Refinishing 91/30 stock

[Aragorn243]

The only way to keep it as close to the original finish as possible is to leave it alone, if you want to refinish it, sell it to somebody that doesn't. Why turn a unique rifle into something worthless and run of the mill just like the rest?

Because the finish put on them for long term storage is not the original finish. The original finish is the finish applied when the rifle was made, that according to all sources I've seen is OIL. The shellac is a post war add on, is not durable and generally looks like crap from simply being jostled around in the storage cases. A finish which comes off from breathing on it or bumping it with your fingernail is not a good finish.

[WarPig1976]

You can see in old photos that the "original" finish was not high gloss shellac. I agree with Aragorn it was oil of some sort.
A caveat to my post, If you want your rifle to look like it did when you picked it from the crate....Use shellac.

I also agree with TSS, I would have left the stock in question alone.

[Catch22]

I considered it leaving alone, but had several cracks that you can't see needed secured so they didn't get worse. It also had grime that just came out and off just by handling. If I had to guess as to the "finish" on it when I got it, I would say it was a cosmoline rub. The pics of the butt were the cleanest spots, which is why I posted them. Forward of there was awful.

This wasn't a perfect condition weapon I opted to strip down and rework, it was bit of a fixer-upper I tried to keep as original as possible.

[SVT-40]

I also don't believe that shellac was used pre-war and during ww2 that's a post war thing. My M-44 is dated 1945 and has an oily finish like linseed or tung oil it's pretty beat up with a lot of gouges and deep scratches, no sign whatsoever of having any shellac put on it. All the rest of my Russian gun's are all refurbs with shellac.

quick question,, what's the difference in linseed oil and Tung oil ?

[Catch22]

Have a look at this, SVT. I think it'll cover what you're after as far as differences.

BLO vs Tung Oil

[mil-surp60]

here is one that was properly redone , it is shellac, that stock would look great with amber shellac on it they did not start using red till ww2 era, When properly applied they look great. I sell them a lot on ebay like this. From a 1930 hex, the soviets have always used shellac. they have never used oil on their stocks , the fins did , but not the soviets , it was all they had during war and they stuck wit it to this day , they still shellac wood stocks on ak,rpk's,pkm's the soviets have always used shellac.I refinish wooden stocks for a living , all russian stocks were not captured by another country came shellaced with amber until ww2 then they switched to the red tinted.
When applied right shellac does not just scratch off, its how you prepare the wood. but after 75 or so yrs yes shellac may have peeled off or been removed , but they came from factories in russia in shellac.not oil. Production time would have took too long oil finishing nagant stocks they needed em in field right away when the nazi's invaded , all were done in shellac . Even before the war the soviets needed weapons , the only ones did not come shellaced were made in usa by westinghouse, finland , poland, Hungary . russia never used oil on wood rifle stocks and still doesnt.ak 74's with wooden stocks are shellaced when they leave russia to this day,only refurbed parts guns are not or synthetic stocked ones. you see a red ak74 its shellac.

[Catch22]

here is one that was properly redone , it is shellac, that stock would look great with amber shellac on it they did not start using red till ww2 era, When properly applied they look great. I sell them a lot on ebay like this. From a 1930 hex, the soviets have always used shellac. they have never used oil on their stocks , the fins did , but not the soviets , it was all they had during war and they stuck wit it to this day , they still shellac wood stocks on ak,rpk's,pkm's the soviets have always used shellac.I refinish wooden stocks for a living , all russian stocks were not captured by another country came shellaced with amber until ww2 then they switched to the red tinted.
When applied right shellac does not just scratch off, its how you prepare the wood. but after 75 or so yrs yes shellac may have peeled off or been removed , but they came from factories in russia in shellac.not oil.

From what research I've done before and after refinishing, it seems no one really knows what exact finishes they've used. The best I can find is that the shellac is the most predominant, but they also used a pine tar/pitch with shellac over it and linseed oil. About the closest "authority" I could find was where a worker at Tula responded back to someone inquiring stating both were used at different times.

I'm confident I have the right finish based on what was on it prior to my cleaning and refinishing it. There was no indication of shellac anywhere, even in the nooks and crannies. When I removed the metal and all, everything appeared to be an oil finish. Whether that was a refinish at some point (it wasn't a refurb, I do know that), I don't know. I'm confident what is on it now is what was on it prior to cleaning, though.

I have a feeling this is one of those questions that's probably lost to the ages as to exactly what was used, as anyone that actually built them have passed on by now. It's a shame.

[Aragorn243]

As per "The MOsin-Nagant Rifle" by Terence W. Lapin, page 238: "The original treatment of Mosin-Nagant stocks appears to have been a basic military-type oil finish."

He also goes on to say that many of the carbine stocks were given a heavy coating of clear varnish. Arsenal-refinished imports have a clear lacquer rather than varnish.

Given that every stock I've worked on has been soaked to the core in oil underneath the lacquer, the lacquer finish is obviously not original to these rifles. In that every rifle I have that has not gone through refurbishment has an oil finish. I think it's safe to assume that these rifles got that crap put on during refurbishment. If you want to leave it on, that's fine. I've left it on most of mine but I have taken it off of two as I plan to use them and don't want the crap coming off on my car seats, etc.

[Catch22]

If I get a refurb and decide to refinish, I'd likely put the shellac on it as that's what's "original" for the refurb. I've seen some nice looking ones done like that. Not sure how soon I'll have that kind of project, though. There's others on the list above another Mosin for now.

[WarPig1976]

Don't forget about the black paint they slopped on along with the shellac during refub/storage.
I'm in the camp that is convinced they were oiled. All one has to do is look at war photos, they ain't glinting in the sun and also can you imagine how hard it would be to hold onto a wet muddy shellacked stock?