ruined.

And I bet they wanted a premium for it too.

[bunkysdad]

I would rather sandpaper a tiger's balls!

[husker51]

And there is always the synthetic stock. Put one of those on if you don't like the way the rifle looks when you take it to the range. You can always put the rifle back in its original wood when you want to.

[gurn]

I would rather sandpaper a tiger's balls!

Yikes! You would only be able to do it one time.

[Vendetta]

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that leaving one of these rifles in its "original" chipped-shellac, greasy, beat up looking condition will increase the likelihood that Bubba will someday buy it and sporterize it because it is so rough looking? I know this sounds like I am advocating restoration vs. preservation, but I worry that when selecting a rifle to sporterize Bubba might decide to hack up the arsenal-rebuilt, chipped red shellac rifle, rather than choosing the rifle that has had the shellac removed and finished in oil. Lots of ways to look at preservation.

Nope sure havent.