m44 russian $195 at collector source

For under 250 bucks the only rust to be concerned about is in the barrel. As far as I'm concerned if the barrel was packed full of grease is a blessing in disguise. Any surface rust on the outside or under the stock can be taken off with a brass brush, cleaned with alcohol, and re-blued with gun blue or similar products. It only takes a couple seconds to blue a rust spot, assuming the rust has actually been removed. Unless the rust spot was severe, you would never know it was there even if you were told and looking for it.
 
I got mine today. I am a little disappointed.

Its a 45 which is sort of cool
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I knew the stock would be rough. I think I might smooth out some of the gouges and retouch the shellac.
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I was reading other posters saying that their rifles were soaked in cosmoline. Mine was very dry other than the bolt. I see evidence of rust on several parts not very happy
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I am also not happy that the front sight is bent. Collector Source did a good job packaging the rifle for shipping but they should have let this into their regular stock.
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Caveat emptor

Mine looks just like yours. Beat stock, lots of surface rust when I took it apart and my front site is also bent. But I was expecting a "beater" rifle, I will just clean it up as planned. I like the project of it all.
 
i guess i lucked out with the conditon of my cosmo packed rifle, cleaning it will be this weekend's job. then i'll see what the insides look like..maybe that extra $10 for tracking gave me a better rifle?
 
Stripped my stock, I can see a "2" on it after all the horrible shellac was removed, which was rather hard by the way. It was way thicker on the buttstock, possibly the only place it was reapplied, hence the almost black appearance.

Don't have a clue what I'm doing, other than following YouTube videos, but it's supposed to be a low gloss American Chestnut finish when it's done. Yes, it will retain most of the dents and gouges, while I sanded the majority of the scratches a little. When I put the 1st coat on, I must admit that it looked awesome compared to the uneven pigment and scraped shellac, which was the original finish. Most likely it will take quite a few coats and sanding sessions.

I'm certain it won't come out as good as a real woodworker would do it, but it can only get better than the way it was. However, this stock has flaws on every square inch - so it'll still look like a period piece.
 
I'm certain it won't come out as good as a real woodworker would do it, but it can only get better than the way it was. However, this stock has flaws on every square inch - so it'll still look like a period piece.

Flaws or just years of history? I get the idea of having a minty fresh looking one but a beat up one that is mechanically sound is appealing to a lot of people also.
 
Flaws or just years of history? I get the idea of having a minty fresh looking one but a beat up one that is mechanically sound is appealing to a lot of people also.


X2

While I enjoy my collector and museum pieces, I also like the items that actually participated in history rather than just being packed in a box while history was going on. A few battle scars has character, no pun intended, and I'm not concerned about shooting something that been well used.

A lot of the dents and dings can be taken out with a wet cloth and iron, and its very easy to re-blue a rust spot. People have to be realistic that they are buying a shooter , not a museum piece.
 
I'll bet every one of them look like a dull wood chisel was used to cut the rifling grooves....002"+ over bore.

What did it slug out as? Many Mosins were hastily made during the end of the war and are over-sized bores. When I make loads for this rifle, I do so with a .312 bullet for this very reason, and it shoots better in almost every Mosin I own.
 
Before
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After 1 coat (still waiting for it to dry)
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Even if I f@ck it up, I didn't pay that much for it. I think it looks good so far, with the gross imperfections lessened... nothing ventured - nothing gained. Stock is solid as a rock, think this is going to be an awesome shooter, with character.
 
She looks quite nice sir!...Funny,..maybe I'm lucky but the only cruddy bores I have seen in carbines was one Chinese T53 with a completely shot out bore-but a nice wall hanger..The other was an M44 with some pitting...Most have pretty good bores and shoot rather well...Though the best of 'em are Polish...fantastic carbines and usually MOA accurate....with good ammo..From what folks are saying these CS carbines are scruffy looking,but the bores are good!...they are SURPLUS after all...I wonder where they were sourced from??Anyone have the info??
 
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