If you read my blog posts from this past Saturday, you know I went to the gun show at the Westchsester Convention Center in White Plains. You also know that I picked up a Mosin Nagant 91/30 that was manufactured at the Izhevzk Arsenal in 1939. It is a nice looking rifle, obviously an arsenal refinish - one that probably saw some little use after being refinished but that definitely has little more than storage rack wear marks. All of the serial numbers are matching with the exception of the magazine floor plate which is forced matching, or in other words which has one serial number stricken out and another number stamped onto it. The newer stamped number matches the rest of the numbers on the rifle, thus it was probably restamped when at the arsenal for refinishing. Could have also happened at the original factory, I suppose especially since 1939 was a war year. I am guessing they could have taken one from an older surplus gun, that was already marked with a serial number, and incorporated it into a new gun - who knows - who cares! Either way, it does not matter to me because the much more important parts of the rifle, the bolt and receiver, have matching numbers.
When I looked at the rifle at the show, I had somehow missed the strikeout on the magazine floor plate. Since I am not collecting this as pristine or perfectly matching rifle, but more as a shooter to add to my collection, it is not of much concern. This rifle has an importer number electro-penciled onto it along with other importer info. I tend to shy away from firearms with importer scribing on them but this was was an exception because of the serial number and because, as I said, it is a shooter for my collection. The only importance, for me, of the original serial number is that it is prefaced by two letters: "BB". Those are my son's first and last initials. It was a must buy so long as it appeared to be in very good to fine condition and this one seemed to be in excellent condition for a refinished rifle.
Yep, I just said it seemed to be in that good of a condition. Today I disassembled it, a detailed strip, for a good cleaning. I found no problems on any internal parts. The bolt assembly was clean as a whistle, probably cleaner. There is no rust on any of the parts that were previously hidden under or behind the wood. Nothing looked broken or worn too much. Everything looked great except for one thing. When I cleaned out the barrel I was disappointed. It had just enough cosmoline in it at the show that it looked fouled but otherwise great. I cleaned it out, I came to realize it is a bit frosted. Now, I have had this problem before and cleaned it good enough with a tornado brush to make it look almost pristine while retaining accuracy. This barrel has great rifling so what I am seeing is either a bit of surface rust or is a slight amount of pitting. That is a bit of a disappointment but since I have not shot it yet cannot say if it is going to be a big disappointment or not. I cleaned it well today, and will give the barrel another several passes of both a regular cleaning brush and a tornado brush tomorrow and see what it looks like then. Of course I will also shoot some non-corrosive ammo through it, as soon as I can. That probably will do a lot to clean out any remaining frosting. Then I will clean it again, and see how it looks and again see how well it shoots after that. Chances are this one will be a pretty good shooter since it does not look to bad down the bore. I am keeping my crosshairs crossed.
All the best,
Glenn B
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