A quick object lesson on surplus firearms............

Way back around oh, 1982 or so, I bought one of the Finnish Mosin Nagants appearing on the market. Since I'd read a lot about how the Finns went to great lengths to improve these guns, I bought one for the hefty price of $39.95 plus shipping. The rifle appeared to be in at least "very good" condition, with its finger joint stock, SAKO and SkY markings. To this day I'm still not exactly sure which model it is, but it had a nifty color case hardened nose cap!

That rifle sat in my collection until around 1998 or so due to other events in my life, then I finally hauled it out to the range. I couldn't wait to see the legendary accuracy that I read about when I fired that first shot........which landed a good five feet to the left of the target frame. Nerves? Flinch? I chambered a second round and fired, only to have it land in the dirt close to the first one. I looked at the front sight and it had been drifted so far over that it was in danger of coming out of the dove tail. At that point it was "cease fire" so I took the gun home and tore it apart. What I found was the first example of forend pressure I'd seen in all my years of collecting. The last eight inches of that stock literally popped to the left when the barrel was removed, by about 3/16"! You could SEE the curve quite clearly. Even with the heavier Finn barrel, the pressure must have been tremendous.

Bear in mind, these rifles, like all the other rifles on the market, were not just "surplus".......they were war reserves stockpiled by the various nations, so I was a bit baffled by the quality. I built a steam chamber from steel pipe and steamed that piece of wood for close to three hours and still couldn't budge it. Talk about taking a set! I finally reassembled the gun and stuck it back with the others, very disappointed.

About a year later, a friend bought a Russian Mosin and decided to put one of the composite stocks on it. He offered me the old stock and I accepted. I found that the Finnish rifle fit with only a minimum of woodwork, so I then took it out to the range. What a difference! After tapping the front sight over, that rifle was placing shots in an almost cloverleaf pattern at 100 yards. Pretty good for an old war horse.

Lesson learned......forend pressure is very real and can have vast effects on accuracy.

Some times they just need some love.

I was told years ago some of the finned mosins were from war reserves, but others were assembled specifically for resale in north America as late as the seventys. I have seen many, from the worst to fine examples. Maybe you got a bad one, a slap together or one stored in less than ideal conditions. I am glad you got it shooting straight, they are fine rifles and have history and are collectable. The m39 has gone up in price quite a bit.
Stock/barrel pressure is real! Some are inherent to the design and should be checked. Wood warps and twists, fact of life. I was always impressed with mausers that shoot great, remove a band and upper wood and re torque the action screws and is a ragged hole rifle. It goes both ways.
Be well

I just got into the military guns. My 1st one is a mosin 91/30 from 1943. I like it alot. Tack driver with tula ammo. Im finally nailing down reloads for it. It does not like cast. It does well with berry's plated boolits.
I redid the wood on it.
Attachment 234742

A few years back, I acquired a 91/30 from a consignment auction. On the rack, it looked pretty shabby: grungy bore; dried cosmoline in every crevice and cranny; just generally dirty like it had been standing in the corner of someone's attic for years and years. Closer inspection revealed the rifle to be a 1938 Tula with all matching numbers and the tell-tale boxed "SA" and "D" stamps on the receiver ring so I bought it, paying just a bit over the going rate for a Russian refurb...IIRC something like $90 when the Russkis were selling for $79.50.

First thing when I got it home was a complete disassembly and cleaning to get rid of the accumulated crud. Once that was done, I started on the bore; first, Sweet's 7.62, then the electronic 'Foul Out', and then a few patches soaked in Turtlewax Chrome Polish. When I finished, bore didn't look all that bad: rifling was strong with sharp lands and just a little pitting ahead of the chamber. Before reassembling, I stripped the remainder of the peeling varnish off the wood and applied a couple coats of tung oil to seal the wood.

At the range, with Bulgarian milsurp ammo, I quickly found, at 50 yards, it would barely print a group the size of the proverbial bull's posterior. Back to the workshop and slug the bore...not too bad: .302x.313. Pull down a couple of those milsurp rounds...bullets measure .3095 but there's nearly 4 grains difference in the powder charges. Break down another dozen rounds and reload with the Lee 312-185s (sized .314) over 17.5 gr. A2400. Back to the range and first three shots go into just over 1 1/2" at 50 yards and I decide, right then, the piece is a "keeper".

After that, all that was done to the gun, itself, was complete the stock refinish and clean up the bedding with some cork shims in the barrel channel before moving along to more serious load development. Haven't had it out for a while but, last time I did, I was pretty much matching my buddy with his Sako-barreled M28 Finn clanging the plates at 200M...and I was shooting cast against his PPU factory ammo!

Kinda shows that there's still a lot of bite left in some of those old war dogs.

Bill

If you still have original stock and it sounds like you are capable, cut Finn stock under one of the bands and epoxy and pin to straight.

I had a 27 Sako that shot poorly until I shortened the forend. Even then it needed more force to work the bolt and pull the trigger than I was willing to put up with when I'd been spoiled by Krag, Mauser, and Lee Enfield. I've shot a Westinghouse and two 91/30s and they smoother but not as accurate as that Sako. Just me, not a Mosin fan.

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My Westinghouse shoots better than my M38 or M44. It has been to Finland.

About '93 I bought a #4mk2 that was made in 1949, it was unissued. It shot everything really well including cast. I took it out one day about 6-8 months after I bought and it shot 12-14 inches to the left. After removing the fore stock I found that it had been sawn out up next to a knot and had warped. I guess that after cleaning out all the grease it had drawn moisture, it is humid around here in the summer.

I tried everything I could think of including routing it out and glassing in a rod. As a last resort I cut it off to a half stock, couldn't make it shoot well at all. After a lot of looking around I found an add for new no2 fore stocks in the Shotgun News, about $65 If I remember correctly. I received a really nice piece with perfect grain. A lot of scraping and fitting brought the old girl back.

I eventually had it D & T'ed for a scope and added a higher cheek piece. It's one of my favorites and was my deer rifle for a long time.

I'am working on a Yugo 48 that has a scope on it now, it throws the first cold shot about 2-3 inches out then shoots a fairly nice group. I have tried several things, the only thing I haven't tried is talking nice to it. Really don't want to cut it up as it has a nice dark piece of walnut on it.

Dave

For years the moisin nagant rifles and carbines compared to other mil surp rifles was treated as the red headed step child. I swapped a #4 MKII for a beautiful Finn model 27 after I read C.E. Harris article in one of the older gun digest's. That rifles has one of the smoothest barrels I've seen on a mil surp. Once every one found out how accurate both the Russian and other manufacturer's moisins were with the right ammo the prices started to rise. But the icing on the cake were the Finnish ones. Shims in the stock, closer bore dimensions and great triggers. Have a Russian M44 made in 1944 and of course my Finn model 27 made in 1935. Frank