Mosin
Rifles
Refurbishment and Preservation
We’re going to talk about refurbished
Mosin rifles. Who, how, and when
they did it. This will be primarily
about the Russian rifles coming out of
the Ukrainian arsenals at the
present time. This is not about other
countries like Finland, Poland,
Hungary, Romania and their refurb’s,
but we will concentrate on the
Russian refurbished rifle you can
purchase today and at a low price.
Refurbished (refurb, refurb’d,
refurbed) – A rifle taken by the
arsenal or armory of Russia (or Soviet
Union) and reworked and refinished.
This does not include what someone
did to it later, after they were
removed from the arsenal storage and
sold to an importer.
Who done it – After WWII ended,
the Soviet Union decided to stored
many of its Mosin rifles as they
wound down WWII and replaced them
slowly with the newer SKS rifles and
AKs. They placed them into long term
storage facilities. Some were
refurbished at that time, but only a
small portion as the main
refurbishing came over a period of
time until around the 1970’s. Some
think it happened in two distinct
times and others believe it was done
in an “on going” fashion after the war
and continues on until the
1970’s. Either way, they made changes
in the “way they refurbished
them” as they went along.
The problem is, we don’t know
exactly how and why some were done one
way, and others a different way.
We can only speculate. What we know
is, not all the rifles coming in
were done the same exact way, but they
seem to fall into different
groups so the speculation is they had
different methods of
refurbishment for the different
conditions of the rifles.
Many were just received and
placed "as they were" into storage
(very few). Others were stripped of
all their parts and refinished and
then reassembled. Most of the
M91/30, M38’s, and M44’s rifles for
sale today fall into this last
catagory.
Many were given a full
refurbishment while others were only
cleaned up or given minimal
refinishing. Perhaps if a rifle was in
great shape but the magazine was
damaged, they simply replaced the
magazine with a spare and “forced
matched” the serial numbers. The
majority had
extensive work done to them, and are a
mixture of parts.
Let’s talk about “force matching”
or “force marking” (same thing). The
serial numbers on Mosin rifles
were placed on the barrel shank,
bolt, magazine
door, and the butt plate when the
rifle was originally assembled. When
a rifle had one of these parts
replaced, the serial number was
changed
on the replaced part to “match” the
barrel shank serial number (most of
the time). This process is called
“force matching”. The hope was when
the rifle was cleaned, all the same
parts would be returned to the same
rifle later on in the field. This
force matching was accomplished in
several ways.
1) Old
number was ground off and new number
was stamped in.
2) Old
number was ground off and new number
was “electro penciled” on.
3) Old
numbered was left on and X’d out or
lined out and new number was
stamped on.
4) Old
numbered was left on and X’d out or
lined out and new number was
electro penciled on.
5) Old
numbers were left alone and new
number
stamped on. (less common)
6) Old
numbers were left alone and new
numbers were electro penciled on.
(less
common)
7) Nothing
was done and the old serial number was
left on. (Less common)
The reason they used one method
over another is not
known.
When forced matching they used
two different methods,
a) Electro
Pencil – A device that marks the
surface and resembles pencil writing
on a piece of paper.
b) Stamped
– Metal stamp sets were used, but the
font's on these "newer" sets of
stamps do not match the old fonts
on the
barrel shank.
No one know why they used one method
over the other. Speculation is,
they started out using the stamps and
ended up electro pencil as electo
pencil technology came in to being
later on.
They
force matched bolt, magazine doors,
and butt plates. They also did
this to the mounts on PU snipers which
we are not discussing here.
Force matching is easy to spot if it
is electo penciled. Stamping force
matching can sometime take a very keen
eye to spot, but the easiest way
is to note the “font” of the part that
is stamped. Mismatched fonts
(those different than the barrel
shank’s “font”) indicate the part was
replaced or force matched. Also if the
letters (cryillic letters) are
not on the part, it was force matched.
All
the original parts that were stamped
with a serial number, included
the Cyrillic letters and numbers.
