My mosin project

Now, before y'all bust a vein in your foreheads about "bubbaing" a piece of history this mosin is a 1939 Tula "Triangle one" on a collector/rarity scale of 1-10 these are about a 3. This thing had been counter bored too, so it's not like this rifle was worth ANYTHING when I bought it for $85.

I bought it as a cheap hunting rifle as a younger man. As I got older I decided I wanted to mod it a bit.

I took it to a gunsmith who cut the barrel down to 21.5 inches and put in an 11° crown for me for $70. Since that basically chopped off my front sight I needed to find a way to get a scope (that was a hand-me-down Nikon buckmaster) on it. I bought the rock solid undustries mount (highly recommend) for $60. I couldn't find a professional gunsmith I could afford at the time so a friend recommend a machinist who was a friend of his and did minor hobby gun smithing in his spare time. He mounted the mount for me and did an excellent job.

I bought a bent bolt somewhere online, the name "max boltman" comes to mind for some reason. Well...it didnt fit with the RS scope mount so I filed some metal out of it. It looks....odd but it's sturdy.

Since the original wood stock no longer fit and I didnt like the synthetic stock, I cut the wood stock right where it straightens out, filled all the holes with elmers two step wood filler, sanded it down and stained it to my liking. Overall it's been cheaper still than buying a new rifle and there's just something about it that makes it hard for me to retire, so I still hunt with it, roughly 10 years after I bought it.

I've slugged the bore and kept all my brass so when I run out of and cant easily find hunting ammo for it I'll buy a lee loader kit or hand press and load my own ammo for it.

This thing killed Nazis (not unlikely given its original 1939 manufactur date), and then (according to 7.62x54r.net) was rearsenaled for the east Germans and now it kills deer.

It won't win prizes for beauty or accuracy but she is solid, reliable and I love her.

LoonWulf said:

YOU HEATHEN!!!!





I Love me a good Bubbasin, your looks better done than most. might as well go all the way and toss it in a aftermarket stock......

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I did originally and didn't like it. This stock isn't quite what I want either so the next step for me will be to design and cut my own.

My parents own a mixed hardwood forest so I have access to all kinds of wood. I'll probably use pine for a few practice runs and then hickory or walnut or cherry (more research required) for the stock.

LoonWulf said:

Ive had the ATI and it was ok, the one i liked was a more traditional Richards Microfit that a friend ordered.

There was a guy on the forums back when i first joined who was trying to get some mosin stocks designed and made, lost touch I wonder if he ever did.

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My problem is, I find most american style stocks too long and the mosin stock almost perfect (I'm 6'2"....figure that one out). I want to also design it with a higher comb so I dont need that ugly cheek piece thing.

LoonWulf said:

Take a cruise thru http://www.rifle-stocks.com/
They have some high comb designs and can shorten stocks if requested....
Not to try to dissuade you from doing your own, which would be really neat, simply as another place to look.

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I’ve cruised that site and someone those are dang pretty! For me, I’d rather spend time than money because I’m cheap/limited in budget but have access to people and resources that cost little.

entropy said:

Walnut is your best choice, then cherry. Hickory is a neat looking wood, but not the best choice for stocks.

If you had cut it to 23", an M1903 Springfield front sight would have just slid on, then just braze it in.

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You’re probably right! We cut it based on where the rifling started to get bad and on some cursory research on good barrel lengths for Mosins and then got as close as we could.

Some kid from the university of south Florida did a whole experiment to test different barrel lengths and found (I think, if my memory serves me right) between 21 and 22 inches produced the best groups while only losing about 150-200 FPS in velocity.

I’ve been thinking about putting some kind of short rail on the front, similar to what is on an FN AR competition rifle maybe even designing it myself with a collar to slip on the barrel, and then getting front and back flip iron sights aftermarket.

I honestly like the look of cherry the best. Why not Hickory? Also if I wanted to go more of a blond look, what do you think about beech?

earlthegoat2 said:

Nothing wrong with modifying a rifle to suit your needs. It is yours after all and you are the one who will have to live with it. As it seems, you are living with it just fine.

Well done.

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Exactly, plus I made sure that it wasn’t worth much historically before I did anything.

It might be even LESS valuable because there is debate about what “triangle 1” means. The prevailing idea is that it was the “rearsenaled to the DDR” but that is coming under debate as more info comes out that it really just means the rifle was rearsenaled to “condition 1” (1-3, one being best 3 being worst) for later use and then stored.

entropy said:

Hickory, like black walnut has two differing densities; the outer, light wood is softer, and the reddish inside stuff is harder. This is why black walnut is expensive, it takes a BIG tree to have the dark wood wide enough for stocks. I looked at a nice slab of black walnut yesterday, 4'x2'x4", you could get about 4 full stocks and some shotgun forestocks and pistol grips form it, $225. If it had been aged better, and longer, I would have, but it need about 5 more years in low humidity to be ready. I estimated the tree to have been a 4' diameter tree, lotta $$ in that.
Beech would be perfect. Polish and Hungarian Mosins often had beech stocks, and it has a unique look. That 'triangle 1' actually looks like the Cugir (Romanian arsenal) mark. The DDR mark was always at the base of the barrel shank. It could have been sent to Romania after WWII, and served there until sold as surplus.

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You’re probably right on the triangle 1. And that’s good to know about beech. About 35-40% of the forest I have access to is beech.

Alaskan Ironworker said:

Sweden used beechwood on many of their Mausers, including this one. Well im pretty sure its beech.

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I’ve read that what they call beech is a different wood to American beech.

Paul R Zartman said:

You should be chained to a brick wall and the GREAT ORIGINAL MOSIN FIRING SQUAD be summoned, of course, I would be chained right beside you
View attachment 926585

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Heaven forbid we make functional tools out of our plow poles lol.

Is that an aftermarket barrel on yours?

Lol I’m thinking I need a flash suppressor on mine....same barrel length on mine as in yours, yours just looks thicker. Did you start with a 91/30?

Paul R Zartman said:

Yea, that's a shadow from lights...

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Ahh I see. I’m thinking of getting mine cerecoated so it’s lasts just that much longer.

Paul R Zartman said:

I should have done that with mine, hide the old rust pits better, but my eyes are getting bad with age too so I guess it all equals out in the end...I do love shooting that gun...alot of fun

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Yep! A milsurp shooter and a hunter!