Mosin 91/30 black paint on barrel?

[akv3g4n]

Hey guys. I have a 1940 Tula Mosin Nagant 91/30 that I got from Classic Arms about a year ago. Rifle is in great shape with the bluing mostly intact and the stock is solid.

Question is about the end of the barrel. It looks like there was black paint on just the very end of the barrel. Most of it is worn off and the bluing underneath looks to be in good condition. Was this something that the Russians did during one of the refinishes? Just weird that it is just on the end of the barrel, the rest is blued as usual. Normally I would think Bubba but it seems to be straight from the importer.

 

[wrench]

Very normal to find black paint on the arsenal refurbs.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Black paint = Russian cold blue.

 

[Life During Wartime]

I'm thinking it was probably a quick and cheap communist fix.

 

[Loosenock]

Or quick touch-up for a parade rifle.

'loose

 

[caribou]

Black paint over blueing is the standard Russian outside finish application to AK's and other small arms, to this day. It was a "fix" on the refurbs, and then a standard after WWII to most all Soviet weapons..

Britts did it too.

 

[Tolkachi Robotnik]

Most will be silver worn clean barrel end.

I have not seen any of them with anything left on the end of barrel. This may be due to a number of reasons, but cleaning them probably has something to do with it.

I would not knock it off or consider it abnormal. It probably doesn't hurt anything. Paint is a good treatment to preserve blued metal.