Brown truck came today

[mogunner]

I acquired this one from a Gander Mountain Gunbroker auction, and bought it knowing that the stock was cracked, but the price was right and I actually ended up with more than listed in the auction. First, the good...

This was THE best packed rifle that I have ever received, bar none. Totally enclosed in thick foam that was literally glued together in order to seal the rifle inside! First thing I noticed was the cleaning kit and bayonet that wasn't listed in the auction. Number on the bayonet doesn't match the rifle, but that's pretty well expected from the big box stores.





Always a problem in shipping, that big ball on the end of the bolt handle, doesn't seem to matter if it's open or closed, it'll manage to find it's way out!



Inside is a 1937 Izhevsk arsenal 91/30 with undoubtedly the best finish I've run across. The bore appears to be unfired, the grooves in the rifling still have the machining marks in them. I have yet to figure out a way to get a good bore picture though. All numbers with the exception of the bayonet are matching with no line-outs, electro-pencil or forcematches.



I found TWO parts on it that don't bear Izhevsk stamps, the front barrel band has the Tula star as does the connector link on the bolt, everything else is Izhevsk.



Now for the bad, you may want to shield your eyes or skip this part...

The stock is definitely and thoroughly cracked...but I do think it's repairable by someone with greater woodworking skills than I possess. The crack goes all the way through into the trigger area. I have a sweet laminate stock for a stepped receiver that this one will go in for now while I search for a cabinet shop or somewhere that can do the repair to the original stock.

[Vendetta]

DAYUM. That is a CRACK.

[Junk Yard Dog]

That crack wouldn't have stopped me from getting it, If I had to I would glue it and wrap the wrist in rawhide, but there are more skilled ways to repair it.

[mogunner]

It's actually cracked completely through the little chunk of wood that is in between the front of where the trigger goes through and where the magazine comes up through. The good news is that it's flexible enough that it can be spread for the glue to get in real well, and there's no cosmoline present inside the crack which tends to make me think that it got broken after Gander Mountain received it and it was all cleaned up.

Also, I made a mistake, it was Fedex not UPS...

[husker51]

Cool! My first 91/30 was a 37' Izhevsk! Prewar stock, Ukrainian origin. I bought it because it looked so good. And it was good. It had electro pencil numbers is all. But hey, everyone needs at least one of those right? That was three years ago. Now I have 13 Mosins, of various makes and differences. I finally bought a crate of surplus ammo too! See my latest post. I know how to fix those cracked stocks. I use elmers wood glue. Good luck with your new acquisition!

[mogunner]

I had quite a few assorted 91/30's, M44's and T53's but most had made their way out the door as my focus shifted on what I was interested in. Prior to this one arriving I was actually down to only two, a 1937 and 1938 Tula's in 91/30. Seeing the current supply drying up I decided to look around and see if I could find any "bargains" out there and ran across this one. I've used the Elmer's before on stock repairs, just none that were this severe and in the direct line of recoil. I know that correctly repairing it would entail inserting hardwood dowels, but those would certainly show, and of course the stock would have to be refinished as well. While I know humping a stock is frowned on, it's probably a better choice than refinishing, at least in my thoughts, I'm sure others might chime in on that one as well!

[boltaction]

Hello, You had me all excited, with all that big brown truck talk; even my dog was thinking treats. Yet, fedx shows up early,but, no dog biscuits.. I'm happy, not the dog... But he bring daddy ammo..so all is good...

[mogunner]

This is the first time Fedex has brought me a firearm, it's always been UPS. Maybe that's why it had the super-duper packaging!

[InOmaha]

You can fix the stock, but at least if it doesn't work out for some reason, a replacement stock will be easy to track down. I've seen some go in the $15-30 range locally.

[mogunner]

The stepped receiver is usually the kicker. I've contacted several of the sellers on ebay and NONE of them knew there was a difference, or even what I was talking about.

[SA1911a1]

The stepped receiver is usually the kicker. I've contacted several of the sellers on ebay and NONE of them knew there was a difference, or even what I was talking about.

You can repair that stock to like new, and I don't believe that you need to dowel it to save it. Someone at the wholesaler probably tried to use it to move a pallet.

[bunkysdad]

What Is the difference in stocks for a stepped receiver? Are toy saint they won't fit, or won't look right?

[mogunner]

A non-stepped receiver won't fit in a stock that is for a stepped, without carving out both sides. A stepped receiver rile will physically fit in a non-stepped stock but have a gap on both sides.

[mogunner]

I tossed the action into one of the stocks that I have for a non-stepped receiver, you can see the gap between the receiver step and the stock. It's nothing that would keep it from being a good shooter, just not correct.

[mogunner]

Here's my attempt at a bore shot, not even close to showing how impeccable the rifling is in this.



Little more direct light up the bore



And some pics of just how extensive the crack is in the stock.

This is looking from the bottom of the stock into the trigger area



Topside, you can see the wood in between the trigger cutout and the magazine area is split as well as the wood leading up to the rear action screw hole.



Bit farther back...

[JoeR]

I bet eBay has a stock right now. I've seen them there several times. Good old Bubba just bought a plastic stock for his new super duper sniper rifle, all it needs now is a muzzle brake and a Bi-pod and he will have a genuine super rifle ! Oh, don't forget the camo spray paint, that makes it perfect.

[mogunner]

Yeah, there's plenty of them on there, trouble is none of them have any idea whether they were off a stepped or non-stepped! I've asked a few that I couldn't tell for sure by their pictures, and usually get a response along the lines of "If you could explain that in words that I might be able to understand...."

[davesstuff1]