Monty McKillsomeshit 91/30

So, I just refinished a Mosin. I named it Monty McKillsomeshit.

Better live up to its name.

The cliche'd narrators at the beginning of most awesome stories suggest that it is indeed best to start at the beginning. Sometimes, a whackidy-doo filmmaker goes back too far and the narrator has to say, "Too far!"

Well, lets start at the money.

I sold a barely-used Stevens 300 in .308 for $260 with mounts.

For all of you bench shooters out there, avoid the Stevens 300.
For all of you gamegetters out there, the Stevens 300 is a bad...ASS choice.
It's light, accurate as a Savage, light, cheap, and light.

I carried mine a couple of seasons ago on a paracord strap. No biggie.

I took a fat, lazy doe with a neck shot from ~110 meters.

I took that $260 and bought a used Mosin Nagant 91/30, round receiver, Izhyevsk Arsenal, 1942.
It didn't look too bad, but it bore Ukrainian refinish stamps. Most of the pieces which would've witnessed the abuses of the Second World War had been replaced in Ukraine.

But the author's intention still remains. The indentured hammer of the hammer and sickle forged this rifle with the intention of defending the homeland from the fascist invaders.  The wood was harvested somewhere in the Soviet Union, perhaps from a place I have been myself, and forged from steel mined from the Soviet Union using coal and oil from that nation itself.

One thought existed in the mind of the soldier to whom this rifle was at one time issued:
Kill. And don't die.

Is this something which belongs in a museum?

Every museum with any kind of money already has a copy. At least one.


Is this something which should be preserved for the future?

I've got two other Mosin Nagants I intend to pass down to my as-yet unborn children in unmodified condition.

What makes this one special?
It was made to kill.
It was made to shoot.
There is more story in this rifle than will ever be known.

Then why refinish it?

Because I want to, and I'm free to do so.  And that's all the excuse I need.


Before:

Cost:
Rifle: $100
ATI Scope Mount and Handle mod kit: $44.00
Sandpaper and other consumed media: Negligible.
Boiled Linseed Oil: $7.00
Time: Unsure. Many hours. Many.

Scope:
Nikon Prostaff 3-9x42
Millet Medium Rings


I stripped the rifle down and set the stock and handguard out in the back yard.
I sprayed them down with oven cleaner to strip off all of the gunga and Soviet shellac.

After the oven cleaner (3 coats' worth) had done its thing, I took it inside and gave it a hot bath to neutralize all of the caustic nastiness in the Easy-Off.


Then I wrapped a wet cotton towel around the stock and applied a really fucking hot clothes iron. Surprisingly, this steaming action lifted most of the dents and scrapes out of the stock. I doubted that this would actually work, so I took no before-and-after photos. Trust me, it works.

 I let it set for 38 hours (almost as long as Jesus) in the garage.


Then I sanded the bejesus out of it.


Twice'd.


I sanded and I sanded and I sanded some fucking more. For DAYS.

I thought I had gotten down the original color of the wood, but then I sanded some more and it changed.

I wasn't able to get all of the old nastiniess, gunga, boiled-in oil and what I like to imagine as fascist blood out of the stock, especially where around the inletting and sling mounts. So it goes. I did what I could.

Here is the base stock, sanded down, compared to a 1932 Isyevsk 91/30. Same treatment as Monty originally had. 

Then I hit it with 5 coats of Boiled Linseed Oil. 

I like to use products with the warning "MAY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST" on the label.  Makes me feel tough.

Apply a thin layer with a clean cotton cloth, wait a few minutes, remove excess, then hand rub until hot as shit from friction.

Let sit 24 hours, and repeat.

In the meantime, locate a drill press, and follow the directions included with your ATI scope mount and bolt handle mod kit. Completely ignore the bullshit it says about the bolt handle. Just grind that bitch flat, drill and tap as directed, then JB weld that shit together. ATI took the cheap way out and instead of providing you with one centrally-located screw, it gives you a side screw (always with the side screw) and relies on the inconsistent forging methods of the former Soviet Union to do the rest.

Their bolt handle design will never work. Don't expect it to. Either hire a tig welder, send your handle off to be forged, braze on a piece of rod, or be happy with JB Weld.

I'm happy with JB Weld. 

Haters gonna hate.

By this time, you should have everything awesomed together and oiled up. Results as follows:

Niiice.

One for my writer homies:

And that's the full Monty, folks.