Some of you might remember the recent discussion about the value of an unrefurbed Russian 91/30. Goldidig posted some photos of a 19/30 he claimed to be unrefurbed & I saw enough to entertain the idea that such a thing might exist. After some furious negotiation, I managed to get him to sell it to me. I thought an unrefurbed 91/30 was a myth but this rifle has convinced me its not. Some of the photos are fuzzy as I tried shooting without the flash.
First the matching bayo. No sign of renumber or regrinding & plenty of rough machine marks. The others are for comparison, with a dark blued thrice numbered refurb & a no finish heavily ground down version.
The bolt has the serial right across the forging & machining marks. I can't see this being a renumber. All other parts on the bolt show no wear & are izhevsk marked.
The buttplate looks like it just came out of the press with no wear to the rough surface.
The magazine is really what convinced me. The sheet metal side are welded to the rough forged ends. Notice no evidence of belt or orbital sander marks. It looks like the welds where dressed with a big grinding wheel. The blue is actually a different on the sheet metal than the ends. One side has a an almost golden hue. The bottom shot is of some refurbs for comparison
Now some shots of the receiver & stock. The front sling reinforcement still has blue on it.
I took it out & sent a few rnds downrange. It shot 8' high without the bayo & dead on at 100 with all with misurp ammo. Comments?
First the matching bayo. No sign of renumber or regrinding & plenty of rough machine marks. The others are for comparison, with a dark blued thrice numbered refurb & a no finish heavily ground down version.
The bolt has the serial right across the forging & machining marks. I can't see this being a renumber. All other parts on the bolt show no wear & are izhevsk marked.
The buttplate looks like it just came out of the press with no wear to the rough surface.
The magazine is really what convinced me. The sheet metal side are welded to the rough forged ends. Notice no evidence of belt or orbital sander marks. It looks like the welds where dressed with a big grinding wheel. The blue is actually a different on the sheet metal than the ends. One side has a an almost golden hue. The bottom shot is of some refurbs for comparison
Now some shots of the receiver & stock. The front sling reinforcement still has blue on it.
I took it out & sent a few rnds downrange. It shot 8' high without the bayo & dead on at 100 with all with misurp ammo. Comments?
