THIS is why we preach to the guys who Sporterize

[BlackBart]

I believe its only rare to the people that collect Mosins, Most likely that rifle was sporterized in the 60s or 70s because it was bought for 19.99 to 35.00. When I was a kid my grandfather would take me to Old Town Alexandria to Hunters Haven and that store had Barrels everywhere full of surplus rifles for sale for almost nothing. You could walk down the waterfront and peek in Interarms warehouses at the import guns and ammo were stacked 20' tall.They were everywhere for sale Roses, Kmart, local hardware stores, NRA, And gun shows.
Its not like its Audie Murphy's M1 Garand, To most of the world its just a old Mosin.

I think they were the same as or shared the building with Interams in the late 70's early 80's. I was a kid in a candy store! Took my entire lunch hour to get there and back and be a bit late BUT it was worth the ass chewings.

 

[BLACKTALON]

question what is the rarest type of mosin?

 

[303_enfield]

Read here:
http://7.62x54r.net/

As to that Mosy, looks like a recent import number added.

 

[coopermania]

They were the same, it was just as much fun for me as a kid to look in the warehouse and see endless cool stuff. We got to tour a old submarine one day we went. My grandfather was my best friend a kid. He took me everywhere with him.

 

[BlackBart]

They were the same, it was just as much fun for me as a kid to look in the warehouse and see endless cool stuff. We got to tour a old submarine one day we went. My grandfather was my best friend a kid. He took me everywhere with him.

Not sure but I THINK a flood put them out of business.... I forget.

 

[coopermania]

I don't recall why the store closed, But I believe Interarms sales slowed greatly with them loosing Walther
With Sam Cummings getting up in age and the one daughter killing her boyfriend. ?????
I will call my dad tomorrow and see if he remembers. The last I heard both daughters were living in Va. Somewhere around Warrington I believe.

 

[h2u]

It is a shame to see such a rare piece sporterized like that.

All of those things can be fixed somewhat. It wont be 100% restored but it would be an improvement to someone who wants to do the old gal justice.

Find a donor Rifle that you can use the stock and front sight (If these Rifles used a standard Mosin Front Sight). Even with the barrel shortened the sight can be installed.

The gun can be reblued.

The bolt can be straigntened.

The donor front end wood can be shortened a few inches to accomidate the shorter barrel. Just splice it like some mosin repairs were done at armories and refinish with a period correct finish.

The cleaning Rod would probably have to be shortened to fit but that can easily be done.

You could do those things, but the value would never approach what an unmolested example is worth. I'd bet you'd have much more in gun smithing costs than you could sell it for. But you'd be the one I'd bring it to, bud

I believe its only rare to the people that collect Mosins, Most likely that rifle was sporterized in the 60s or 70s because it was bought for 19.99 to 35.00. When I was a kid my grandfather would take me to Old Town Alexandria to Hunters Haven and that store had Barrels everywhere full of surplus rifles for sale for almost nothing. You could walk down the waterfront and peek in Interarms warehouses at the import guns and ammo were stacked 20' tall.They were everywhere for sale Roses, Kmart, local hardware stores, NRA, And gun shows.
Its not like its Audie Murphy's M1 Garand, To most of the world its just a old Mosin.

I agree-I actually think it may be closer to the 50's when this was done.
Your statement drives home my point on sporterizing. This came over with all of the regular Mosins. It looks EXACTLY like a regular Mosin (Dragoon). All I ask is if you don't collect this platform (or any other milsurp)-ask questions before sporterizing.

Here's a scenario-
You want to find a cheap gun to sporterize as a project. The no-brainier choice at the moment is the Mosin 91/30. Tons of 'em around and they're CHEAP!! So you plunk down $100, randomly grab one out of the crate and head home.
You take some pics and make a post on how you plan to sporterize a Mosin and this thread would be where you update the progress on the project. You upload the pics for the, "before" shot. Now, what if several people you consider knowledgeable on Mosins say you have a rare variation and it's worth 15-20 times what you paid for it?
Would you continue with your project on this particular rifle? No. You're not an idiot. You sell it to someone for market and go back and randomly grab another one at the next show and pocket the difference-regardless of the year you purchased in. You might even study up a bit so you can spot more of the rare ones

Rare is rare. No matter in what year we're talking about the purchase.
If we're talking the 60's or 70's (such as you mentioned) and normal Mosins sell for $20 each, the rifle would be worth about $300-$400 to a collector of the day.
Today that rifle is even more rare, as their are less surviving examples (see above sporter ). That rifle is worth an easy $1500-$2000.

I have many posts here saying to guys that want to sporterize - "it's yours, do with it as you please". But wouldn't you want someone to point it out if you were about to destroy a rare rifle-even if it's just a Mosin? Not necessarily because you want to preserve a Mosin, but because you can sell it for a large profit

Again, this applies to all milsurps. 40-50 years ago, Garands and Mausers were a dime a dozen. It was the knowledgeable people that learned the rare codes/years/arsenals and picked up as many of those as they could for the same price as the common ones. Back then it was MUCH harder to get this knowledge because information wasn't instantly at their fingertips via smartphones and the internet. They also didn't have gun forums where a bunch of clowns hung out all day and night, willing to lend advise (good and bad)

I'll say it again...when it comes to collecting, knowledge is power and rare is rare-no matter what year we're discussing.

I now relinquish the soapbox...until I need it again.

 

[amoebicmagician]

I once knew a guy that tried to slow rust blue his in the white hex mosin.

It worked great on all the smaller pieces...

But a combination of not sealing the barrel from the rusting compound, not having a vessel to boil the barreled receiver in, and forgetting about the gun after leaving it to develop a coat of rust to convert with the boil...

it's a shame

I do like the look of a good rust blue, though

 

[Machodoc]

I think they were the same as or shared the building with Interams in the late 70's early 80's. I was a kid in a candy store! Took my entire lunch hour to get there and back and be a bit late BUT it was worth the ass chewings.

I think that they were Interarms.

 

[psoyring]

Meh, it's not like it's a Springfield, Krag, Mauser or Garand.

You are right, if all were in good shape that Mosin would bring 2-3 times the money of those rifles you listed.

 

[Sirex]

Wouldn't be too bad if Bubba had put it in an Archangel stock

 

[psusra112]

Poor, poor rifle. Almost as bad as polishing the petina off of a hundred year old revolver...

 

[Ranchero50]

I saw a really nice 1915 7mm mauser with really nice tiger stripes on the sporterized stock last week in a local pawn shop.

 

[Rockchucker]

question what is the rarest type of mosin?

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinRarity.htm

I have a 6 , 7 and 8 on the rarity scale...all are Finn M/39's

 

[DennisCA]

What richard-head - some people....

I bought this M1903a3 back in the summer:

It's reeally to bad someone sporterized this, the wood is beautiful!
Fortunately it can be fixed - trying to find a stock with the same type of color
(tough to do i know)

 

[Machodoc]

Interarms in the 1950s ... wish you could go back in time?

 

[psoyring]

All of the Mosins from the Spanish Civil War went through there too.

 

[Rem700fan]

Interarms in the 1950s ... wish you could go back in time?

Are you sure that is not a pic of Yellowsled's basement?

 

[Drmsparks]

I've developed a fondness for sporters BUT....I only buy rifles that have already been sporterized.

My one hesitation is I have a 1903 mark 1 receiver only that I am debating making into a 1941 sniper clone. Since it's only a receiver I'm not too worried about it, but I may be wrong....

 

[Machodoc]

Are you sure that is not a pic of Yellowsled's basement?

Yeah ... they are Enfields ... not Mosins.