Yesterday's Weapons Forums

as always - the rifle is yours ,

its nice when they are refinished gently if they are going to be redone , no sanding etc , just a gental strip of the built up crud and a bit of natural finish of the times - generaly BLO in my area of collecting ,

if i had a real common one id consider a severe strip and refinish in the choice that pleases you - particularly if the stock was damaged and required major repairs on your part ,

let us see some photos


BTW - i have a couple that i received with vintage 50s/60s refinish , some of my collection was rearsenaled ,

its hard for me to stomach folks who claim perfect , unshot , unaltered from the factory , unissued , pristine war rifles that were produced when the war was in full swing with every element of the fighting force undersupplied ,

ill can the soapbox but sufice it to say very few were stuck in a closet and most that look great served rear and were rearsenaled then stored ,

Well, I’m no guru myself, but I do have a (personal) opinion on the subject.
I’m both a collector and a shooter and I want my Mosin Nagants as original as possible.
IMHO original is not the same as mint or unissued.
I like Mosin Nagants that are used and they may show it.
They were made to serve in a conflict not to be preserved in “as new” condition.

The only thing I do with a “new” Mosin Nagant coming into my collection is cleaning both the wood and the metal.
There are some exceptions though.
I once bought a Mosin Nagant T53 that looked like #$%^ when it arrived at my doorstep.
I took it apart, cleaned it and tried to “remove” some dents in the stock that were as big as the Grand Canyon.
I didn’t try to get the stock look like new.
After all, it was a well used carbine.
I made a post on this once.





Currently I’m removing the shellac of my Tokarev SVT40.
I bought this rifle about a year ago.
This rifle is not in my collection but on my shooters license so I use this one on the range.
I noticed that the shellac showed some cracks after using it on the range a couple of times.
I knew the shellac wasn’t original, but it looked OK so I left it on the stock.
Now that the shellac starts to show cracks I decided to remove it completely from the stock and replace it by linseed oil.
I have also removed the fillings in the hand guard that were put in due to German gun law(that’s where I bought this rifle).
That will keep me occupied for some time now.
Here’s a link to a post I made on the SVT40



This is what the SVT40 stock looks like at the moment.








In short: Shooters gotta shoot good, I just clean the ones in my collection and leave them the way they came in.

Just my personal opinion survivalist.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

Nice Martin! What technique did you use to remove the wooden plugs from the handguard vents?

Well, that was a difficult one Bruce.
I didn't know what technique was used to install the wooden plugs so I did what I thought was most logical.
I thought that the person who had installed them glued the plugs on the inside of the hand guard and the shellac did the rest on the outside, so I removed the shellac on the outside first.
Next I drilled some holes in the plugs to release the pressure.
6 of the 8 plugs came out like this in a flash.
The other two were a bit more difficult, but they came out after 30 minutes of hard work.
I think more glue was used on the last two.

Next thing to do is cleaning the stock a bit more before I start applying the linseed oil.

I'll keep you posted.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

that linked one turned out great - my kind of restoration , and this one is looking like it will be just as nice , you do nice work martin

Not ready yet, but the color is coming back.
I do not want to remove the stains on the stock.
I just want to give it back some color.

Made some quick pictures today.






I'm glad I got the plugs out without damaging the handguard.


Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

Now to replace the muzzle device & you'll be stylin'

....Martin-you think like me..... ....I like to clean mine up some-but leave the dings and dents and some of the scars they aquired while in service....here's a couple pics of one of my K98 Mausers....it sits in a walnut stock and has a beautiful Luftwaffe cartouche and eagles...there was oil soaked into it,but I didnt want to mess with it because it gave it such a "been there" character....the bore is immaculate and it shoots extremely well.....above it is a MAS45 .22 trainer used by the Germans,and then the French to train before they "graduated" to the K98.....it also had "the look",so I didnt want to mess with it too much

Very well put Mario...the " been there" character.
We sure think the same about our weapons.
They have to show that they have been there.
There was some oil spilled on my Tokarev SVT 40 too.
It can still be seen after I'm finished refinishing the stock.
That goes for the arsenal repairs too.

BTW....I like your display.
Great pictures.


Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

I clean some of mine up a little but i leave all the love marks alone. Like me the dings and dents show some use. This one was a 1942 beat up Germans at the door step model 91/30. It looks like they used a rock to beat the metal into a gun shape. I cleaned the flaking crap off and put a light red stain to it. Then i used tung oil. She is not a beauty but i like her.

That 91/30 looks just fine from where I'm standing heyzeus.
Besides that...it has a lot of history attached to it and it shows.
Great rifle , great picture.
Thanks for posting.


Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

I like the "Weath'rd" look....LOL!

As always, I love your photos Chip. What a different life as compared to mine. It amazes me.

Chip,

No need to explain these rifles were made for these kind of weather conditions.
You can tell by just looking at the pictures.
Thanks.


Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin