I am a gun store rat, I am in there every day on my lunch break.  Today I stopped in and everyone was gathered around the bench looking at a Mosin Nagant from WWII.  Apparently it was a "sabotage rifle" with just enough metal removed from the underside of the barrel to cause a catastrophic detonation in order to maim or kill the soldier who picked it up off the battlefield and fired it.  I asked to take pics of it and the guy who owned it wouldn't let me.  

Hate to be the one to find out the hard way.

has it been de-milled so nobody would make the mistake of shooting it?

Why wouldnt he let you take a pic?

That thing will be on Gun Broker tomorrow.

Strange the guy wouldn't let you take a pic.  BTW your name kicks ass! BTILC is one of my favorite movies.

Quoted: has it been de-milled so nobody would make the mistake of shooting it?

Not sure.  I'll ask tomorrow!

Quoted: Why wouldnt he let you take a pic? That thing will be on Gun Broker tomorrow.

No doubt!  it'll be advertised on GB for twice the price of a mint condition oen cause ...

"specially modified for lighter weight"

No Expert

Quoted: Strange the guy wouldn't let you take a pic.

He probably realized it was a secret SEAL's Ninja rifle...

You don't really need a gunsmith to check out a surplus rifle, you just do it yourself. Any gun bought surplus should be disassembled, inspected for obvious cracks, defects, barrel obstructions, improper bolt lockup, etc. Headspace can be checked with guages or by sandbagging the action and firing it.

I have never shot a surplus gun I didn't give a "once over" to, and I would have caught a barrel in such condition.

My Dad was given a SMLE #5 "Jungle Carbine" that was a "VET bring-back" (don't know what war). My dad opened the action and tried to inspect the barrel but it was obstructed. From measurements at both ends he figured it was a .303 bullet lodged in the barrel. He used a wooden dowel to drive it out. Here is the interesting part; the bullet appeared to be clean & unfired at it's base and the bullet was lodged just far enough in the bore that a .303Brit Mk.VII standard military cartridge would chamber and allow the bolt to close almost touching the obstruction. We suspect that at one time this rifle had been rigged as a booby-trap and "salted" on a battlefied intended for some enemy soldier to pick-up. It may have simply been a squib round but the clean bullet and clean bore make us suspect otherwise. Oh, the stories these mil-surp guns could tell !

THis is why I want one of those Yugo SKS rifles that is new in grease for $150