M39 picure thread!!!

Mine is marked as a Czech 8mm on the barrel. I will post pics shortly.

Mine is also marked 8 mm, which made me doubt the actual caliber of the rifle for a minute. Having cartridges in both calibers (8 mm Mauser & 7.62x54R), I was able to confirm that my Finn Mosin is indeed in 7.62x54R. Those markings were just weird, not sure what this is all about...
 
Has anyone tried to duplicate the D166 cartridge, and what sort of results did you get.

I gather that Lapua is still making the D166 bullet.
 
This might be the last M39 to come in before the UN markings rule comes into effect. Matching 1943 SkY M39 with a nicely marked original stock, which might be nutwood and not birch. Cool piece of lumber.

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It's not unusual. That marking is left over from the receiver having been recycled from an imperial era m91.

You sometimes see it on the post-war assembled m39's like yours. The 1942 date is when the barrels was made, but it's thought all b barrels m39's were assembled post war.

Wartime m39's usually had the crest ground off or planed off.
 
Yea I know. I just wanted to ask if others had it as well. My tang reciever is a 1913 so I am not surprised Tsarovsky is still on there. The Finns scrubbed or dimpled those that they removed.

All 1942's were dated 1942 regardless of when they were actually assembled. At least that's what I have read. Whether or not the barrels themselves were actually made in 1942 remains to be seen.

I do know I have a late production B-Barrel after checking the serial number using the Finnish Army Website (Excel sheet)
 
1942 VKT. Haven't had a chance to get it out yet. Bore is good, came with hang tag. The barrel is not free floated, the stock and handguard are tight to barrel.
I've read different things about free floated barrels on these. War time stocks weren't floated and after the war they may have been?
Have to see how it shoots
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1942 VKT. Haven't had a chance to get it out yet. Bore is good, came with hang tag. The barrel is not free floated, the stock and handguard are tight to barrel.
I've read different things about free floated barrels on these. War time stocks weren't floated and after the war they may have been?
Have to see how it shoots
There is some good info about free floated M39's at forums.gunboard.

I have two M39's now. My 1941 VKT has the wartime stock with no shims and a very tight handguard. Not sure if the stock was original to that gun, but since refurb it had warped in the forearm tip pushing hard on the barrel to the right. Fired a couple of 5 shot groups and 5" groups with lots of horizontal spread. I removed a bit of wood there at the tip and free floated it. The handguard was just snugged up and then back off 1/2 turn on the screws. I was rewarded with a nice 1.75" group at 100yds with Chinese surplus.
If anything it won't take much to get an M39 to shoot. I don't consider what I did as modifying the gun, but actually correcting it as the Finns would do from a service manual someone translated at forums.gunboard.
 
I can't speak for all M39's, but in my sample size of 6 of them, half are wartime and half are post-war. All the wartime guns are tight at the muzzle end of the stock, and two of my post-war stocks are tight at the muzzle. One of my post-war stocks is factory free floated.

Bottom line, I think the finns went back and forward on this, perhaps depending on era or intended use of the gun?

One thought that comes to mind - in WW2, bayonet fighting was still doctrine and a tight muzzle fit was needed to ensure the stock wouldn't torque and crack from bayonet impact forces. By the 1960's when many depot-assembled post-war guns were put together, the rifles were generally only used for training and marksmanship, so maybe that's when they started floating them? Just a guess.
 
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Picked up another, this time with a post-war stock with the pointed finger joints and toe splice. I didn't have this stock variation yet :)

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I need to do another M39 family photo soon...
 
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