New Arrivals: the Holy Grail of Mosin Nagants !!! Finnish M39 Rifles in 7.62x54R

Got my 1942 VKT today. Light to medium Arctic birch. Pointed mortises with not one stamping or marking on the stock.
Stock was dry as popcorn so I hand rubbed Ballistol into the wood. looks and feels great now.
Bolt looks old and has not been belt sanded. So it does drag some .
Trigger has the take up then a clean break. So I think I got a nice one...
 
GUB said:
Got my 1942 VKT today. Light to medium Arctic birch. Pointed mortises with not one stamping or marking on the stock.
Stock was dry as popcorn so I hand rubbed Ballistol into the wood. looks and feels great now.
Bolt looks old and has not been belt sanded. So it does drag some .
Trigger has the take up then a clean break. So I think I got a nice one...
Click to expand...

ALL Finn bolts are recycled off older ex-Russian guns, so they usually show signs of age/use. Clean it up really well and just use the rifle. It will break in if it hasn't already.
 
My other Mosins have silky smooth bolts!!!
What that means is lots of slop and wiggle of the bolt in the reciever.
So my M39 bolt doesn't have the slop and wiggle. Its starting to smooth out already.
Haveing 2nd thoughts about useing my Russian milsurp ammo in this gun. I might look around for some MFS.
Is the MFS brass reloadable??
 
GUB said:
Is the MFS brass reloadable??
Click to expand...

No it is not. I believe it's a zinc-steel case. It's good ammo though, I just purchased 500 rounds of MFS 7.62x54r from NorthProSports yesterday so I can feed the Mosin (Russian, not Finnish, sigh) and SVT. They have the 175gr FMJ's on for $350 and the 203gr SP's for $370.
 
I wonder how much tuneing these rifles have? I had 3 shims in the front and 4 in the rear?
Also there is a small chunk of steel that seems to fit in a stock cutout forward of the front bolt??
 
GUB said:
I wonder how much tuneing these rifles have? I had 3 shims in the front and 4 in the rear?
Also there is a small chunk of steel that seems to fit in a stock cutout forward of the front bolt??
Click to expand...

That's the piece the cleaning rod screws into. Mine had 3 shims in front and 2 aft; so some effort was put into these it seems.
 
M39's, particularly those built or repaired after the war, OFTEN have accurizing shims in the stock. They are designed to get the right upward pressure on the bbl at the muzzle end.


DO NOT remove them. Leave them be and your rifle will shoot better.
 
Had a chance to strip down my 1944 VKT which I believe has been refurbed.

It appears to be a new barrel as the bluing is still showing inside the bore. Rifling and crown is sharp and well defined with bore measuring .310
Post war stock with no markings, back of butt has reinforced splicing, shims front and back under the action, bolt restamped to match receiver, double pinned trigger and HV magazine.

Bolt was difficult to remove and strip. Found out the firing pin was badly bent. After straightening the pin all was good and the bolt is very smooth in the action as it should be.

The one thing I found odd was that the rear sight leaf doesn't have the 1.5 [150] Meter stamped setting. It only comes down to 2 [200] Meter. It might have missed stamping because all the meter lines measure the same distance and do not coincide with the older M28/30 leaf.

m39rearsightcomparison.jpg


The receiver has no markings except a very small circled D on the tang bottom and small 0 on tang top. I can't find any reference to that.

Overall, the metal is excellent shape with no bluing wear and the stock has some minor handling dings.
I'll post pics later.
 
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EHG said:
Had a chance to strip down my 1944 VKT which I believe has been refurbed.

It appears to be a new barrel as the bluing is still showing inside the bore. Rifling and crown is sharp and well defined with bore measuring .310
Post war stock with no markings, back of butt has reinforced splicing, shims front and back under the action, bolt restamped to match receiver, double pinned trigger and HV magazine.

Bolt was difficult to remove and strip. Found out the firing pin was badly bent. After straightening the pin all was good and the bolt is very smooth in the action as it should be.

The one thing I found odd was that the rear sight leaf doesn't have the 1.5 [150] Meter stamped setting. It only comes down to 2 [200] Meter. It might have missed stamping because all the meter lines measure the same distance and do not coincide with the older M28/30 leaf.

m39rearsightcomparison.jpg


The receiver has no markings except a very small circled D on the tang bottom and small 0 on tang top. I can't find any reference to that.

Overall, the metal is excellent shape with no bluing wear and the stock has some minor handling dings.
I'll post pics later.
Click to expand...

You'll have to post pics, but it sounds to me like an M28/30 leaf installed on an M39 base. Not sure what you mean, but they are supposed to be identical except for the 1.5 setting.

Post a pic of your tang. It sounds to me like it's either Remington or Chatellerault. Does it have an old-pattern grease hole on the underside of the front of the receiver that you can see barrel threads through? These are found on mont 1890's receivers.

Here is a pic of a grease hole wot the plug screw still present:

1893chatellerault_004.jpg


Also, check the side of the rear tang. If it's a Chatellerault receiver, it should have a marking there like this:
Tang1894Cleft_zps74d80e0e.jpg

or this:
Tang-right_zpsab4a5021.jpg


All the french inspection stamps have a similar look and feel to them.
 
You're very knowledgable Ron. I'll strip my sneaks and B barrel naked later this upcoming week and will probably ask you a thing or two.
 
Claven2 said:
You'll have to post pics, but it sounds to me like an M28/30 leaf installed on an M39 base. Not sure what you mean, but they are supposed to be identical except for the 1.5 setting.

Post a pic of your tang. It sounds to me like it's either Remington or Chatellerault. Does it have an old-pattern grease hole on the underside of the front of the receiver that you can see barrel threads through? These are found on mont 1890's receivers.

Also, check the side of the rear tang. If it's a Chatellerault receiver, it should have a marking there like this:
Tang1894Cleft_zps74d80e0e.jpg

or this:
Tang-right_zpsab4a5021.jpg


All the french inspection stamps have a similar look and feel to them.
Click to expand...

OK, there is no stamp on the bottom of the tang, but there is on the sides. There is no grease hole.

Side

IMG_0458.jpg


Top

IMG_0456.jpg


Bottom of receiver

IMG_0461.jpg


And the rear sight.

IMG_0454.jpg
 
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EHG said:
OK, there is no stamp on the bottom of the tang, but there is on the sides. There is no grease hole.

Side

IMG_0458.jpg


Top

IMG_0456.jpg


Bottom of receiver

IMG_0461.jpg


And the rear sight.

IMG_0454.jpg
Click to expand...

Congrats, you have a post-1893 Chatellerault receiver, likely from around 1894. There was a short period between wen they eliminated the grease hole and some the in 1895 when Chatellerault started putting the dates on the tang.
 
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