First Mosin, of course I had to mess with it!

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Recently bought a T53 Mosin from a member here for short money. I wanted one with the intent of refinishing the stock and giving me something to do in my downtime. So after contemplating whether or not I wanted to realllllly do it, I did.

When I bought it, the wood was in decently rough shape. There was some epoxy used to seal gouges, typical dings and dents amd flaky laquer.

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These pictures dont do it justice but I'm sure the seller could attest to its beatness. I definitely liked the wear amd intended on keeping those scars on it. I chipped out that epoxy and let her be.....naked.


I then proceeded to strip the finish off. I used denatured alcohol, a nylon brush and rags. Game 5 was on so it was about a 3 hour job. Couldve done it in 2 but people were over and I was busy doing 12oz curls in between stripping sets. I let her dry for 24 hours after washing her down with boiling water. The next day I took to sanding.. something to the tune of 120, 240 all the way up to 1000. I cleaned with a tack rag inbetween sanding and then did a wipe down with denatured booze.

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The stock was matte and natural. These pictures dont really help show that... stock wissmooth smooth smooth but those character marks still show. Perfect.

Next I pre conditioned the wood with MiniMax pre and let it dry for 15 minutes. I wiped it down and rid it of all the extra; then stained it. Walnut if I remember correctly. Same drill, let dry for 15 minutes and then wiped down. She dried for 10 or so hours and I hit it again with the stain. Same drill. Let it sit overnight...
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again, pictures do no justice to the color.

I grabbed my trusty Tru-Oil and a white t shirt. Worked the oil into the stock, making sure to not leave any spots bare or with excess oil. Let it dry for 2 hours and then took 0000 steel wool and worked it over the wood in a similar fashion staying with the grain as always. Oil, dry, wool, repeat... On coat #5 now. Shooting for 15 or so...

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Stay tuned and let me know any helpful advice for future like projects!
 
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Looks nice......but now when you add your own battle scares your going to cry a little.....at least with tru oil you can touch up if needed.
 
Thank yall. Cant wait to put a few rounds through her soon! This was definitely an easy project and kept me entertained for a few days. Definitely suggest it to anyone who has a surp theyre looking to shine up!
 
That came out really nice. I'll give you $126 for it.[grin]

Have you gotten it to the range yet?


Hahaha!! Howd I miss that??

Im taking it to the range Sunday. Do some gong shots.

Ill trade you another Mosin for it. Then when I finish that one, ill trade for another. And so on. Haha no I really love this gal. Cant wait to shoot 'er Sunday til my shoulders black n blue.
 
very cool, just because it got some character it's nice to get it shined up a bit. Did you check the bore, slugged it yet?

Bore looks good, not too worn from my viewpoint.

Put about 50 down range on Saturday. She shot well, me not so much.
Have no slugged yet. i dont have a bore slugging kit unfortunately.... any suggestions?
 
you can ram a soft slug, like a lead sinker close in dimensions through the barrel, check dimensions. Mosin barrels can vary a lot. It may give you some indications if barrel is close to the factory ammo.
 
you can ram a soft slug, like a lead sinker close in dimensions through the barrel, check dimensions. Mosin barrels can vary a lot. It may give you some indications if barrel is close to the factory ammo.

Just remember they dont sell lead sinkers anymore. The country went green[rolleyes]. You can buy lead air gun pellets and melt them down and then pour the molten lead into a small container like a spent 7.62x54R case cut in half with the primer punched out. When you pour the lead in make sure the case is sitting on something that will not let the lead leak out of the bottom. Once cooled use a punch and shove the lead out of the case. Go to Home depot and buy some hardwood dowels smaller than the bore. Cut them in 5" lengths.Place the lead in the muzzle end of the bore and use the dowel to hammer it down the bore. Repeat with the pieces of the dowel you cut until the lead falls out of the breach. Then measure the lead with a set of calipers. Thats is your bore diameter.

UPDATE, I wrote all this for nothing, the link was posted while i was writing....oh well you get the point.
 
Also check local shops for black powder lead balls. My 1937 hex slugs out at .313. As Fred mentioned you Cal also cast some slugs from spent cases.....32 Cal 38 Cal 9 mm ectect
 
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