Redo finish on mosin nagant.

[sirsloop]

Another mod I recommend doing is a trigger spring and washer mod. Notice the small washer under the main trigger spring. That basically reduces the trigger tension, and moves where the trigger will break in the pull of the trigger. The thickness of that washer is extremely important as too fat and you can cause the gun to fire without touching the trigger. I test fit it a number of times and had to hammer down the washer on an anvil to take a couple thousands off the thickness. A lot of trial and error... and be sure to bang the gun around a little bit to simulate you dropping it, etc. If it fires, its NO GOOD, and the washer must be thinned. Obviously I'm not doing that loaded... I just clear the barrel, put the bolt in, put it in battery, and bang the gun around in my hand a little to try to get the thing to break.

So that mod creates another problem where the trigger will flap around all loosey goosey. To fix that, there are return spring kits sold on the net that put a small amount of forward tension on the trigger. You can see that spring coiled around the shaft that holds the trigger on. Its kinda like a mouse trap spring and gives the trigger a REALLY nice feel to it. You get a little tension from that spring as you squeeze, then when you hit the main spring the tension increases and the gun breaks with minimal creep. Its basically a 2 stage trigger and is a vast improvement over the stock creepy high tension trigger.

 

[sirsloop]

Then while you are at it you can bed the action, and sand down the inside of the stock to float the barrel.... a little car wax and JB Weld to bed the action!

Hit up the lettering with white crayon, and you have a looker!!

If you want to improve the ol irons, I recommend these MOJO aperture sights. Really nice bolt on for your MN.

 

[sirsloop]

btw, I had to ebony stain that stock with like 10 coats to get it that dark. I would put on a coat and let it sit for 15 minutes, wipe off the excess, let dry for 12 hours. I'd come back at lunch 12 hours later and rub it down with 0000 steel wool, lightly clean it with mineral spirits, let dry for 5 minutes, then restain. I was done when I achieved the level of stain I wanted after rubbing it down with 0000 and wiping down with mineral spirits. You're putting stain on, and taking some off... but if you use 0000 steel wool you're just taking the stuff off that hasn't penetrated the wood.

 

[Nick9130White]

Sirsloop, how do I make a floating barrel, and what does it do?

 

[sirsloop]

The idea is that if parts of the stock are touching the barrel, it can put pressure on the barrel that will cause accuracy to drop when the barrel is heated up. There are tons of youtube and internet articles that describe how to do it... you basically sand out the inside of the stock so the barrel is not touching the wood. This usually goes hand in hand with bedding the receiver, so the receiver is completely locked to the stock, but the barrel is not touching anything.

http://www.freesteader.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14

 

[the rifleer]

So after all these mods, how does your rifle shoot? was it worth bedding/floating it?

 

[sirsloop]

The MOJO sights were the biggest improvement as far as accuracy. The stock sights are real piles of garbage. The trigger certainly made it a nicer rifle to shoot. I really have no quantifiable observation about bedding/floating but it was all apart and was a simple mod. I have little problem putting rounds on a 16x9" steel target at 200 yards, prone, sitting, kneeling, standing, off a bench.

If you want a real nice surplus bolt shooter, check out 1903A3 rifles. The peep sights on those are awesome. I hear K31's are real nice too, never shot one. As far as modding out a cheap MN, I probably wouldn't go any farther what what I did. I guess you could put a bent bolt on one, mount a scope, and attain higher levels of precision. Too much money to throw into a cheap gun...

 

[the rifleer]

You'd love a k31. I have one and it is a dream to shoot. Its super accurate and the action is very smooth. I've shot an 03', but it was sportierized. I'd like an original one.

I may look into a mojo sight, mine is a 1946 m44 with a near-perfect barrel. It shoots very well. I want to keep mine fairly original, so I'm looking for an extra m44 stock that I can refinish/bed/free float. My problem is that I can't justify spending money on a rifle that I paid $75 for.

 

[sirsloop]

hey, a rifle is a rifle... and you gotta think too its only like 20-25c per shot outta a MN.

 

[chasep255]

I redid mine. Its worth $90 so why not. One piece of advise I can offer you is that due to the old oil based finish on these rifles the stain won't take to the wood. Being this way I had to use a polyurethane which already had the stain in it.

 

[emcon5]

I can't remember where I saw it, probably in Surplus Rifle forum, but there was a thread from a guy who contacted Tula and according to their records, Mosin Nagants were built with both Shellac and oiled finishes.

I will look for it, but if I recall correctly, his conclusion was that they all got shellac when they got reworked at the Soviet arsenals over the years.

I stumbled across it while looking for something else.

http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=118&t=62855

I forgot it had turned into a urinating match.....

Here is what the guy from Tula said:

Thank You for Your interest to the guns produced earlier in Russia.
There were two types of finish during the rifle M 1891 production:
1. processing by boiled linseed oil with coloration (toning) and outside surface final smoothing.
2. impregnation in bath on basis of pine tar by liquid-bath method, polishing and shellac varnish covering.
Two methods were used as for the rifles M 1891, so for the other riffle models including civil guns.

 

[Don P]

A can of non-chlorine brakleen took the shellac off with surprising ease. The stuff flowed off like a river! HA! The "blond" photo was taken immediately after taking off the shellac... basic spray and wipe down with a rag

I doubt this. I tried this method on my MN and I had to work at it for 2 hours and I did not wind up with a blond stock in the end.