MOLOT PU mosin. Clean it up or not?

[StrelokM38]

I picked up a MOLOT snipers mosin a number of years back. Fantastic shooter for what it is, but its far from a looker. It's built off a 43 Izhevsk.

Just been thinking about tidying up the stock since it looks like they painted on the shellac with a coarse brush and a good portion of it has flaked off. Not sure if these rifles have any value as is or if I should just go ahead and strip it down and refinish it with BLO. Just curious of peoples thoughts on whether I should leave it alone or not.

Thanks!

 

[Swiend]

If this was my rifle I'd leave it as is. I value my Mosins with the finish they have earned over the years, if that makes sense. I agree though, it's very tempting to refinish these.

 

[SA85M1]

If it was a run of the mill 91/30 I'd consider it,but on a PU....no..

 

[BlackPowderBurner]

BLO always looks like #### on birch stocks. Forever marked as the work of bubba. You'd be better off finding a solvent for the existing shellac and gently spreading the remaining finish back over the wood. Or, just leave it be.