refinishing milsurps
- Thread starter revilo
- Start date
I bet there's some good ones from a while back. I know a bunch of people sporterized / refinished G43 rifles. Me I would love to have rifles that show their age... no bluing left...stock beat to sh*t... that's my ideal milsurp.
edit: I hope no one refinished something as rare as say, an original Springfield 1903 sniper...and totally ruined its value.
edit: I hope no one refinished something as rare as say, an original Springfield 1903 sniper...and totally ruined its value.
Deltasilver
Regular
- Location
- Right behind you...
Americans removing the wire from LE grenade launching rifles to check for rust.
kingarmory
Regular
Yeah, that's one of those "WTH were you thinking" moves there. A collectible milsurp should be left 'as-is' and not even cleaned too thoroughly IMO, sometimes original patina is what makes it collectible.
Deltasilver
Regular
- Location
- Right behind you...
Ok, I'm gonna color outside the lines a little here - Close enuff in spirit to the OP and not worth it's own post.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Iraqveteran8888#p/u/4/hTX_-quVROA
Hey? Fugly Stick indeed =)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Iraqveteran8888#p/u/4/hTX_-quVROA
Hey? Fugly Stick indeed =)
midnightpossum
CGN frequent flyer
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- East Kootneys
Deltasilver
Thats a funny videos.... the guy is proud that he didn't spend a lot of $$$ on it...lol
You couldn't pay me $$$ to do that to a rifle...lmao
well each to there own,I guess...
Thats a funny videos.... the guy is proud that he didn't spend a lot of $$$ on it...lol
You couldn't pay me $$$ to do that to a rifle...lmao
well each to there own,I guess...
I bought my first SKS, Chinese, in 1972. I will admit that it was definitely a conversation piece at the range, even if it wasn't a tack driver. It had a red, composite stock and was heavy and slippery when wet. I got rid of it when the wood stocked rifles came out a few years later. In the early seventies, they weren't common and getting ammunition for them was a real chore.
As far as refinishing a milsurp goes, I don't do it anymore, because it just isn't profitable. If a milsurp is refinished to mil spec standards, I don't see a problem.
Lavishly applied tung oil or varnish are a whole different matter. Sanding out the stamps are another issue. I have rifles that were refinished. Some of them look to be done under military contracts. Most military rifles get ridden hard and many are abused, maybe not on purpose, unless some troopie wants to walk around bow legged after he/she removes his/her squad leader's boot from his/her sphincter muscles. When a country transitions out of weapon system xyz to go to a more modern system, the weapons go into storage. I'm not familiar with what happens in Canada but the horror stories I heard of the way FNs were stored were pretty graphic. After WWI and WWII, anything that was marked for War Reserve, was totally FTRed. The weapons that were sold to other nations were usually FTRed as well. The weapons that were sold on the surplus market, were sold as is.
We've been quite lucky with the latest batches of Soviet Bloc milsurps. They are their War Reserves rifles and pistols. They have mostly been FTRed. The same for many of the POF No 4s. The other No4 rifles, range from fair to very good. The South American Mausers are as stated, but not better than stated. They all are mechanically sound with decent bores. There is also a plethora of bayonets to match up to them.
Soon, I expect to see the junk start to appear. These are prime candidates for restoration. Their only other recourse, would be a complete tear down and maybe used as a basis for a decent, very reliable sporter, as long as they aren't to badly worn.
Look at the Swede Mausers when they first appeared, they were all FTRed to as new appearance with matching numbers on every part. They were reasonably priced and we got spoiled. Now, other than the target models we are getting the mismatched, dinged, worn dregs. There is no shame in restoring one of these old warriors to FTR condition.
Be aware though, some of the rifles used in Malyaya and Malaysia, such as the No5s were refinished in the main depot shops. They had their metal caps removed from the fore ends because after use in the jungles and mangrove salt water swamps they would start to rust and decay under the caps. Many were also varnished to protect them. Varnish may not be the proper description but they were sealed with some thick clear substance. Maybe someone else could chime in here.
