- Location
- Smithers, B.C.
Hello everyone,
I own a Finnish M-39 Sako, and while cleaning the buttstock found a patch of dirt on the side. Removing it (it had almost been flattened and soaked into the wood? Weird.) I discovered a few scratches... but looking closer they actually look like knife markings. One of them is a cross. I remember speaking to a gentleman from Finnland once who mentioned to me his father was a Chaplain in the Continuation War, and that sometimes they were known to mark thier rifles with a cross on the buttstock with the allways handy field knife. Could this be one of those marks? There is, on the other side of the stock, markings that are shallower with a cross, follwed by a "/" marking then T.J. As I said these appear to be knife marks and not "handling scratches". I believe this rifle was a wall hanger, as when I received it the barrel was dark and slightly frosted, the stock is in ok shape, with some minor repairs done "in field" with that black resin the Finns loved so much. I also removed the buttplate and the paper or carboard backing under it is almost intact, and on a piece of it was very faintly written (perhaps in pencil?) T. Jonp and the rest is too blurred to read. I will include pictures here, of what quality I cannot attest to. Any comments or interesting notes are welcome. Sharing a bit of history here.
Yours,
Drachenblut
I own a Finnish M-39 Sako, and while cleaning the buttstock found a patch of dirt on the side. Removing it (it had almost been flattened and soaked into the wood? Weird.) I discovered a few scratches... but looking closer they actually look like knife markings. One of them is a cross. I remember speaking to a gentleman from Finnland once who mentioned to me his father was a Chaplain in the Continuation War, and that sometimes they were known to mark thier rifles with a cross on the buttstock with the allways handy field knife. Could this be one of those marks? There is, on the other side of the stock, markings that are shallower with a cross, follwed by a "/" marking then T.J. As I said these appear to be knife marks and not "handling scratches". I believe this rifle was a wall hanger, as when I received it the barrel was dark and slightly frosted, the stock is in ok shape, with some minor repairs done "in field" with that black resin the Finns loved so much. I also removed the buttplate and the paper or carboard backing under it is almost intact, and on a piece of it was very faintly written (perhaps in pencil?) T. Jonp and the rest is too blurred to read. I will include pictures here, of what quality I cannot attest to. Any comments or interesting notes are welcome. Sharing a bit of history here.
Yours,
Drachenblut
