can anybody help with a 91/30 by

[cjcmosin]

i am going to buy my first mosin nagant rifle soon. i need a checklist of things to look for. i need to know what is normal damage and what is all out abuse. how to find out if "bubba" made his improvements on it. how do i tell if one is a finn. i hear the finns made the best ones. how dark is normal for a bore to be for that age. how can i tell if it is an ex sniper.anybody know any nagotiating tips. what tools and stuff are normal to come with it. the man said it came with stuff. he could not rember the exact items. how would i use said tools for the rifle. is a cleand up oil bottle safe to use for its intended pourpose. i heard the solvit was an alchaline solution. is that dangerous. if not where can i get it.

any help is accepted.

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[MeatMarket]

i am going to buy my first mosin nagant rifle soon. i need a checklist of things to look for. i need to know what is normal damage and what is all out abuse. how to find out if "bubba" made his improvements on it. how do i tell if one is a finn. i hear the finns made the best ones. how dark is normal for a bore to be for that age. how can i tell if it is an ex sniper.anybody know any nagotiating tips. what tools and stuff are normal to come with it. the man said it came with stuff. he could not rember the exact items. how would i use said tools for the rifle. is a cleand up oil bottle safe to use for its intended pourpose. i heard the solvit was an alchaline solution. is that dangerous. if not where can i get it.

any help is accepted.

I'll try and give you some info I know. The Finnish 91/30 will usually have a two-piece finger-jointed stock and the crossbolt will be centered on the end of the finger-groove (the Russian crossbolt is normally off center in the groove). The bore's on mine were both dark to begin with and are hard to get completely clean, but with extensive cleaning I could get mine to shine somewhat. As far as damage goes, my 91/30's have a few dents and scuffs from being knocked around in the past, but they don't look horrible. My Finn's finish is very dark but my Russian is bright and I think it was refinished at some point. Personally I prefer it be unmessed with because when it's refinished it erases it's history. Now my M44 carbine had large gouges scooped out of the wood from some heavy abuse, perhaps it saw extensive combat action, but I have no interest in refinishing it, it's got character. For an ex-sniper the serials will probably be unmatched because they would have removed the sniper bolt and scope (personally I have no interest in these, but you get what you like).

Accessories would normally include a two-cell ammo pouch, sling, cleaning kit with oiler and take-down tool. The tool doubles as a screwdriver and a firing pin gauge. The screwdriver part is self-explanitory. To use the gauge, remove the bolt (hold the trigger back whill pulling the bolt to the rear) and check the firing pin protrusion by placing the tool on it's edge (with the three notches) over the end of the bolt. The 2 outside notches fit over the outside edges of the bolt so the middle notch fits over the firing pin. The firing pin should protrude out as far as the notch allows (adjust protrusion by turning the screw in the back of the bolt. The sling should be the dog-collar type to fit in the slots on the Russian models. For the Finnish model the slots were normally filled in and a type of sling swivel was fitted to it. For this the dog-collar sling won't work but the Finn's didn't have a uniform sling to use. I found a PPSH sling worked fine. If the swivels are missing, you can find them for sale if you look hard enough. I cleaned out my oil bottle because it just made a nasty mess leaking everywhere and I just keep it for keeping's sake and use commercial gun oil. I couldn't tell you about the safety of the alchaline solution. You can also buy a cleaning rod if it's missing and a spike bayonet.

For a basic M91/30, you can get them for as low as $79, ex-snipers, hex-recievers (earlier models) will cost a bit more. I probably over paid for my M44 at $225 but then again there are fewer of them. Made up sniper rifles are a few hundred dollars and original sniper rifles are very hard to find and require doing your homework to identify from a fake but will run up closer to $1000.

Now I'll let the real experts take over.