Posted: 12/5/2009 11:26:07 AM EDT
You may remember that my buddy Ponyboy sent me three Mosins to play with. Here they were:
They were as rough as cobs. This week I refinished the last one, and it was the roughest of the three. It looked like someone had used it as a boat anchor. I painted this one in Flat Black High Temp Engine paint. It turned out pretty nice. 
Took a lot of work, but it looks as good as new now. 
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Quoted: Quoted: What did (does)the bore look like? Like a dried up muddy road after logging trucks have been driving down it.  I can "make 'em pretty", but I can't put rifling back in the barrel.  See, that's why I haven't bought one. I hate putting time and money into junk. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
What did (does)the bore look like? Like a dried up muddy road after logging trucks have been driving down it.
I can "make 'em pretty", but I can't put rifling back in the barrel.
See, that's why I haven't bought one. I hate putting time and money into junk. They are not all "junk". Many have very nice bores and make good shooters. My Polish M44 has a like new bore. My T53 however had the bore totally filled with rust. A little work with a bronze brush and many, many patches, lots of solvent and oil, and its not bad at all. It shoots minute of tannerite bottle @ fifty yards. |
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Quoted:
That looks really nice. I've got an old Enfield that I stripped years ago, with the intent of refinishing. Would that paint be an option for me, as well? Absolutely! In fact, when the British sent them through the arsenal for refinishing, they usually painted them, as they believed (correctly) that a paint finish would hold up better then a blued finish in the tropics. The Brits called such a refinishing an FTR, for Factory Through Repair.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
What did (does)the bore look like? Like a dried up muddy road after logging trucks have been driving down it.
I can "make 'em pretty", but I can't put rifling back in the barrel.
See, that's why I haven't bought one. I hate putting time and money into junk. Well, the trick is to pick one with a good bore. I have several that have very nice bores. That should be the main consideration for buying a Mosin, as you can fix nearly anything wrong with the exterior, but you can't put rifling back in a bad bore.
Edited to add: But even with less-than-perfect bores, these rifles will still shoot minute-of-hog. 
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