Just got a Tikka Finnish M91, dated 1942. Quite the war veteran as there are three minor repairs performed to the stock. The butt stock has a big chunk taken out but filled in with wood and pegged, a possible shrapnel hit ? The hand guard is cracked almost from end to end and has been repaired with a special style of Finnish glue. The top of the hand guard shows what looks like a bullet graze almost done the length of it. There is also a minor repair to another possible shrapnel hit on the left side of the stock just under the receiver, it is about the size of a penny. Lastly, a crack near the straight stock grip has been fixed with a reinforcement peg.
The Russian Imperial eagle is still present on the receiver as well as the Asherins on the rear sight. My friend, Drachenblut, informed me that the receiver tang dates the receiver to 1905 Sestroresk. The bolt and other parts appear to be mainly Ishevisk Imperial Russian make and marked. She is also "SA" marked on the receiver.
Took me about seven and half hours to clean her up but now the bore, which was very dark, is now clean with plenty of rifling remaining. The action area of the stock is black, which tells me she was fired and saw action on the front lines. The safety can also be operated without incident as my experiences with a nearly pristine M27 showed me that the safety can be quite an annoyance to deal with on a tight bolt.
There are some really dark spots on the stock and Drachenblut suggested that this could be blood that soaked into the stock at one point. Any ideas here ?
The stock makers mark is also present but faded. It appears to be a pair of crossed cannons with either a flower or two crossed keys in the middle.
The Russian Imperial eagle is still present on the receiver as well as the Asherins on the rear sight. My friend, Drachenblut, informed me that the receiver tang dates the receiver to 1905 Sestroresk. The bolt and other parts appear to be mainly Ishevisk Imperial Russian make and marked. She is also "SA" marked on the receiver.
Took me about seven and half hours to clean her up but now the bore, which was very dark, is now clean with plenty of rifling remaining. The action area of the stock is black, which tells me she was fired and saw action on the front lines. The safety can also be operated without incident as my experiences with a nearly pristine M27 showed me that the safety can be quite an annoyance to deal with on a tight bolt.
There are some really dark spots on the stock and Drachenblut suggested that this could be blood that soaked into the stock at one point. Any ideas here ?
The stock makers mark is also present but faded. It appears to be a pair of crossed cannons with either a flower or two crossed keys in the middle.
