question about counterbored Mosin

[Gavelek]

Can somebody explain to me what it means that some Mosins are counterbored, can you still shoot them safely, is counterboring affecting the value of the rifle, who is doing counterboring and why?

[C&Rtrader]

Counter boring was done when the rifle was refurbed. It should increase accuracy. Yes it is safe to shoot. It may or may not take away value from the rifle. Generally it does not add value.

[G-Man WC]

The purpose of a counterbore is to refresh a worn muzzle creating a new crown inside the barrel at undamaged rifling to increase accuracy. Theoretically a counterbored rifle will be more accurate than a non-counterbored rifle with the same amount of wear. However, a rifle with relatively little use won't need a counterbore and a counterbored rifle could be worn out again after it was counterbored. The wear is typically from improper cleaning rather than shooting.
-g

[mosinnagantm9130]

Counterboring was done to give a barrel a new crown if the original crown was damaged or worn.

It doesn't add value but it doesn't hurt it much either. For a shooter, a counterbore is much much better than a worn crown.

[TrexTracker]

Counterboring is a cost effective method of refurbishing a rifle, but mainly a practice to save the beloved BAYONET.

The bayonet was an integral part of a rifle when warfare was at a slower pace with manual fed bolt action rifles. In addition to everything previously mentioned, counterboring does the least damage to the rifle. The conventional method of recrowning requires some shaving or cutting off the tip of the barrel which could eventually affect the front sight and the stock. The conventional method could also make the existing bayonets not useable. Imagine the Mosin Nagant M91/30 with its tip chopped and no place to securely mount the bayonet, or the M44 with the attached bayonet dangling.

Counterboring is a good alternative. It saves the bayonet.

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[Capybara]

If you are a collector, counterbored Mosins are less desirable although a rare Mosin that is counterbored is still desirable.

For a shooter, doesn't matter, counterbored is fine. I have quite a few Mosins and the counterbored ones shoot just as well as the non-counterbored.

[Eljay]

I'd say on average my counterbored ones shoot better. I think towards the end they were actually counterboring all of them (I saw a batch of 20 laminate stock Mosins recently where only one or two weren't counterbored) since the whole thing was a work project anyway. No point in being efficient about it.

Some collectors care, some don't. The more snooty Mosin collectors would never touch a rearsenaled rifle anyway so it's a moot point. On the low end when you're selling your basic Big 5 Mosin it's kind of nice if it's not counterbored because then you don't have to explain what it means but it's no big deal.

[Gavelek]

Very informative, thank you all