You could bring a good condition Mosin with good wood to that state of polish and presentability without a whole lot of effort. You would need one helluva lot more documentation and provenance on the piece in the auction to make it worth the $3,000 being asked for a prettied-up parade piece before I'd even consider it.
I can tell just by looking at it that it is a fake. Especially from the description. If it has no paperwork, it is definitely a fake. Before I reblued the barrel on a 1940 Tula, I was able to polish it to that finish and I have seen stocks that look like that at gun shows. And why are there parts on that rifle that have bluing on them if it was built as a polished parade rifle? wouldn't they have skipped the bluing part and gone straight to polishing it? The barrel is also not as "clean" of a barrel as most of the Tulas I have seen. This one was rushed on the lathe. There is nothing special to this rifle as far as I can tell and I don't see it being authentic without any other sort of markings or something like that. Parade rifles are also not worth $3000!!
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I'm with you Cremley,a little suspicious to me. Why would you cut the sight globe in half and cut off the post when you can drift the whole works right off? Complete removal would be easier and safer. Maybe the seller got sold a story when he bought it,hence the saying " buy the rifle not the story".
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It's kind of pretty, sort of... But not worth $2500, and I am very much doubting that it is genuine. As said before, it looks very rushed, the front sight makes no sense what-so-ever, and it's even very messy. The proof stamps are stamped all over the place, nothing is aligned well. And there's a Ukrainian refurbishment stamp on the sock! Why in the hell would they put that on a pretty parade rifle?
Very interesting this post. The group I am a member of where I go to my gun shows at publishes a news letter each month, and this month featured an article on exactly this topic. Whether a firearm is really a collector or not, and things to watch out for in terms of authenticity. I agree with the previous posts. This is a highly suspicious looking rifle. It wouldn't take me much time to polish up a rifle like this one either. Maybe he fell for the story and bought it. I'd offer him $75 if I saw it on a table. I wouldn't care if he was insulted by the offer. I would be insulted by the price he was asking! Crappily stamped marks and the serial, doesn't look parade-esque to me. Post war stock, I guess not impossible to have on a "parade" rifle, but the depot stamp on it, not falling for it. Crem's on to something. Not all the parts are shiny either! Hopefully no one bids on this. $300 would be a much more appropriate asking price for it, but Moose is right. This is a big pile of moose crap!
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Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Parade Rifles will NOT have Re-furb stamps on them IF they were an Original Parade rifle , and they ,for the Most of them ,should be a NON-Functioning rifle as well...And An Import Mark CAN be polished off of a Barrel or receiver.
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
Parade Rifles will NOT have Re-furb stamps on them IF they were an Original Parade rifle , and they ,for the Most of them ,should be a NON-Functioning rifle as well...And An Import Mark CAN be polished off of a Barrel or receiver.
non-functioning for 2500....better give me a handy too.
Yes that big Ukraine re-arnsenal mark jumps right out. You would think with all the millions out there, they would hand pick a few new production for such duties.
To me it looks ovious the metal has been buffed but the stock is new looking, it oviously has'nt been refinished. Wish I had a stock that nice.
So who know's for sure.
If I had 2500 to 3000 dollars to spend it sure would'nt be spent for a Mosin Nagant. To close to Christmas to...A.H
it looks nice but for that money I would prefer a new rifle (perhaps Weatherby or Sako) plus scope plus gun case plus other related items
for handloading, etc.
