ok, here's some of the march purchases...
First, the PU sniper:
This one started out as a decomissioned PU sniper with a perfect bore and matching (restamped at refurb) numbers. The stock was a WW2 era 91/30 Tula stock that had been shortened in Ukraine by the refurb armorers by about 2 inches during a repair/rework process. The handguard was shortened too. It was also pretty beat up.
I got a correct Tula replacement stock with the Tula star on the underside and the "box-slash" refurb marking on the butt and a proper length handguard. Also got a milled base and mount, probably post-war (?) but definitely a correct set built to the correct military dimensions. The scope is a correct original (not a repro) 1943-ish WW2 scope that's been refurbed. Bolt handle is an exact duplicate of the original PU bolt by "JimR" from gunboards and built on the original matched at refurb bolt body. Scope cover is an original. Interestingly, the rear sight assembly and base are Tula bits and are unpinned. The mag assembly is also Tula, as are all the internals. Only Izhevsk bits are the cocking piece, bolt head, rear band and the rear sight spring. I didn't swap anything out - it came this way.
I think it came out well. All the restoration metal work was done by a licensed gunsmith (Jason Spencer at Gunco). The rear receiver screw hole was the only thing that didn't line up (out by about 1.5mm), so the errant hole in the receiver receiver was professionally tig welded up, a new hole drilled in a milling machine to prevent bit wandering, and re-tapped to specification. The receiver was then stripped of parts, spun off the barrel and given a Russian-style hot-dip blue duplicating the exact finish that was on it before the welding. The metal was not cleaned up anywhere except at the weld, both inside and outside the receiver. (old finish was at 100% too as it is a refurb) If you're going to do something, might as well do it right
Mount was also correctly filed for windage.
My only complaint is that the scope mount inletting might be too good. The smith inletted the wood so it looks like it grew around the metal. I doubt Ivan ever pumped out workmanship that good in the darkest days of 1943... but oh well. I can live with that.
Still haven't shot it yet since conversion, but it drove tacks before and probably still will
Externally, this rifle is 100% indistinguishable from a legitimate PU refurb IMHO, but it won't ever be sold as a fake thanks to the JR monogram stamped into the underside of the bolt to prevent fakery
Though it truely is more of a restoration than a fake in my eyes.
What do you guys think of the end-result?
The Swedish M38b
Based on an 1899 Carl Gustafs Stad Gevarsfaktori M96. Not much to say about this piece. It's close to unissued. I like it. That's about it. I have the bayonet, sling, front sight hood and a few other goodies en-route to complement it.
(Click PIC to Enlarge)
(Click PIC to Enlarge)
