The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Got a pretty good deal on a 1950 sks and an unopened spam can of ammo,can we say $200..

But someone at some time took some sandpaper to the stock and it looks like crap..

Should I just leave it the way it is or try to refinish it?

Also I'm not sure what type of ammo this is,Bulgarian maybe?

Me, I wouldn't do anything to it, I would possibly wipe it down with lemon oil. Shoot it.

+1

Water under the bridge at this point... Enjoy it for what it is.

I might sell the rifle and keep the ammo....

Sonny wrote:Got a pretty good deal on a 1950 sks and an unopened spam can of ammo,can we say $200..

But someone at some time took some sandpaper to the stock and it looks like crap..

Should I just leave it the way it is or try to refinish it?

Also I'm not sure what type of ammo this is,Bulgarian maybe?

Sonny that ammo is Russian Factory 539/TCW (Tula Cartridge Works) - 1973 copper washed steel cased, bi-metal jacketed/FMJBT and is possibly steel core. It's probably also corrosively primed berdan. That stuff would be extremely rare south of your border with the trade restrictions on it down here. You guys get a lot of ammo and rifles up there we aren't allowed to import due to ATF rulings and trade laws. Might be worth holding on to and put back for a rainy day/SHTF regardless. It'll last forever in the tin especially with the type of primers it most likely has. Oh and keep the rifle. Damage is done but it's an early SKS and though it may be altered it's still really nice.

I know little about the SKSs but, are you all sure that it was sanded by Bubba? Hack-job re-finishers usually sand smooth, with the grain, and don't stop until it has a half dozen coats of wipe-on poly.

At that price, just buy another stock if you don't like that one and keep it.

I can see the sander took off the shine on the shellac, another Bubba who's IQ matches his tiny shoe size. First day in woodshop, first five minutes of instruction, sand with the grain. Leave it, at least some red color remains.

Looking at the roughness, my gut says it left the refurb shop like this. I've seen one or two others displaying the same rough sanding.

Do the stock numbers match the rest, is it refurbed?

And, 200 bucks for the ammo tin and rifle, thats disgusting

The only numbers that match are the bolt,receiver and trigger guard.The funny thing is that the stock was sanded but not the upper hand guard.

But hey.....the price was right and I'm going to keep the ammo unopened since I have a crate of Czech ammo on stripper clips that I can try in this rifle.

But first I need to get over this bronchitis..

If a bubba had done it, he would have hit the handguard, at least I think he would, he likes to sand. I'd almost say it left the refurb shop like this.

Bronchitis, had that mess earlier last month, absolutely no fun

I too think it was the refurb shop, I've seen Romanians sanded that way before. A great score

I had bronchitis too still trying to shake it off

If its original as it may be ,what type of SKS is this Romanian ? depends on what type of carbine .if it is correct and a rarer find came this way type of thing ,leave it alone original as refurbished . However.. ,if you want to do something to it ( upon finding out its not rarer or that it was sanded by an idiot )it has fabulous grain structure to it ,so you could finish sand with 320 grit paper and up to 400 .then you could use pure linseed oil on it to richen up the grain and oil the wood .Watch out for TUNG OIL FINISH type of stuff usually has a drying agent in it and will darken the wood and it can look shiny /sticky looking ..not good . ebay guy sells the really RED refinished stocks ,really RED crazy shiny and well ...not bad if you want bling .Id keep the sanding to a finish level of very fine ,just to clean up the roughness ,320 and up will smooth it out well ,without any damage .again ,all depends on your research on this one .I took my minty as issued M48 Yugo ELM stock ands smoothed down that horribly grainy sticky type of wood ,using fine only ,looks great and perfect ,without looking like it was a raw piece of tree ,like it did . good luck with this ,very nice stock grain though .

sapishka

oh and as with all sanding of wood ,sand with the grain .


sapishka

Well I didn't do anything to the stock and no I won't sand it down.If anything I might get an original replacement stock for it as guys are always putting fancy ati stocks on thiers so lots of original stocks around.

sapishka wrote:If its original as it may be ,what type of SKS is this Romanian ? depends on what type of carbine .if it is correct and a rarer find came this way type of thing ,leave it alone original as refurbished . However.. ,if you want to do something to it ( upon finding out its not rarer or that it was sanded by an idiot )it has fabulous grain structure to it ,so you could finish sand with 320 grit paper and up to 400 .then you could use pure linseed oil on it to richen up the grain and oil the wood .Watch out for TUNG OIL FINISH type of stuff usually has a drying agent in it and will darken the wood and it can look shiny /sticky looking ..not good . ebay guy sells the really RED refinished stocks ,really RED crazy shiny and well ...not bad if you want bling .Id keep the sanding to a finish level of very fine ,just to clean up the roughness ,320 and up will smooth it out well ,without any damage .again ,all depends on your research on this one .I took my minty as issued M48 Yugo ELM stock ands smoothed down that horribly grainy sticky type of wood ,using fine only ,looks great and perfect ,without looking like it was a raw piece of tree ,like it did . good luck with this ,very nice stock grain though .

sapishka

Preservation, not fluff and buff!!!

Finding a used stock is a better alternative than going sand paper and wood slop crazy

Put the sand paper in a locked metal box, put in 10 pounds of rocks, take the box out to the middle of the lake and throw the box overboard.

for 200.00 that was a no brainer buy even without a stock, at least I would pay it.

I like the stock as is, and I would keep the gun as it is a nice early model.
like has been said, sadly there are a lot of original stocks on the market
I put a timber smith on one of mine but the correct stock is in a box and tagged to go with the rifle if I sell it.