Mosin refinish

[Gilbert 1]

I have a 1932 Mosin Nagant Tula with hex receiver I refinish the stock or leave as is?

 

[wojownik]

Depends on what you want to do with it. I generally leave my mosin's as-is. Particularly the pre-war dated ones. I just happen to like the "original" condition of mil surps, unless the stock is totally trashed.

 

[JSH1]

Do what you want with it.

I personally like my guns to be in good shape so if the stock was in poor condition I would refinish it or find a different one.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

I'm all in favor of refinishing it

 

[hso]

It depends upon the condition and how much "refinishing" you plan to do. Steaming out dents, sure. Taking sandpaper to it, not so much.

I'd look at the milsurp sites and see what restoration practices they use before I'd do anything that removes any material form a vintage firearm.

 

[ku4hx]

If you're concerned about collector value, don't be. Bud's had them for $112 so you're not going to ruin any collector value.

I'd refinish it in a heartbeat, but furniture refinishing is a hobby of mine. I might get the metal refinished too. Nothing wrong with and nice looking old gun, especially if it shoots reasonably well.

 

[GBExpat]

I have a 1932 Mosin Nagant Tula with hex receiver I refinish the stock or leave as is?

I ordered a couple about 10 years ago (from separate online vendors) that had, apparently, come in from the same "re-arsenaled" batch.

The final step in the arsenal refurbishment process looked like it involved dipping an old, worn-out broom in shellac and applying it (mostly) to the wood.

The metal was "painted" into the stock.

Since I considered that nasty mess to have no value, I opted to remove the shellac (with denatured alcohol) and refinish the wood on these nothing-special 91/30s.

If they had sported even a halfway decent original-looking shellac job, I probably would have left them as-is. FWIW, that description applies to the one Finn M39 that I bought at about the same time and I did nothing to the stock other than give it a good cleaning.

FWIW.

 

[Schwing]

I would have no problem refinishing it and, in fact, have refinished Mosin's in the past myself. They are never going to be a valuable collectable IMO as there were millions made.

I heat treated the stock to leach out as much cosmoline as possible and then sanded it down thoroughly. I then re-stained it a nice light walnut color and finished it off with a clear coat.

The only problem I ran into was, after removing material around the barrel rings, they were slightly loose on the fore stock so I had to shim them a little. It looks great and, more important to me, it doesn't sweat cosmoline on hot days anymore

 

[Reloadron]

Well from the picture you posted it's hard to say. Maybe yes and maybe no would be my conclusion.

Ron

 

[Garrobo]

THe good thing about

the MS is that, whether you refinish it or not, if it quits working you have a handy fence post driver.

 

[GBExpat]

THe good thing about the MS is that, whether you refinish it or not, if it quits working you have a handy fence post driver.

What?

 

[wojownik]

They are never going to be a valuable collectable IMO as there were millions made.

If you are talking about a run-of-the-mill 91/30, yeah probably. But there are variants and dates of the 91/30 that do make some of these rifles collectible for "students" of this rifle. Just sayin' blanket statements don't cover all cases and variants.

True, the OP's 91/30 with a 1932 date is not considered particularly rare. Production was much lower in the early 1930s than it was during WWII, but none of the 1930s dates are considered particularly rare. HOWEVER, ex-Dragoons were being made until 1932, so there is always the off chance that an early 1930s 91/30 could actually be a more valuable ex-Dragoon.

Even for a general interest, run-of-the-mill 91/30, a so-so refinish job can render a $120 Mosin into a $75 project gun.

A somewhat different animal - I ran into a Sestroryetsk arsenal Mosin 1891 rifle. The stock had been completely refinished (steamed, sanded, shellacked), bolt buffed bright, bluing touched up with a Birchwood Casey pen (or Sharpie). In one of my more candid moments, I congratulated the owner for turning a $600 collectible into a $100 curiousity.

 

[Sunray]

"...so you're not going to ruin any collector value..." Any current value. People aid the same thing about 1903's and M1'snot so long ago. Also means that rifle will always be a rebuild if any parts are replaced.
Cleaning the stock doesn't do that though.

 

[entropy]

If you are talking about a run-of-the-mill 91/30, yeah probably. But there are variants and dates of the 91/30 that do make some of these rifles collectible for "students" of this rifle. Just sayin' blanket statements don't cover all cases and variants.

True, the OP's 91/30 with a 1932 date is not considered particularly rare. Production was much lower in the early 1930s than it was during WWII, but none of the 1930s dates are considered particularly rare. HOWEVER, ex-Dragoons were being made until 1932, so there is always the off chance that an early 1930s 91/30 could actually be a more valuable ex-Dragoon.

Even for a general interest, run-of-the-mill 91/30, a so-so refinish job can render a $120 Mosin into a $75 project gun.

A somewhat different animal - I ran into a Sestroryetsk arsenal Mosin 1891 rifle. The stock had been completely refinished (steamed, sanded, shellacked), bolt buffed bright, bluing touched up with a Birchwood Casey pen (or Sharpie). In one of my more candid moments, I congratulated the owner for turning a $600 collectible into a $100 curiousity.

I know a guy that did that with a 1915 Tula. Kinda said the same thing to him. At least he used a non-drill scope mount!

I agree with the above post. They already are going up in value. The The more Mosin Bubba gets a hold of them, the more mine appreciate. Sadly, yes, in the way a decent 1903 is $800 on up now...

 

[Scooter22]

I don't see any pics so I don't know the condition of the stock. But if you have one that looks good but the shellac is flaking all you need to do is spray on another couple light coats. Shellac will melt into itself. I've done that with 4 or 5 and they came out 100% better with little cost or effort. You mention it's a hex. I would look close to see if it has other markings. It could be worth more than you think. Especially if it has Finnish markings.

 

[M-Cameron]

The gun is not going to gain any significant value in your lifetime......even if the value of the gun increased 500%....youre only talking about a $500 gun, or a $400 gain......as far as investments go, i wouldnt make mosins the bulk of your portfolio.....

so if refinishing it makes you happy NOW, then do it and enjoy it..... and dont worry about what happens to the price of it in the future.

because personally, ide rather be out shooting a bubbad mosin than letting a pristine one sit in my safe....

 

[HankB]

I wouldn't hesitate to refinish a common date, common model, common manufacturer (Tula, Izhevsk) Mosin. Most have been rebuilt by a Soviet arsenal somewhere along the line, with forced matches on the serial numbers, reblue, "new" shellac on the stock, etc.

I'd just take a careful look at the rifle and make sure it doesn't have some less common characteristics - original matching SNs, pristine bore, less common date or manufacturer, etc.

I have a 1939 Izhevsk which was rebuilt at some point by a Soviet facility in the Ukraine. I got it from Cabela's for $99 (a fair value) and wouldn't hesitate to refinish it - if I really wanted to. But I figure it's a piece of history, having almost certainly been used to kill Nazis in defense of the Rodina (Motherland) during WWII so I'm going to leave it alone, and just shoot it once in a while.

 

[Panzerschwein]

If you want to refinish the rifle, go ahead. It won't ruin any collector's value. Their are millions of Bubba'd Mosins in this country, and they seems to command high prices at my LGS so they must be worth something.

For me, I enjoy these old guns for what they are. I don't try to make a modern rifle out of them. If you buy a cheap Mosin and put a lot of $$$ into it to get it to shoot like an off the shelf Ruger American or Savage Axis, what have you really gained? I'd just buy one of those new guns instead and have a more accurate gun for less money.

But as for refinishing, you will be find if that's what you really want to do.... but ask yourself, does your gun really need it? Is it in bad shape? Only then will you get the answer to your question.