My trip to Gander Mountain ~ MOSIN OVERLOAD ~ Pic heavy

[Chrome Moly Vampire]

I travel for work. There's one town I go to that has a Gander Mountain. I'm there. So I go into Gander and find this:



Brand new crate. Got it in today. All rifles present and accounted for. I had to see them all! So I found an employee that was game and they handed me across the counter every gun in the box. When I was done, my hands were completely brown and orange! No Finns, no ex-snipers, etc., but a lot of cartouchey fun!

So I decided to buy one. I had picked out 5 possibles out of the crate, all very nice guns. The oldest guns were two '38 Tulas that were both so nice it would have been a coin toss. The rest were all a wartime mix. Two guns left to look at and not a talker yet. Nice ones, but I hadn't been spoken to.

Then she hands me a 1932 Izhevsk. The only gun in the crate that weighed more than the others. Quick like a bunny, back to the hotel!

Wanna see it?







One screwdriver later and..





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See anything that jumps out at you? Educate me. What do you see, oh Mighty Ones? Those who know. The Mosin gurus. What does that big 30 mean on the barrel? Why no plate on the back sling hole, and only a weird one on the front?

Will I keep this gun? Maybe, maybe not. I actually bought it if one of my buddies wanted a hex or somebody wants it more than me. If nobody wants it, I still like it. No biggie.

Then I at the same Gander Mountain I turned around and saw THIS!










A chrome Mosin? What the hell is this? It was only $139.00





No, not really. Try $799.00 . I really, really shouldn't go back to Gander Mountain. I'll be here another four days.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice Hex, you should have bought something after putting the clerk to all that trouble.

That piece of shit is one of Classic Arms chrome mosins, they were making these a few years back and it cost them the business of many collectors. Assholes took some of the nice refurb M44 that we have to pay $225 and up for and chromed them forever ruining their collector value, and making them look butt ugly to boot.

[tjtM38]

A nice '32 hex! You picked well; nice of the clerk to let you go through them. That's a keeper.

[countryboy3006]

Nice rifle. I believe the stock has no plate on the back because it is a wartime production stock but someone who knows more about them than me might know for sure. I wish I could find a store that had that many mosins. Around here right now it is sitll pretty slim pickins and the stores that do have some are asking $200+ for them.

[Junk Yard Dog]

It is a wartime stock, this sort of parts mix is common on the refurbished rifles.

[Rongo]

Nice 32 Hex, But that M44 is an abomination.

[bunkysdad]

Countryboy is correct. A fine example of a early receiver rifle, mixed with a wartime stock at refurb. Some people would try to mix another rifle to match a early stock to the early rifle, and the same with the wartime to have 2 "correct" rifles. As a refurb this is a correct rifle, and a nice keeper at that. Congrats.

[rustytruck]

You should have splashed Holy Water on that M44 and shouted "the power of Christ compels you!"

[daveshady]

Awesome 32 you found very clean!

The 44 I saw one similar in a pawn shop last month
It looked like it had been wire wheeled to removed the blue.
He wanted like 400$ for that one I never asked to see it.

[Dan4good]

nice hex

[zeebill]

I thought those chrome ones had all been grabbed up by Bubba by now. Is that a Molot marking on the left rear tang wall? They have all the rifles mixed around on all the examples of Molot rifles I have seen early rifles with late stocks and the vice versa. Bill

[desdem12]

Nice 32

[srv1]

Chromed Mosin? I actually like the looks of it to put it on a wall. Are those even shootable? Did they chrome the inside as well? But what I really do like is the worn bluing on my T53. I like it when they are worn.

Type 53 7.jpg

[MarksmanTim]

What about the M44 sitting in the rack behind the chromed one? What was she? It doesn't look like a refurb.

[racerguy00]

I thought those chrome ones had all been grabbed up by Bubba by now. Is that a Molot marking on the left rear tang wall? They have all the rifles mixed around on all the examples of Molot rifles I have seen early rifles with late stocks and the vice versa. Bill

All of the refurbs for sale in the last few years at least seem to be that way. I've had wartime stocks on 30's dated rifles and pre-war stocks on war time rifles.

[zeebill]

I thought those chrome ones had all been grabbed up by Bubba by now. Is that a Molot marking on the left rear tang wall? They have all the rifles mixed around on all the examples of Molot rifles I have seen early rifles with late stocks and the vice versa. Bill

All of the refurbs for sale in the last few years at least seem to be that way. I've had wartime stocks on 30's dated rifles and pre-war stocks on war time rifles.

All lending more weight to the parts from a pile theory on refurbs then I would think? So was it a Molot marking or something associated with their products? I just spent a bunch of money for a Molot made and advertised product but again not anything like a collector rifle. While frankly I think all their stuff is not collectable I will be interested to see how the quality of it is. Bill

[Warf51]

I always hated chromed Guns! Why anyone would chrome one has to be a real love for dirty diapers.

[BenedictGomez]

What I dont get is why they bothered knocking the metal escutcheon off the front of a pre-war gun just to make it match the fact that the "new" wartime stock doesnt have an escutcheon?

[finloq]

I don't know what's worse, the chromed M44 or the Bubba'd No.5 behind it.