Well Sanity Clause in the brown shorts driving the brown truck brought me a present today.
Upon examination it is a very good to excellent WW2 as issued Finnish Mdl 39 Moisin Nagant. It is not in mint unissued condition. All numbers match (stock, receiver, barrel and electro pencil on the bolt) The rifle exhibits an unreworked Finnish arsenal applied bluing which retains roughly 90% finish. There is what appears to be the number "73" stamped on top on the barrel near the muzzle? Perhaps that denotes the year of arsenal reconditioning? Also the magazine plate shows no SN and is apparently a replacement as the bluing is stronger on that piece. The stock shows no in the field service dings or dents. The stock is the original WW2 "rounded finger" configuration. The arsenal cartouch in the stock is faintly visible so the stock has been sanded and there is a light application of varnish on the stock which brings out the tiger striping. The SN on the stock is strongly visible which looks like it was applied upon some reconditioning of the rifle by the arsenal? The bore is bright and shiny but is worn at the throat while the remainder is sharp (this is the big disappointment for me).
The real plus to this M39 is that there are NO VISIBLE importation marks. I will have to take the rifle out of the stock to check underneath the wood to see if there are any importation markings there along with the rifles original Russian markings? If there are no importation marks it denotes pre 1968 importation if there are marks it denotes prior to the mid to late 90's importation. Anyway you wana slice it, it adds biggly to the appeal of this rifle.
On this one I paid a premium for it, it was no bargain. I paid more for it than either of the 2 brand new unissued Enfield No4 Mk II's, one of which is still in the cosmoline mummny wrap from January 1955.
Now I need some ammo to throw some lead down field.
The M39's are the penultimate Moisin Nagant in that the Finn's after independence from Russia in 1918 were left with loads of Russian Moisin Nagants and little money to arm their military. So the Finn's embarked upon reconditioning the Nagants, making improvements along the way. They restocked, reblued the actions etc, re-barreled with Valmet, SAKO, Belgium, German or Swiss barrels and made first class sights. They essentially turned a sows ear into a silk purse of a military rifle.
This purchase is late in my career of collecting. I always had a notion that I would buy one of these to shoot at the range with cheap surplus ammo. Nothing fancy just some fun, but I discounted my whim thinking I had better fish to fry. So why waste my time. Then Seahawk showed and told about one so why the he11 not?
What I am after now is the Swiss K31, several years back my friend passed (his stuff was primo as he was in the Swiss club and was a well known target shooter in LA..he even trained guys who went to the Olympics) and I had the opportunity to buy one of his K31 target rifles at auction, that in the scheme of things went cheap.but I was able to get several other really good things instead.
What I missed there was his custom Steven Dowd Hughs 1877 Sharps that he spent 30K having built. Flawless. I came close but no cigar.. I had to settle for an Axtel.
