People do use chemicals on the bluing with good results, but I choose to use only hot water as I don't like using chemicals inside the house if I don't have to. If I have to, I use the 'green' type if possible. The TSP worked great on stripping the stock's finish and didn't smell, which was a plus for me.
m44 russian $195 at collector source
- Thread starter themouser
- Start date
People do use chemicals on the bluing with good results, but I choose to use only hot water as I don't like using chemicals inside the house if I don't have to. If I have to, I use the 'green' type if possible. The TSP worked great on stripping the stock's finish and didn't smell, which was a plus for me.
well got mine today,last on list probably.couldnt open the bolt so much cosmo,46 with nice stock patch of rust crap on bolt knob,but looked like it came off a soldiers back into a vat of grease.i think battery acid and a heat gun is the only way this #### will come off(metaphor)will post a pic of before and after.should start a bolt comparison thread as this is unmatched also,no biggey but would be nice,would be a gas to find a matching bolt from the shipment.
just the heat gun lol, i think i might just leave this badboy the way it is. it saw a long life in a supply truck or something cause it banged around a lot, the blueing is like 98% though and everything is tight so im happy.
safehunter
Regular
- Location
- South Western Onterrible
www .boydsgunstocks.com/ does make all kinds of m44 stocks for $100US++
that's not rust on the mag just oil
Less M44, more spitfire!
Just kidding, does that stock say 1885?
- Location
- The Badlands
The stocks on those rifles are certainly showing lots of " Character ".......if they could only talk , the stories they could tell.....
Simple Green is a "Green' cleaner degreaser. It smells better than hot cosmoline and is not harsh smelling. As soon as you are done and cleaned up the smell goes away. You might want to give it a chance. Just a suggestion. Cheers
well here it is,my latest mosinitis mosin purchase.stank the house up when i propped it up over the stove and fell asleep,the smell of smoking cosmo even gagged my dogs.did a fair job of melting that ancient stuff out. 1946 no refurb mark we can find.stock is fine, lotsa dings, looks like a little black paint here and there, bolt sucks it doesnt feel tight and rust on knob but i can get around to refurb it.nice blue and shiny bore but about 50% rifling worn or more.bullet doesnt quite go down to brass,its just fine for the price.
Trickiest part of cleaning has to be the inside of the stock. All the little nooks and crannies are very hard to get at. What would I use to polish up the bolt? I think I'm looking at another week of cleaning before I can post before and after pics. I strongly recommend disassembling trigger and extractor mechanism, lots of crap in there!
Makes you wonder if the Chechnya rebels used that one......
who knows, it's hard to guess without knowing where the collector source obtained them from. In 85-87 the soviets were fighting in Afghanistan but I'm not sure why a m44 would be used there unless it was reclaimed from the mujihadeen or maybe used by a vehicle operator. chechnyan wars started in 94.
The M44 was used by the Afgans-police and militia....the dates 1985 1986 1987 could be right,..but I am not sure...literacy in Afganistan is quite low....another satellite country perhaps..?...maybe they were issued for basic training somewhere in the former Soviet Bloc to the middle east...the PLO used them as well....who knows..?? BTW I'd leave that stock just as she is with the dates marked on her....
Although there are zero references to back up the statements in this video, the pictures used look fairly authentic... Would indicate all varieties of Mosin (91/30, PU, M44, M38) were getting lots of mileage well into the 90s, at least, in A-Stan, Chechnya, Georgia...
With large parts of urban Syria turning into "snipe and scoot" zones, I would be really shocked if PU's weren't in heavy rotation there. I remember watching a 30 minute news feature on the Syrian "sniper war" and seeing some kid (late teens, early twenties at most), holed up in some rubble taking potshots - I got that weird "oh yah, you're a gun nut" look from my friend when I said "Sniper rifle? Christ, that's a Chinese SKS with a crap NCStar receiver cover rail and scope shoved onto it... I could put that together for $300, but I wouldn't have the balls to call it a sniper rifle..."
Remove it - lots of cosmoline and some rust under the one I got. A 5/16 th hex wrench fits nicely inside the body diameter. Clamp the hex wrench in a vice to hold it steady. A few good taps from a small (8 oz) hammer and it should start to move. If it won't move, put a gear clamp snugly over the middle section to prevent it bowing outward and snapping. Then you can use more firm hammer blows.
Someone should email Al and ask him where they came from import wise.
Ya I will leave it. It seems to have gone alot of places and I wouldn't want to erase that history.
