Was looking for an M44 at the local Big 5 today and ran across a decent, 1943 Izzy 91/30 on sale for 79 bucks. It didn't look to be counterbored, and the stock looked okay. A nice thing about the gun was that it had the rough wartime production look (machining marks where the date is located) that some people are after.
It wasn't an ex-sniper or anything like that, but it was the first time that I had seen one of the more crudely-finished ones made during the height of the war and thought it was interesting.
I'm on the fence about it because I'm after an excellent condition, post war M44 with a light colored stock. I don't know when I got the bug for one of those specific M44s, but i'm sure you folks know how it is.
