Finnish M39's
- Thread starter SA85M1
- Start date
trainman278
Regular
- Location
- Muskoka, ON
Does anyone know where these came from? I know that they have US import marks on them which is confusing to say the least.
I was (and still am) mulling over picking one up before they're all gone.
I was (and still am) mulling over picking one up before they're all gone.
A couple of importers in the US brought them in. Whether they did it in a joint effort or not I don't know. They all came from Finland originally but the hex receivers were all made in Russia to my knowledge which I will admit is very limited. The Finns had examples of every manufacturer of Mosins, from the M91s to the 91/30s and when they rebuilt them to Finn standards, marked them so and gave them their own designations. The only Mosins they may not have had access to would have been the Chinese versions. Mind you, I have been having a heck of a time finding a VG-EXC Chinese made Mosin myself.
i got one from tradeex its a very nice rifle ,wartime stock and clean shiny bore very nice rifle but not worth the asking price in my opinion,no matter what side you look at it from its still a mosin and they can be had for two to three hundred for some very nice examples. Weimajack as some hand picked beauties for 300.
On the other hand there are no more of these m39 to be had so dont sit on the fence to long
On the other hand there are no more of these m39 to be had so dont sit on the fence to long
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Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
These came in from the States. They were bought over 20 years ago from Finland and held on to by one individual in the States who just recently sold them off (at a big profit).
trainman278
Regular
- Location
- Muskoka, ON
Incredible story. Investing in M39 bonds.... lol.
This is true as far as the better rifles go. Liberty Tree and one other distributor brought in a bunch as well. Watched video showing them looking into huge very heavy cardboard shipping containers containing rifles, slings, bayonets and other accessories. But I do believe you're right about the M39s that recently came into Canada.
They started at $875. As the inventory dwindled at Tradex, the current dealers (P&S & Weimajack) bought up the few that were left using dealer pricing and have marked them up to $950+. They can do this because there are very few of them left. Less than 40 or so.
I bought a couple at the Tradex pricing last year and another at the higher Weimajack prices. No regrets. In a few months, they will be selling for $1200+ - mark my words.
Yes, sort of.
These guns were part of a VERY large batch brought into the US by Pat Burns in the 1990's. Shortly after import, Burns lost her FFL, so she was slowly selling off the ones with antique receivers in the US for a couple decades because you don;t need an FFL to do so. A couple years ago, Classic Arms swooped in and bought all her remaining stock - which still gave a huge profit to Burns.
Classic was selling them in the US for about half what we are paying, but they didn;t do much sorting and their hand select was notoriously bad. Basically, they sold the beater rifles first from what I can tell. As the numbers were dwindling, Anthony at Tradex worked a deal and wen to the US to hand pick this batch from the rifles that were left. He paid a big premium over what Classic was getting stateside to be able to pick the creme of the crop frome what was left. I don't have an exact count, but it seems he brought in between 100 and 150 rifles. Most of them are now sold already, but some nice examples remain.
Almost all the imports were B barrels, "sneak" rifles and VKTs. In the US, the Sako marked gus were very popular - despite being the most common make of M39 - and almost no good Sakos were left for Anthony to pick. A small handful of Sako guns were part of this batch and they sold quickly. There were only 2 SkY rifles, both were refurbs in arsenal replacement stocks.
I've personally handler about 12 of the guns form this batch. All of them were refurbs except for some of the "sneak" and "B" rifles. Even the guns with wartime stocks had been reblued. The hang tags on these guns show most of them underwent at least minor arsenal work at some point. MANY of the guns sold in the US were nn-refurb but were in much worse condition. I suspect that when Anthony hand picked these, he was biased towrd the refurbs with nice bores because they look new.
If you want to know if a gun has been refurbished, there are some things to look for. For example, non refurb traits include:
-A stock that matches the year of production (i.e. Sako stock cartouche on Sako rifle, SkY stock cartouche on a Sky rifle, round finger joints on rifles made between 1941 and 1944, except for B barrels, some of which should have square joints despite the 1942 barrel date, and some few VKT and Tikka barrels that were cut down from M91's).
-front sight adjustment screws left "in the white"
-Interior of receivers not blued (except for some B gun and all "sneak" guns)
-front sight having the same height number as the number stamped on the barrel just behind the sight
There are other things to look for, but these are a good place to start.
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The Liberty Tree guns also come from the Burns Brothers aka Pat Burns stash. Last batch of Surplus rifles in Finland was sold off 20 years ago. Burns Brothers were not the Importers, they bought the rifles from Century Arms, Tennessee Guns and Interordnance.
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Thanks for the history lesson guys. The video I watched mentioned only that Century had brought in a bunch about the time you mention. Classic was also mentioned but nothing about where they came from.
Just bought a hand selected wartime from p and s. It's my first milsurp. I didn't want to miss the boat and regret not getting one and see them disappear. It was a investment but one that will surely not lose value. I'll post some pics when she comes
In.
In.
One I got from P&S 1942 VKT wartime stock. It's in great shape.
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