restoring my mosin nagant

[businessman]

how will refinishing the stock of my mosin nagant affect its collector value? its pretty beat up and in need of sanding and refinishing.

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[Patrick Chadwick]

how will refinishing the stock of my mosin nagant affect its collector value? its pretty beat up and in need of sanding and refinishing.

Be very careful!
Refinishing will always affect value, depending on what you do.
Sanding is quite definitely a no-no from the collector's viewpoint. It totally removes the original finish (if any is still remaining), removes or partially erases any original markings, and leaves a piece of wood of the correct shape but looking crassly new.
And it is not necessary, except in cases where the stock wood can be considered to be already ruined.

Oiled stocks can almost always be refurbished, rather than refinished.
By that I mean cleaning ALL surfaces inside and out, not just the exterior, removing accumulated dirt and corrosion. Maybe a touch of shading of specific areas, rather than staining, to moderate the effects of oil and sweat stains. Then slowly re-oiling the wood - again inside and out - to get it back into a healthy state. But not stripping and refinishing.

In other words, refurbishing is doing what a conscientious user would have done to care for his rifle. Making up for decades of neglect.

If you read through the thread on restoring an Argentine Rolling Block you will get a very good idea of what I mean and how to go about it.

However, a specific problem with Mosin Nagants is encountered if the stock has a shellac-based finish. A pure shellac finish, as used on antique furniture, is a sensitive surface that is much more difficult to repair or restore than oiled wood. Scratches can be smoothed out and grime can be removed by carefully wiping over with a lint-free cloth dampened (not soaked) in alcohol (methylated spirits, denaturated spirits). That is tricky enough, and the finish on a Mosin Nagant was, it seems, not even a pure shellac finish, but some kind of amalgam of shellac and wax.

If the wood shows not just cosmetic dings that do not affect the functional capability of the rifle, but real functional damage, then I recommend that you look at the contributions of Claven2 on this and other forums, to see how even the most disastrous-looking piece of potential firewood can be brought back to a usable condition.

I recommend that you post some pictures of the rifle, especially of the "disaster areas".

[gew8805]

What Mosin do you have? I do have to agree with Patrick, sanding is an absolute "no-no" and refinishing is as well, especially if it is one of the more scarce collectible Mosins. Cleaning is really all that is acceptable to a collector and many shooters as well. Example: if you have an 1897 dated M1891, you would kill any value that it had at all, the same for a Finnish M27, some of which are in rough condition but still highly desirable to collectors. Either of the above mentioned and many more variants of the Mosin-Nagant are the same. Now, a commonly available at low dollar from sellers who have a table full of them version, the M91/30 is an example, can have a little more leeway in what you do to them but you will drag the value down if you sand and/or refinish. Maybe you need to trade it in on a better example that suits your taste more?

[blackcat_attilio]

Hi! I agree with Patrick's words! Follow what he wrote and you'll haven't "unpleasant surprises"
What else? ...Oh, be patient and careful !


PS
Any pics....?

[onlycrimson]

Meh, depends what condition it is in or collector value it has otherwise. If it were just a $70 shooter than I would strip the old finish, steam it, and then re-oil it. It should look pretty good when you're done.