The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hey guys I won a gunbroker auction today for a basket case 1945 M44 of gunbroker,I am sure several of you saw it for $85.00.

It is my 1st m44.

Correct me if i am wrong but aren't the non refurb m44's out of the Balkins?

It really looks rough and has some problems--but I really like the non-refurb look it is so rough it is closer to a T-53 than a m44 and I got it for the same price as a T-53 and it is shipped straight to my door.

Here is a link to the auction on Gunbroker. http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =410623449


I got it for $101.00 that was my max bid I placed and I bid on it 3 days ago and did not check back.I was sure since it was a m44 that 101.00 would not be enough.

Now my question is to you guys is what would you do with this m44 if you have just won it?

Can ya'll experts see anything in the crappy gunbroker pics that I don't see?

I will post some good pics when I get the rifle

Looks a lot cooler than my 1945 M44 refurb.

Yea, Balkan style M44, what's wrong with it? It looks like a perfectly normal 70 year old milsurp to me, nice find

Very nice Riffle

Looks badass, is that a matching bolt?

$100? You did well!

Looks fine and you stole it for that price. I can't see the bolt very well but it looks like the numbers match except of the Cyrillic characters that are on the barrel number.

Saw out almost bid, but I have been on a m44 buying bing recently, and needed another like a whole in the head.. Great score !!

Haven't seen an M44 that cheap in some time.

Hey, the ugly one ones need lovin' too ;)

Nothing wrong with that... Especially at that price.

Ugly? No, this is what a normal milsurp looks like after years, decades of service. In the normal course of things rifles are passed down from one level of troops to another before ending up as reserve weapons for militia use. Most normal governments do not waste billions of dollars refurbishing obsolete weapons and storing them away as the Soviets did with their Mosins. Anybody curious about why there is no USSR today? This sort of thing would be one reason. Romania got some of these refurbished Soviet weapons, either directly from the USSR as post war aid, or from one of the other buffer states later on. The Romanian communist party under Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his predecessors Chivu Stoica, and other communist idiots managed to run the countries economy into the ground. They had no money to steadily produce their own M44's so they received aid in the form of used rifles from other buffer states. These rifles seem to have received little more than parts swapping with new serial numbers stamped next to the old to keep them working. Stock's were repaired, repeatedly, one I have contains at least eight repairs. They did not waste money on appearance, the rifle you get today looks exactly as it did when it was issued to the last Romanian communist soldier to carry it.

By and large this is how it's always been with milsurps until the Soviets went and spoiled everybody with their pretty refurbs. The Finn imports were not like this, neither were the Enfields, Turk Mauser's, or the US milsuprs back in the 90's. Back in the early days we never saw something like a refurbished milsurp unless Bubba did it, or it was one of the rare unissued models that sometimes came along. Check out the history of Romania under the communists, an interesting story, especially the end when they took Ceaușescu and his wife and.....well, I won't ruin the ending for you

I wouldn't have passed that up!

I'd keep the stock the way it is, it shows it's heritage.

Don't get me wrong,I really like the well used,battle hardned look better than a shiny slick refurb.

That is why I like the T-53's, Fin Captures etc,The look of this rifle is what attracted me to bid on it.

I guess I worded my title wrong.I put it like that because I personally have not seen any pictures of a m44 in this condition.I wanted to get a m44 for my collection from SOG or someone like that but they all seemed to nice and too slick for my liking.

Are there any members that have non-refurb m44's that they can put some pictures of?

There are plenty of them on here. Probably a few in the showcase too. You did good on this one. A lot of people would already be thinking about refinishing the stock- a huge mistake. Congrats Tennessee!

I like that been there look Judi and her Mosin's

It stands out above the common refurbs that everyone else has. JYD said it right in his above post. This is a true used military rifle from a poor country. Good price. Probably shoots as good as any other m44, too.

An honest no apologies needed war veteran. Nice score !

Disassemble, inspect and clean, use a bit of lemon oil on the stock, shoot it and love it.... That is one cool M44 and you should be arrested for stealing it!

As long as the bore, crown, and headspacing are good, there is no reason with a little TLC that this won't be a good shooter. Nice find.