M44 Refinish

[jongun]

Refinished the stock on my M44 to make it a little more red. The BLO that it was finished with when I got it was definitely lacking that commie red attitude so I decided to spruce it up a little. Didn't use genuine shellac but instead opted for a stain(Minwax Gunstock) with a polyurethane clear coat.Was a real pain in the ass to get the BLO out and the residual remaining BLO prevented the stain from really getting into the grain of the wood therefore she's not as dark as I had hoped for.

Stock as it came

Stripped

Refinished

 

[shredder]

Nice job!!!

 

[fiddler]

Looks good now. The ugly pale yellow was God awful.

 

[welder01]

gorgeous gun. how rare are these compared to the 91/30

 

[jongun]

Thanks guys. For sure think it looks a whole lot better than before. M44s are not rare just less common than the average 91/30. Would love to have original specimens of each of the Mosin models but that may take some time.

 

[points]

Looks good. Only Poles are blond

 

[jongun]

Looks good. Only Poles are blond

Need one of those blonde Pols for sure.

 

[ciphery]

Was that M44 a Polish (11) ?
It looked like one in the first pic.
And a matching number Polish M44 is as rare as a REAL intact PU sniper 5/10 with the exception of the 1951 Polish M44 which is even more rare at 8/10.
"Rarity" that interest collectors are year of production, location of production, and ancillary markings. For example, 1943 dated Izhevsk M44s are difficult to find while 1944 dated Izhevsk M44s are readily available from numerous distributors. Change the arsenal to Tula, or add a DDR "triangle 1" mark to the same 1944 M44 and you have a sought after collectible.
Soviet M44's. 1 common 10 rare

Izhevsk 1943 7/10
Izhevsk1944-1948 1/10
Izhevsk hex receiverAll 7/10
Tula1944 5/10
Tula hex receiverAll 6/10
"MO" markedAll 8/10
DDR "triangle 1" markedAll 5/10
with laminated stockAll 3/10
Finnish "[SA]" markedAll 10/10
Yugoslavia rearsenalAll 5/10
INSTRUCTIE markedAll 7/10

Eastern European M44s and Chinese T53s

Poland, matching1951 8/10
Poland, matching1952-1955 6/10
Poland, non-matchingAll 1/10
Hungary, matchingAll 4/10
Hungary, non-matchingAll 1/10
Romania1953 8/10
Romania, matching1954-1955 5/10
Romania, non-matchingAll 1/10
INSTRUCTIE markedAll 7/10
China, matchingAll 7/10
China, non-matchingAll 5/10

 

[SoBored]

Was that M44 a Polish (11) ?

x2 Interested myself.

 

[ciphery]

And for comparison.....
Soviet M91/30's
Tula updated Dragoon?-1929 4/10
Tula hex receiver1930-1936 3/10
Tula round receiver1936-1940, 1942-1944 2/10
Tula round receiver1941 8/10
Izhevsk updated Dragoon?-1929 4/10
Izhevsk hex receiver1930-1934 2/10
Izhevsk hex receiver1935 5/10
Izhevsk round receiver1935-1944 1/10
Izhevsk round receiver1945 7/10
Double date "MO" markedAll 6/10
Triple date "MO" markedAll 8/10
DDR "triangle 1" markedAll 5/10
Finnish "[SA]" markedAll 5/10
Spanish Civil War markedAll 8/10
with laminated stockAll 6/10
Puolustuslaitos markedAll 8/10
INSTRUCTIE markedAll 7/10
PE Top Mount SniperAll 9/10
PEM Side Mount SniperAll 10/10
PU SniperAll 6/10
Ex-SniperAll 5/10

These are just guidelines as adding a stock splice or a force match number can alter the rarity values

 

[jongun]

No guys I'm not a moron. It's a 1944 Izhevsk.

 

[jongun]

 

[ciphery]

Phew! From the first pic that blond stock and deep blued metal had me thinking Polish. The only M44's I've seen that still have their bluing and have a blond stock have been unissued Polish M44's. The dark brown of the leather dog collar straps threw me off a bit though as most Polish guns have very light coloured leather. All the Izzy's I've yet seen have most of their bluing worn away,a light coat of coal-tar black paint on some. They have reddish brown stocks that look as though someone dragged the rifle all the way from Russia to Canada behind a T-34 tank.

You did a nice job in getting the colour of your stock to match the other Izzy's I've seen. Its a bit shiny but the colour is right.
Any plans for the metal?
Bedding?

I've seen 1944 izzy's with crudely fitted body metal shims crammed between the stock and receiver by Ivan as bedding.

 

[jongun]

That's about all she's gonna get for "mods" but may do a temp mod which is simply to replace the rear sight with a rail for mounting a scope. I've got one on one of my 91/30's and it works well. I'm not down with permanent mods to any of my surplus reds besides my 60's Chinese SKS who's had the ejection port "improved" plus thinking about having it drilled and tapped for a side mount for optics.