You may remember me as posting a thread called "my challenge..." in which i asked what to buy for my first milsurp. Everybody answered with a resounding call for a mosin. SO, I went to the gun show last saturday and I found it. THE ONE. a 1937 Izzy with all matching serial numbers, a beautiful stock that has no rearsenaling marks that I could spot and correct sling holes for the age. Oh, and I also had an absolutely pristine bore. I mean this thing may never have been shot. Except for a small part of the stock by the muzzle that is losing some shellac, it could pass for new.
I bought her right there saturday morning after deciding over a much more expensive rc mauser kar98k in much worse condition. As I toted my new girl around the show, I kept egging on my father to get one as well so we could go shooting together, but he didnt.
The next morning he was out in the area. He stopped by the show because it didnt look as crowded and came out with another mosin. He came home and gave it to me to clean up and so we can shoot together. Quite frankly, he got ripped off.
Tania was bought for 160 including accessories; a fair deal in my opinion given the fact that I could hand pick her with a near-perfect bore, very nice style stock, and old age. He payed $140. His "new" rifle was sold by the guy as "all matching". It was clearly a force match. The numbers on all but the reciever were sloppily stamped and the pieces (you will notice in the pics, such as on the bolt) even have cartouches from different arsenals. The bolt is looser than on my Tania. The metal holes for the sling are stamped in, not screwed, indicating a post war refurb stock, and the shellac is applied in a manner that is just shameful. She is full of scratches and dents, and the russians (i assume it was them since it is under the importer engraving on the reciever) have painted over some parts of metal parts that started losing their bluing. (in the pictures I have removed this with a minor solvent and it isnt that bad)
Oh, and the bore is absolutely horrible. I pull dry patches and patches soaked in hoppes #9 until they come through clean, then use a brass bore brush, and repeat. I've done this several times already, and it doesnt fail to produce black patches every time.
Finally, here is a photobucket link containing a few pictures of them side by side. You can really tell the difference in the quality of the stock. Both pictures by amacleod - Photobucket
So now, I have another question... What do I do with them??? Both will be shot, but should Tania or Olga be the primary shooter? Should I refinish Olga? if so, how would (or have) you refinished mosins in the past. If you answer that last part, it would be helpful to post a finished pic of your refinished rifle with the method.
Thanks for making it through all of that if you're reading this! I love both of my first milsurp mosins: the one I bought, and the one that was given to me!
(I can take more pictures of certain parts if you request them)
Nice rifles, Yours Is definately the better looking one, but Dad's isn't too bad. If you want to clean it up a bit and still keep it rustic looking, you
could refinish it with "Bullseye amber shalac" and dull the shine with some extra fine steelwool. About 3 coats would do it and shalac dries real fast so you could do it in 2 evenings. As far as the barrel, try shooting it a bit and recleaning. Some times that helps clean them out. Good luck.
Higlander, if you are going to work on Olga, you might as well do it right. Dismount the action from the stock and remove the buttplate, then strip her back to bare wood. Use the steam iron method to riase the dents, then sand her smooth. After that, you can stain her if you wish. Then you can finish her with tung oil, boiled linseed oil, schellac, varnish, butcher's wax or whatever. I don't think you'll be able to find red shellac, though, so if you want to keep her original look you'll need to use Minwax stain on the wood and finish up with clear shellac. But that's your call.
Nice looking rifles. Not bad at all. Your dad's ought to be a good shooter if its still got lands and grooves. Jmeck is right. Try shooting it out. Had a dirty bore problem no matter how many patches I ran down the bore, still dirty. Could see dirty in the bore too. Took a mag through her, and while she was still warm ran a Hoppes bore snake down and presto, cleaned out. Same with my Turk Mauser. Good finds on both of them I'd say. A little steep of a price I think for your gun, but hey, if its worth it then its worth it.
And don't forget to put these in the roll call thread too
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Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Hey, just reread my post and I feel I've been a bit hard on poor Olga. She really does have a special place in my heart and is a member of the family now anyway, haha. And yes, I do agree that the prices were a bit high, but I dont get the option to go to shows that often (living in jersey), and getting a C&R is a long process which may or may not be worth it depending on the dealer (many only ship to class 1 FFL's in this glorious state). I made several passes of the floor and my choice was between the one I came home with, and others that were in quite poor condition for not too much less ($120) and many of which showed rough machining. The truth is, I couldnt wait any longer for a decent mosin of my own, so I "bit the bullet" so to speak. And also, Olga really is nice compared to most of the others that were being sold.
ps.- today I spent a while going over dad's '35 Tula (Olga) and When I removed the buttplate, there was rust and some cosmo traces (quickly removed w/ a bronze brush) but I also noticed that the lower screw was pretty severely bent, making it quite hard to remove and replace when done. Anyone else ever have an issue like this?
Last edited by TheHighlander; 03-17-2009 at 11:20 PM.
olga looks quite nice, if you're going to refinish her, i prefer a boiled linseed oil or tung oil finish to really bring out the grain of the wood. run over your stock with a steam iron after you strip the finish off (dawn power dissolve is great for stripping finish) and pour boiling water all over EVERYTHING.
good luck with these rifles, i got my first one about a year ago and i am absolutely hooked, i find myself actively searching movies that contain mosin nagants and i go to the range every weekend to relieve the stress from my classes and exams.
enjoy mosinitis. it will consume your soul.
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"Bang bang bang bang...vamanos vamanos!" ~ Clutch
Can you post pictures of the sloppily stamped on numbers on Olga? The only numbers on mine that are stamped on their sloppy is the serial numbers on the bolt because mine was de-snipered by arsenal, and mine has the ukranian depot cartouche in the stock. The sling loop things don't look stamped in but you never know. Everything appears to be matching and all original.
ya, sure tman. I'll try to get some more pics up tomorrow. I dont have her with me at the moment, but offhand i believe i remember the bolt and butt plate as having the "sloppy" stampings, and I couldnt find a ukranian rearsenaling (is that a word? haha) stamp anywhere on the stock when I examined it.
ya, sure tman. I'll try to get some more pics up tomorrow. I dont have her with me at the moment, but offhand i believe i remember the bolt and butt plate as having the "sloppy" stampings, and I couldnt find a ukranian rearsenaling (is that a word? haha) stamp anywhere on the stock when I examined it.
The ukranian aresenal stamp is a square with a line drawn through it. Everything on my rifle is original except the bolt body because as said, mine was de-snipered by arsenal. You can see the uneveness where they crudely ground off the old serial number on the straight bolt body and stamped it with the matching number...hell the SN is upside down! lol. Not a big deal though. What do you expect from an ex-sniper? Really wish they would've just left the bolts alone and just got rid of the scopes though. Would make life easier.
My new Girls; my First Milsurps (with pics!) 