Replaced
or force matched parts have only the
numbers, but there are a few
exceptions where they included the
letters. It was very uncommon to
stamp the letters on a replaced part
but it was done from time to time.
So the only reliable way to know is to
compare the “fonts” on the
numbers (and letters if they are
there). A difference in fonts
indicates the part was replaced.
Conclusion
is, if the bolt, magazine, or butt
plate have only numbers,
it is a replaced and force matched
part probably done during
refurbishment. If the letters are on
it, check the fonts.
How
it was done. The majority of the Mosin
rifles were completely
stripped down and each part separated
by type. All the barrel bands,
band springs, muzzle caps, cleaning
rods, bayonets, rear sight pieces,
bolt pieces (broke down bolts to basic
parts), magazine parts, butt
plates, stocks and so on were all
separated , cleaned, and refinished.
Then the parts were used to reassemble
rifles. Serialized parts
could have force matched numbers with
either electro pencil or stamped in.
This would have been done during
or just after assembly. So you end up
with a rifle with mixed parts and
forced matched serial numbers. This is
the vast majority of the rifles
being sold today.
Now
we are sure there are exceptions to
this, but it is rare to find an
exception. Some rifles may have been
“in duty” at the time and missed
refurbishment, or the rifle was in
such good shape it didn’t need
anything done to it, or maybe a single
part needed to be replaced. But
there are very few examples of
“original” rifles. There are of
course,
non import rifles or Veteran return
examples of original rifles. But
most of the M91/30, M44’s and M38’s
went through this process with very
few exceptions.
Finish
The
refurbished rifles were blued but, If
the bluing was not
"perfect" the Soviets simply used
black paint to "touch it up".
Sometimes it can be extensive. When
you go to clean the rifle if you
are not very careful, it will come
off.
All
of the M91/30, M38’s, and M44’s rifles
for sale today are
refurbished rifles. Many think they
are “unissued’ but that is not
correct. They look very nice, and are
a bargain at the prices, but they
are not “unissued”. With the exception
of a very few, the bolts on
these rifles are force matched and not
original to the rifle.
History,
value, and preservation
These rifles
although refurbished and with mixed
parts represent the rifles used in
WWII. The main parts of the rifle
(and the minor parts) all have history
and this process was done by the
Soviet arsenals. You will find the
same thing happening to the US
rifles. Most of the US rifles contain
mixed parts from different makers
in the same exact way as the Mosin. It
is part of the Mosin history and
is set in stone when the rifle was
decommissioned and sold and imported
to the USA.
Any
work done on it after leaving the
arsenals and storage facilities
in the Ukraine is not part of its
military history and not part of
“preservation”. It is civilian work
and is detrimental to its value and
military history. Making a ex-military
rifle into something it never
was (changing its configuration or
parts after sale to the importer) or
changing it back to a configuration it
used to be
in but later changed by the Soviets
(in the case of ex-snipers being
re-snipered) is not preservation. It
is altering and will be
detrimental to its value. Most
collectors are not interested in these
altered rifles, and the owners usually
have problems selling them
later.
The most used
comments we hear is“I did this because
I wanted a cheap sniper" or "the
shellac is flaking off and it was of
no value because ot that, so I
refinished it", or some other
rediculas
reason and "I never intend to sell it
ever anyway, it will be with me
forever”. That is never the case and
even if it is, the rifle will be
passed down to someone when you die.
The reason we have some of these
collectables today is because someone
before you did not destroy their
value and preserved them and passed
them on. The question will you do
the same and pass a rifle down that
will be intact and valuable in the
future?
We
have
heard the words "it’s only a $100
rifle and they made millions of
them so it is no big deal". Consider
all the people who said that in
the 50’s and 60’s about a $25 Mausers
(at the time) and cut them down.
Some of them would be worth upwards of
$1200. Instead they might get
$400 for the same rifle today, and
it’s military value is so diminished
that it is almost non-existant.
So
think about it before cutting,
chopping, drilling, sanding and
refinishing, or altering a
"refurbished" Mosin. Take your time
and mull
it over, ask people on the
forums...........because once you
permenantly alter it in any way, it
can’t be undone.
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