Picked up my mosin! Happy yet confused?!?

[sffred]

Hello fellow Calgunner collectors! This is my first Mosin so bare with me.

Just picked up my 1939 izhevsk 91/30, and I found a few things off that ya'll experts can school me on...

FYI cleaning the mosin was the most difficult cleaning I ever did! (I don't even think I got it all! Maybe 90-95%)

First off it is a 1939/50? So I'm assuming originally a 1939 receiver barrel with a 1950 refurbish date?


The '50 stamp is placed on numerous replaced parts.

The bolt, magazine, and rear handguard ring are stamp with the Tula star

The magazine plate was crossed out and re stamped with the correct numbers (forced matched)



The stock was in correct in my belief because I have a stepped rear tang and the stock looks like its for a 41' and younger round receiver

On the rear of the stock it seems like the cut and replaced the rear portion

[sffred]

The front of a stock has a screw on the cap? Is this normal?

It seems like who ever refurbished this mosin spray painted all the caps (I think that's what it is called please correct me if I'm wrong) over the original blueing even the rear butt plate. I had to 0000 steel wool most of it out, and will continue next time.



Well at least the front hand guard ring, sight block spring, bottom of the receiver, and 3 pieces of the bolt have the Izhevsk mark

[sffred]

The barrel I believe is in good condition, with no counter bore, strong rifling grooves and lands, but it has some pitting.



So I have a few questions...
After cleaning most of the cosmoline off when dry firing, it's hard to bring the bolt back up? Should I shave/grind the sides of the firing pin spring? (I've seen iraqveteran8888 do this on youtube) Or do you think it because of the replacement Tula bolt? (I disassembled the bolt completely free from cosmoline and lube it with rem oil) And with out dry firing it moves way more freely up, out and back.

Should I work with this stock and bed the receiver and free float the barrel or should I look for another stock?

Can anybody share with me the factory honey recipe for refinishing the stock?

Is there anybody willing to trade my rear Tula handguard ring and Tula magazine box for your izhevsk?

I appreciate your positive opinions! And I'm hoping you can help me. Thanks again u guys!
Sffred

[Flyin Brian]

The Mosin bolt is a "cock on opening" design, so it is normal to require more effort to open the bolt after firing. If it bothers you, you can pull back on the cocking piece before opening the bolt, this will relieve the spring pressure on the bolt body and transfer it to the sear.

I would suggest shooting it before you try to bed anything, sand anything, refinish anything, or otherwise destroy anything. Enjoy it the way it is!!

[Vlad 11]

You have a double dated MO rifle.

Its unusual, dont mess with it

Iraqvet is bubba

[sffred]

@vlad11 its kinda weird cuz' the bolt and the magazine box has a '50 mark next to the Tula cartouche.

@flyin brian okay, I hope I don't get a stuck bolt during seize fire, I seen a few mosins do that @ a range, and I tried to cycle a few rounds but only 2 of the 5 ejected properly?

[knucklehead0202]

before messing with anything, take it out and shoot it, see what it does. things that behave oddly when trying them for function, sometimes behave differently after being actually fired. do that first and then decide what needs work. the fool thing may function perfectly and be deadly accurate. my counterbored m44 shoots dead nuts without any trickery, my 91/30 is going to require a little tweaking, but you just never know. take her for a ride and see man, congrats on your first mosin! as an aside, that bore may look a bit better after a shoot 'n' clean as well. i've had a few old rifles that no matter what i did the bore wasn't pretty enough for me, but after taking them out and shooting them, looked fantastic. kroil also does wonders. made my enfield jungle carbine actually have a nice shiny bore, very uncommon in damn near any enfield. good luck!

[sffred]

Thanks nucklehead0202!

I actually used a heat gun towards the chambler and found a whole lot of cosmoline I missed @ the locking lugs! Luckily I found out! The cosmoline was gummed up @ the top of the locking lug on the right side preventing from bringing the action "up" because I had to force it thru the Cosmo. Now it moves great!

I ordered a spam can of those bulgy silvertips thru AIM and I hope my 91/30 likes em'

Can't wait till I break her in! Thanks again to all those who helped!
Fred

[backstrap]

I keep seeing that sideways diamond shape with a cross in it and a date next to it. I see it in electro pencil all the time. That rifle will fetch a 25% value premium over a mosin w/out the MO stamp. possibly more if we ever find out what it means.

[0321jarhead]

For having a stuck bolt can be frustrating. This method works really well.

http://surplusrifle.com/shooting2005/eliminatesbs/index.asp

And for the wood, Amber color shellac.

[6mmintl]

You need to take that to the Gonzales (Swiss rifle club) Chabot, or Sac valley silhouette rifle matches

[billmaykafer]

you have a double dated MO stamped mosin nagant. put it away and do not bubba this good example. when cleaning it the screw on end cap can be screwed into the cleaning rod nut and used to grip and remove it to get cosmoline out of cleaning rod groove.

[Justin Case]

Double and triple check that you have removed ALL of the cosmoline from the chamber. It is incredibly difficult to get it all (ask me how I know).

Did you strip and clean the cosmoline out of the bolt?

[C&Rtrader]

If you want to bubba a rifle I will happily trade you a bone stock 91/30 + ammo for that one.

Serious offer actually

[0321jarhead]

I second that X2 91/30's with accessories.