Does anybody know if one of the earlier batches of mosin imports got their stocks sanded & stained by the importer? I have seen two mosins with obviously sanded stock & a brownish stain applied. The finish was so similar you could interchange the stocks & not realise there was a difference.
Early mosin imports
- Thread starter desporterizer
- Start date
The vast majority of the early Mosin imports dureing the mid to late seventies were not nice looking rifles. Pitted bores, mismatched parts, rusty and uncared for.
That was the main reason they got such a bad reputation back then and most of them sold for under $20, if you could sell them at all.
That doesn't mean all of them were garbage, because they weren't. But for a mismatch in 50% condition, you had to pay a premium and for a mismatch in VG condition, few and far between, there was another premium price, about $70. A fair chunk of change back then.
Century International, refinished many of them and even sold a few already sporterised and ready to go hunting, along with swedish mausers, K98s and Pattern 14s and 17s, some of them converted to magnums and 270s etc.
What their criteria was as to which rifles to choose for sporteriseing, I haven't a clue. bearhunter
That was the main reason they got such a bad reputation back then and most of them sold for under $20, if you could sell them at all.
That doesn't mean all of them were garbage, because they weren't. But for a mismatch in 50% condition, you had to pay a premium and for a mismatch in VG condition, few and far between, there was another premium price, about $70. A fair chunk of change back then.
Century International, refinished many of them and even sold a few already sporterised and ready to go hunting, along with swedish mausers, K98s and Pattern 14s and 17s, some of them converted to magnums and 270s etc.
What their criteria was as to which rifles to choose for sporteriseing, I haven't a clue. bearhunter
Often, the sanding and stain is attributed to Century, when in fact it should be attributed to a Finnish refurbishment program 
Often the stain is really just slopily applied pine tar. Other times, it's a type of wood dye used periodically by the finns.
Often the stain is really just slopily applied pine tar. Other times, it's a type of wood dye used periodically by the finns.
