Working Mosin

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hi All,

I'm planning to finish my 91/30's stock as it's down to bare wood. Meantime:



In a T53 stock, the 91/30 becomes much handier; it swings like a rifle with a much shorter barrel.

I've not shot for groups. This particular Mosin is MOA capable in its original stock, properly shimmed and with handloads. I have the new one shimmed to where it should work properly.

After I get the 91/30 stock refinished, I might just take this T53 stock and pillar bed it. I have to make a few repairs to it so I might as well!

Regards,

Josh

 

[Loosenock]

y'know Josh that kinda reminds me of the Czech vz54 sniper set up which has always been a "want" with me.

What are your plans in refinishing the stock? Are you going to go with shellac or?

Thanks for the pics.

'loose

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hi Loosenock,

I only have time to do a little refinishing at a time, and I'm therefore thinking the stripped wood, rubbed with 20 or so coats of linseed oil, would look very nice.

Josh

 

[BCRider]

You might want to make that BOILED linseed oil. Otherwise it will take a couple of years to cure/dry fully. In the meantime it'll stay oily feeling and attract dust and hold dirt.

Raw linseed is just peachy for protecting the wood from water. But it's not what I'd call a nice looking finish on a working gun. Unless your idea of "nice finish" is the dust and grime look of an old war time Lee Enfield.

I went with polymerized tung oil on one of my Mosins when much of the shellac flaked off while cleaning the cosmoline away with some basic low odor paint thinner. Once I saw that happening I sighed and switched to lacquer thinner to strip off the rest of the shellac along with bringing out much of the cosmoline. Even then I STILL had to do the black garbage bag in the sun trick to heat sweat out more cosmoline over a couple of weeks worth of summer. The attention was worth it though. I gave the wood a little deeper colour by using some leather dye then rubbed on about 4 coats of the honey like tung oil. Each coat cured nicely over about two days of sitting in the summer sun and heat. Otherwise it takes 4 to 5 days of indoor curing between coats.

The nice thing is that the tung oil finish is very water resistant for quite a long time of rough use. And when you notice that the water isn't beading up and falling off a fresh coat lightly applied and buffed off and given a few days to harden spruces the wood right up again.

On my cowboy action shotgun that sees monthly or more use which is finished with the same oil I find I need to recoat about once every 6 to 8 months. And it sees a LOT of rain and wet.

 

[ZGunner]

I have an M44 that I stripped and refinished. Stripped with Citri-strip and refinished with 5 coats of "Gunstock" and 4 coats of Tru Oil. The Gunstock had a little bit of a red/orange tint that I wanted and the Tru Oil seems to be protecting it well so far. I don't go hiking trough rainstorms but it holds up to South Georgia humidity.

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hi Guys,

Yup, I meant boiled linseed. I had no idea they sold raw linseed oil; I'm not a woodworker and I've never seen it on shelves.

How easy is it to find pine tar? That's another thought.

What do you recommend to strip the remaining shellac? I was just going to use sandpaper, but ZGunner, you mention Citri-Strip. Never heard of it but it sounds interesting.

I don't have much time to work on the 91/30 stock; maybe half an hour per day at the shop. Customers come first. This is why I was going to go with boiled linseed; I figure a coat a day for a month wouldn't be a huge deal.

Regards,

Josh

 

[LAGS]

@ Joshua Smith
When you say Pine Tar, are you talking about Rosin powder , that you can mix with Denatured Alcohol to make a Shellac ?
I get Rosin Powder from Brownell's, but it is the same thing found in Rosin Bags, used by Baseball Pitchers, that you can buy from the local sporting goods stores or departments like at Walmart.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

I have an M44 that I stripped and refinished. Stripped with Citri-strip and refinished with 5 coats of "Gunstock" and 4 coats of Tru Oil. The Gunstock had a little bit of a red/orange tint that I wanted and the Tru Oil seems to be protecting it well so far. I don't go hiking trough rainstorms but it holds up to South Georgia humidity.

Good to hear it worked out for you. I have an M44 that I refinished with four coats of Gunstock and two or three coats of polyurethane, and it kinda looks like a Buffalo wing.

What do you recommend to strip the remaining shellac? I was just going to use sandpaper, but ZGunner, you mention Citri-Strip. Never heard of it but it sounds interesting.

Sandpaper and alcohol should remove most of what shellac you have left.

 

[Scooter22]

Denatured alky will dissolve shellac. A couple soaked rags ans 4/o steel wool should get it down to bare wood.

 

[caribou]

Why sandpaper a chemicly stripped stock from a refurrb?
Its crisp and clean edge's and fit are not far removed from it last sanding at the arsenal.

I would chemicly strip it, or remove the shellac the way my wife did with her PU scoped 91/30, and scratch/flake it with yer thumbnail while hunting

Personally I just used 'em as I got em and slatherd them in boiled Linseed oil and wiped off, when needed....sometimes its just "gun oil" and a wipe down, but after working a rifle for a few years, the oil'd stock will still be fairly smooth yet gripable and not 'slick'

 

[ZGunner]

Good to hear it worked out for you. I have an M44 that I refinished with four coats of Gunstock and two or three coats of polyurethane, and it kinda looks like a Buffalo wing.

Now that you mention it kind of does. Great, now that all I'll see when I look at it.

If you're wanting to get everything out of the stock another trick is to put a cloth over the wood and steam it out with an iron. The wood will sweat out a good amount of resin, just wipe it away. This will make the finished product look a little more even.

The more I think about it though, I don't know if I would want a working rifle to look good. Then I'd be hesitant to throw it around and actually use it. I'm saying I abuse my rifles, but I treat my battered old SKS a lot different than I do my beloved Garand.