Louthepou has done some very nice restorations. He takes parts and makes up complete rifles out of them. He never to my knowledge tries to pass them off as anything but what they are.
As far as refinishing a milsurp goes, I don't do it anymore, because it just isn't profitable. If a milsurp is refinished to mil spec standards, I don't see a problem.
Lavishly applied tung oil or varnish are a whole different matter. Sanding out the stamps are another issue. I have rifles that were refinished. Some of them look to be done under military contracts. Most military rifles get ridden hard and many are abused, maybe not on purpose, unless some troopie wants to walk around bow legged after he/she removes his/her squad leader's boot from his/her sphincter muscles. When a country transitions out of weapon system xyz to go to a more modern system, the weapons go into storage. I'm not familiar with what happens in Canada but the horror stories I heard of the way FNs were stored were pretty graphic. After WWI and WWII, anything that was marked for War Reserve, was totally FTRed. The weapons that were sold to other nations were usually FTRed as well. The weapons that were sold on the surplus market, were sold as is.
We've been quite lucky with the latest batches of Soviet Bloc milsurps. They are their War Reserves rifles and pistols. They have mostly been FTRed. The same for many of the POF No 4s. The other No4 rifles, range from fair to very good. The South American Mausers are as stated, but not better than stated. They all are mechanically sound with decent bores. There is also a plethora of bayonets to match up to them.
Soon, I expect to see the junk start to appear. These are prime candidates for restoration. Their only other recourse, would be a complete tear down and maybe used as a basis for a decent, very reliable sporter, as long as they aren't to badly worn.
Look at the Swede Mausers when they first appeared, they were all FTRed to as new appearance with matching numbers on every part. They were reasonably priced and we got spoiled. Now, other than the target models we are getting the mismatched, dinged, worn dregs. There is no shame in restoring one of these old warriors to FTR condition.
Be aware though, some of the rifles used in Malyaya and Malaysia, such as the No5s were refinished in the main depot shops. They had their metal caps removed from the fore ends because after use in the jungles and mangrove salt water swamps they would start to rust and decay under the caps. Many were also varnished to protect them. Varnish may not be the proper description but they were sealed with some thick clear substance. Maybe someone else could chime in here.
Louthepou has done some very nice restorations. He takes parts and makes up complete rifles out of them. He never to my knowledge tries to pass them off as anything but what they are.
I feel the pain, the problem is even a half decent home workshop can produce reasonably engineered conversions. Now compare the fugly stick to Peter Sarony's Products. Yes they were almost all new in the wrap/ftr no4 mk2 rifles from war reserve and he tapped into a market wanting to shoot at pistol distances on the otherwise redundant pistol ranges post the 97 act. Vandalism? Perhaps but they are well done and like the Gibbs or Sante Fe models will probably make their way into Skennertons books one day.
Converting No4s to 7.62 x 39 or 5.56 has been an activity going on over here since the 1980's so its nothing new. Thanks to LERA and HBSA there are a few in the original condition still shot in competition. In fact about 5 or 6 years ago we introduced a class for early 7.62 transition target rifles in comps to allow the old rebarrelled P144s and No4's an outing to save them being scrapped.
All good in the long run!
I'm really surprised to see that IraquiVeteran guy do that to a Milsurp. I've seen a few of his videos on YouTube, and I thought they were well made. I didn't think he had it in him..."these (91/30's) are a dime a dozen, and I don't think the market will ever dry up"...? Famous last words?
I sanded down my fathers Jungle Carbine when I was a kid, re-finished it in Dark Walnut varnish. Years later, I traded it straight across for a Universal M-1 carbine. Which was a poor trade at a glance; expect I sold the carbine for 400 $. Which is about what the Jungle carbine was worth before I f--ked it up, LOL.
But I still regret messing with it...
But I still regret messing with it...
