Ugly M91/30 - What's Russian for "Bubba?"

[WarPig1976]

I like to experiment for sure.

And build wicked custom 1911's too,,,,By hand.

[MosinVirus]

And build wicked custom 1911's too,,,,By hand.

Thank you. Last two came out excellent shooters.

[cipherk98]

Really wish I had checked back and seen the great posts by MosinVirus on this. I wound up starting it Friday night, using denatured alcohol to get the shellac off. It revealed why the color was weird on the front part - the handguard does not match the stock at all and is clearly from a different piece of wood, and someone was trying to cover this up by using a really dark shellac on the front part of the gun. Fortunately it really didn't stain the wood and grain really did not raise up either. From there I wound up using a heat gun to sweat out cosmo, and started with two coats of amber shellac an hour apart. I went with the shellac as it is a post war stock and was really nervous about oiling or staining it first, not knowing about using a paste or sawdust to draw all the oil out. The stock does look good so far, and at this point at another layer or two to finish it won't hurt, but if I don't like the end result I figure I can strip that and go back to finishing it using the method MosinVirus posted.

[Sentryduty]

I wouldn't fret much about the colour mismatches, these are "been there, done that" rifles and they were bound to see knocks and breakages during their history. My own Mn 91/30 has a different upper hand-guard, and it looks just fine.

I have refinished all of my Russian rifles, and a few for friends, they clean up very well and the Arctic birch stock is a nice bit of wood when redone. Since there are millions of these guns in circulation I think there is no real problem with properly improving the finish on a forced match arsenal rebuilt gun.

This is my 1942 produced gun, and it's a complete parts bin rifle, every single part is forced matched, but it shoots very well, and the refinish work was easy and enjoyable.

[cipherk98]

Here is the end result. Ultimately it could have been more even, especially on the buttstock. May or may not be able to touch that up with a rag or light brush. Honestly I'll probably do it over again a little better at some point. It was certainly a learning experience, even with something as basic as shellac as I've never done any wood work or refinishing before.

The rifle will have to come back apart anyway, as the receiver was far too generously inletted so I put some temporary paper shims in to test fit it. I may ultimately see if cork works or try doing something with fiberglass to get it fit better. My guess is they cut these stocks super generously so everything would fit. The front handguard metal was in the white when the paint came off so that is how I left them for now. Some shellac seeped under my masking tape on them and on the sling holes, I plan to clean it up eventually.

It does shoot nice though. With some Russian surplus I was getting about 2.5" out of it at 100 yards with the bayonet on it which is a lot better than minute of a pizza pan I got when I shot it after cleaning it up and putting it back together. Headspace was checked prior to shooting the first time, it came out fine and the bolt is getting better the more I work it. I think the fit at the end of the stock near the front sight/end of the muzzle is not quite right either, the end cap is really sloppy and contacts the barrel a little on one side but not the other. In addition the metal crimp on the front handguard was REALLY sloppy and not level with the wood of the handguard, making it fit weird so those were adjusted with gentle filing.

While I really over paid (especially now that Cabelas has some for $170) it does shoot well, and is a worthy intro level project. Metal is left alone for now aside from paint clean up. The paint near the muzzle had nothing abnormal under it, making me think it really was accidental.

[MasterChief]