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Hello everyone! I have a beautiful 1955 Romanian M44 that is in fantastic shape. The bluing is all nearly perfect, and the bore is in mint condition. Everything is great on it except one thing: the red colored varnished stock does not appear to be correct for a Romanian M44:
I bought this at a gun show about a year ago, and didn't know that this was the wrong stock at the time. It might even be refinished and not a Russian red shellac stock, I'm not sure. Basically though, I am wanting to find an original condition Romanian wood stock so I can restore this gun to true Romanian specs. If anyone can please help me locate one, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!
I've seen Romanian M-44's in original Romanian stamped stocks before in every shade imaginable. A circle 2 on the top of the butt stock in front of the butt plate, and triangle stamps on the rear portion of the right side of the butt stock and one near the escutcheon would indicate Romanian origin. There's always a chance that the stock is Russian. When these rifles were refurbed in Romania, they could get any stock. There is always the possibility that someone over here did some work on it too.
The bluing looks pretty intense for Romanians I have seen and the stock could have been fiddled with. Is this a matching carbine? What is in the finger groove?
You're not going to find a Romanian stock easily. But, keep an eye out. There might be a sporterized one for sale at some point and the seller may still have the stock. Or you could find a cheap parts gun. I'm not convinced the stock isn't Romanian. I think we need more pictures
The only noticeable cartouche I could find on the stock was a triangle shaped one that is about 1/2 wide on the right side of the butt. A few small other marks but they could be dents. All numbers match on this gun except the bolt, even the buttplate matches the rest of the gun which seems strange. Maybe Bubba was smart enough to swap the buttplates as well. Here are some more (crappy cell phone) pictures:
This rifle really is in great condition but like it really bothers me that it's not correct. My guess is some @#$%#%^# thought the original Romanian stock, which probably looked worn like most of them, was too "ugly" so swapped it out for a plentiful Russian red shellac stock or even worse refinished the stock.
Kind of looks like someone did some sanding buy the looks of the finger groove. It appears that this rifle was fiddled with over here. But, I isn't unusual at all to find Romanians or any of the EBoc M-44's with mismatched parts. The gun, other than perhaps the finish and bluing, is how it was exported. Finding matching Romanians is difficult but they are out there.
Here are some pictures of the markings on the top of the butt stock and right side of butt stock for a Romanian stock. Check under your butt stock also. There could be some stampings there too.
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This is the only stamping I can really see, found on the right side of the butt:
I took my buttplate off and their might be the lower symbol in your last picture, but only the top half. The butt seems to have plenty of the shellac material on it as well, under the buttplate I mean, and also has some splotchy "puddles" of dried shellac on various parts of the stock...so I wonder if this was refinished? Please let me know! Thanks!
I own one of the unissued Romanian M44's, the bluing is good enough to pass muster on a high end commercial sporter. When the Romanians turned their hands to building M44's for themselves they did a bang up job of it, better quality that any other, even the Polish M44. Problem is they couldn't afford to build many of their own, or properly refurbish the ones they had. Romanian stockpiles contained M44's from Hungary, Poland and Russia as well as their own, they took parts from any maker and used them on any M44. It is not uncommon to find an odd mix of parts on these M44's, and they rarely changed any riginal markings or finishes on them. I have one M44 from the Romanian hoard with Hungarian action, Polish stock, and a mix of Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Russian parts on the rest of the rifle. All they did was leave all the old serial numbers in place and engrave new ones right next to the old.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
The rounded rails by the sight and receiver of the stock show it was heavily sanded and then refinished. Keep your eyes out for a stock on the local ads as well a the gun shows. It won't hurt it to shoot it though.
Longcolt44 wrote:The rounded rails by the sight and receiver of the stock show it was heavily sanded and then refinished. Keep your eyes out for a stock on the local ads as well a the gun shows. It won't hurt it to shoot it though.
That's what I feared. Looks like Bubba got another sucker guys. FML.
So I have a quick question guys, since the Romanians used different kinds of stocks when they refurbished these, would it be more "correct" if I put the gun is an original stock? I just hate the fact that it's in Bubba's stock right now. If I could put it in a real military condition unaltered M44 stock, would that be better?
Remember that along with the intact M44's from this hoard there were also stripped barreled receivers. These were being sold for as little as twenty bucks back around the turn of the century. People were buying them and assembling M44's from the parts supply we had coming in from all over the east block. The best place to look for a Romanian stock would be on any of the issued M44's from that haul. They could be on Polish, Russian, or Hungarian M44's, that's just how the Romanians rebuilt the rifles they had, used whatever parts were at hand.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
By the looks of it, the only thing bubba got his hands on was the stock. But, this is a Romanian stock. The rest of the carbine looks fine and as refurbished. So, in a manner of speaking, the gun is "correct". Matter of fact, this is the nicest metal I have seen on a Romanian. The quality is as close to the unissued Polish M-44's as I have seen on an EBloc carbine. I would say, enjoy it and keep your eyes peeled for a Romanian stock to show up if you feel you have to replace it. These are kind of fun to rip into and see where all the parts come from. If you are lucky, even though a mismatched bolt s/n, it's always possible that everything is Romanian. The gun I showed above has every part stamped with the triangle arrow - even down to the follower spring. But, I've got others with "you name it" parts.
I can barely look at the gun now. All I see is this aborted fetus sitting in my gun cabinet. My God... I need a Romanian stock so bad. I have adds literally all over the internet with a WTB on one. I just feel so bad for this pitiful rifle... Bubba mutilated it and left it to die, it's history erased...
Just think of it as a virgin wool sweater that the cleaners shrunk. You can wear an old sweater until the cleaners gets you a replacement for the one they ruined. Or there once was a very ugly duckling that............................
Longcolt44 wrote:Just think of it as a virgin wool sweater that the cleaners shrunk. You can wear an old sweater until the cleaners gets you a replacement for the one they ruined. Or there once was a very ugly duckling that............................
Thanks for making me feel better. NOT.
Does anyone know were in the hell I can find a Romanian M44 stock? God it's been killing me... I can't stop thinking about it...
