Repairs on a Polish Mosin-Nagant M44, pictures and story

[louthepou]

Hi everyone,

Recently, I decided to work on a Mosin-Nagant M44 I have had for about two years. A cracked and missing piece of the stock was bugging me ever since it got here.

So, I guess mostly to practice for future projects, I decided to go at it. I fixed other types of damage before but this one had its own challenges, so there I went.

I first cut out the damaged area just enough to get flat surfaces.


Then, I cut a piece of wood just slightly larger than the area I needed to fix. Now, it would have been fun to find the exact same type of wood as what the Polish Mosin is made of, but all I had here at the moment was some Picea mariana, aka black spruce, aka 2 by 4 lumber... Sorry for this historically inaccurate portion of my repair. One could argue that in time of conflict, someone would have used whatever was around, as long as it worked...


Sanding and filing adjusted the piece of wood so it fit snug in the cut-out part.


I used dowels to make the repair sturdier. Here they are before they go in, showing I drilled the holes at different angles. I would have liked to have angles at the front and back tips of my piece of wood, but I remembered that technique after I did the cutting, so I decided to angle the dowels to have a similar reinforcing effect.


I glued everything in place, using West Epoxy glue.


A day later:


Then I started sanding. The top and outside portion were easy; different sizes of dowels wraped in sanding paper allowed me to get matching curves for the spot where the bayonet rests. The inside portion needed special treatment (carving and making sure I chipped the right spots), so I drew guiding lines, matching the other side still intact.


Here is the result of the carving


Here is the result during the staining and oiling:


And here's the final result. The metal was almost all bare (much of the blueing gone), very likely (from the looks of it) because a previous owner removed it with steel wool and lots of rubbing. I reblued the metal that was bare.


I am not happy with the difference in colour; I would have liked to do a better job at matching. I may decide to redo the finishing portion of this job...

Comments welcomed, as always!

Lou

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[chucksniper]

So what's the wife think about working on the washer and dryer?

Our dryer top is all dented from me.

[louthepou]

Glad to see I'm not the only laudry room refugee...

She can't wait for me to finish insulating the garage so I can be in the shop even during the winter!

Lou

[Stevo]

Excellent job, Lou. I think the mismatched finish adds character. Imperfections in milsurp rifles are what makes them special.

I'm fortunate enough to have a heated detached garage so my wife doesn't have to worry about grease on the washer and dryer.

[tower06]

Nice job on the stock. My dad had one of these rifles issued when he was in the Polish Air Force during the late 50's early 60's. Not the greatest metal from what he said. No matter how much they cleaned the barrels after the range, they would always rust.

[jmoore]

Just how do you cut the stock and get everything square cornered and even?

[JBS]

Excellent stock repair. Looks authentic.

Friendly hint,
For small repairs of the side of the stock along the barrel or for the repair of missing slivers of wood don’t forget about all that matching wood hidden under the butt plate. A extra deep plug cutter can often extract enough wood from the butt stock for a repair. Then any color wood can be used to repair the harvest sight hidden under the butt plate.

[gunner]

Hi Lou,

as so often seen from you and always appreciated to see, you made a really good job !!! Congrats.

JBS,

good tip, i never thought of it.

Regards

Gunner

[vicvega]

looks good like an arsenal repair to me