Need some help with this M44.

[sgtheindl]

This M44 has me a bit puzzled. This rifle looks unrefurbished and I didnt see a refurb mark but the butt plate and mag plate clearly have new serials but neither of them match the gun. The stock doesn't have the usual shellac of a refurb but I'm not sure if its sanded or not. Missing cleaning rod and the receiver tang screw. They're asking $299. Thanks in advance!

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[TnBuckeye]

Do the barrel bands or bolt show Izhevsk markings exclusively or are they a bit of a mix as well? I would think a bolt, numbered to match but with mixed parts would be proof positive of refurb.

Possibly someone took an un refurbed barreled action, dropped it into a different stock, and/or added in some missing parts?

Or maybe the refurb only dealt with the stock, butt, mag, etc?


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[sgtheindl]

Everything I remember was Izhevsk but I would have to double check that. Just noticed the front barrel band is upside-down. My thought was maybe a pieced together rifle as well :/.

[TnBuckeye]

Check the bolt pieces real close. Could be pieced together by refurb not necessarily Bubba...


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[steelbuttplate]

I'm not seeing the normal refurb mark on the metal. If there is no box stamp on the right side of buttstock I think non refurb. I have a '46 non refurb that has band aid stock repairs and little bluing left, but is import marked.. Look for small import mark near the muzzle. Thats probably a good shooter but non matching are bringing $225-250. + shipping.

[Lee-online]

Looks like one of the non refurbs that came in from Albania a few years ago. Most were 1944 and 1945. They were not refurbished and looked alot like the one you are showing. The stock on yours looks better so it may have been cleaned up alittle.

[Darryl]

No way of really telling now. I have post war rifles that look like that also. But I know they came out of the Ukraine, and one from Russia. Most of the time the Russians (and Ukraine) renumbered their bolts when they replaced them. But....I have one that is not ... so....Who knows.

Still, it's a nice M44 (even if it is mismatched).

[B24]

The price is high for our area, non matching and missing the cleaning rod and tang screw are bargining
points. Non shootable without the tang screw, I'd try to talk them down. Is the bore in good shape?

[Junk Yard Dog]

It doesn't look to have the huge banner import mark of the last lot from Albania, could be an earlier import from Romania. With so many Soviet refurbished M44's brought in it's not that common to see an unrefurbished Soviet M44. The look of the metal is what I would expect from the Romanian rifles I have seen, these were Soviet aid rifles that Romania used after WW2 and later sold here after they put their last Communist dictator against a wall and shot him. Looks like somebody refinished the stock, these Romanian rifles could have some very rough looking wood on them.

[sgtheindl]

Forgot to take a picture of the import mark...really really small import along the wood line from what I remember. Stock does seemed touched up. I'll try and haggle it down tomorrow if fate will have it. Thanks everyone for the input!

[SA1911a1]

A non-refurbished rifle would be more likely to have mixed parts. Parts break and are replace with what stock is at hand.....during refurbish parts are matched. Just my guess though, I wasn't there at the time.

[ffuries]

Floor plate is forced matched, so it went through some sort of refurb somewhere. You can see remains of the previous SN, plus when it was restamped they didn't stamp Alpha Numeric portion of the barrels SN. It was my understanding that all this points to it having been through a refurb of some sort.

Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding of this.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The Soviets refurbished the rifles they sent as aid to their socialist brothers. They were refurbished in the same manner and at the same facilities that refurbished all the rifles that were sold here. Unlike the rifles we got the aid rifles were used long and hard, they saw field repairs, they never saw a reblue.

[qz2026]

I'm thinking this one came out of Romania... I really like these guns. Some of these have spectacular bores. They usually don't have cleaning rods, for some reason. I suspect this was one that could have been rebuilt in Cugar before being exported. Unfortunately $299 seems to me to be about $125-$150 more than it is worth. Whoever the seller is, he is trying to sell this as if it was a top end Russian refurb and he is still stretching the price. You can get a tang screw on eBay for cheap. I wouldn't touch it, or a nice Russian refurb, for that price. Assuming the bore was ok, he would have to significantly come down on the price. You can use the incompleteness of the gun and that is was banged around in the Balkans and not refurbished to help sway the guy. These can be great shooters if they can be had for the right price.

[sgtheindl]

Bore is dark with pretty strong rifling still. It's at a pawnshop that is usually pretty knowledgeable and I've dealt with for years but they don't discern much on Mosins. If I can get it 200 OTD I'll do it just because I've only ever had refurbs.

[qz2026]

If you have a headspace gauge, take it with you when you look at it again. Remember, the pawn shop probably bought it for under $100... You can use the bore as a negotiating point as well... Good luck.