Mosin M28

[berkmberk1]

Short intro - just bought a M28, SN matches barrel, bolt, stock...thats the good part. The not so good is the fact that all the metal (save the bolt) is finished/covered in some sort of black enamel type product. ALL the metal from rear of receiver to muzzle. In some places it has been scraped off, ground off, chipped off. Note: there are significant visible areas where someone has literally ground and scraped the metal. You can't miss it. What the heck is it? Is it even possible to get this stuff off if I were to choose to do so later? My other MNs - 3 39s and a 28/30 are the usual blued.

Now, the stock - good - in good shape, no cracks, splits etc. The bad - someone invested some heavy money in Du Pont.......this thing has so much shellac on it I doubt I could get a screw driver on the escutchion screws, and if I got them out, I wouldn't even need them.....its that thick.

The strange - The receiver itself does not appear to have any manufacturers code of any kind. There are the occasional single digits....small...here.....over there....but not where you usually find them. No symbols on the tang or under, no years, no arrows, stars, triangles....just a few nicks and dings in the metal............anyone heard of such a thing? My others range from 1908 to 1935.

Considering its good points, and bad bad points, I am considering doing something to it......possible metal refinishing, and trying to scale back the plastic overcoat someone put on it, and get back to the wood, which really looks fairly nice. I know this upsets the "purists", but this poor thing is like those women you see in bars........all dressed up.......stacked.......looking at you hot.........from 35 feet away. But when you get within arm's reach, they look like your uncle Joe.

Comments? Opinions? Advice?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I can't tell for sure from the pics, but I think it's just the stuff used on some Finnish rifles when redone at the armory.

I could be very wrong; just hard to tell from the pics.

Will it remove with paint thinner?

Some Finnish rifles were not marked, so that part is OK. Does it look like Russian proofs and such may have been scrubbed?

Regards,

Josh

[berkmberk1]

As for the finish, I cleaned up the sling hangers. They were so "golden" I thought they were brass. Acetone proved them to be steel.

I might be wrong about the receiver, but there are no obvious makers marks. The receiver itself shows absolutely no evidence of any kind of removal process. However, after scraping off a glob of shellac, and using a LARGE magnifying glass, a close look at the top side of the tang shows two marks I thought were just dings. One of them is only partial, like a stamp not set right when struck. It looks like a (partial) circle with what looks like a T or a similarly shaped mark/symbol inside. The other mark looks to be a letter? L maybe. Or possibly a geometric shape like an incomplete box, as the short side of the L has a little uptick on it. Other than that, the receiver has no ID.