Pretty Good Deal...
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:30 am
OK, it's been a little slow here for a while, so I thought I would post this. Nothing, too unusual about this carbine. There are lots of these out there. The story, however, should make you smile.
So, I was perusing GunBroker ads recently when I came across this carbine. The pictures nor the description detailed the things we look for in Milsurps. But, at least the pictures did indicate a matching bolt. And, by the looks of the carbine, the chances were high that it was fully matching. The seller obviously didn't know what he had since he had a BIN of $375 listed. Even though I've got one of these already that I paid more than the BIN price listed, and thinking that if this carbine was complete it would be the deal of the century, my interest peaked. Then I noticed that the seller was in my town - a local gun shop. It was about 8 a.m. and they didn't open until 10. I had to know more details about the gun with the thoughts that it would be quickly snatched up. I was now on pins and needles knowing from experience that if you don't jump quickly the rifle will surely be gone. I got a hold of them about 10:20 and asked if the gun was matching. He checked and said yes. I then asked about the bore condition. He said it was dark and hard to tell. Knowing these Polish carbines, my thoughts were that the bore was full of grease so I committed to purchase it from him if he would take the ad down. He agreed.
A couple of hours later I went to the shop to look at it. No surprises although I really couldn't tell much from the bore either, although I did notice some, what appeared to be, be dirty lands. Didn't matter, I'd check that out later. We sealed the deal. His policy for GunBroker items, if sold in the shop, was to reduce the price because he would have to charge sales tax. Most sellers who sell to folks in their state just add sales tax to whatever the sold price is. So I brought this one home for $344 out the door. He was happy too because to him it was just another Russian M-44 and was sold at a good price. I just smiled...
When I got it home, I immediately got it on the bench to check out the bore. The first patch I ran down the bore was "scratchy" (not the best sign) and came out brown - not necessarily "grease" brown either. I felt an "oh shit" feeling coming on but I continued on. Brass brush loosened up some pretty major powder fowling. I suspect the folks at Radom test fired all of these guns but this was significantly more fowling than a test firing would produce. The gun shop owner told me that the gun was on consignment so my thoughts are the the owner had taken it out and shot more than a few rounds through it (while still in substantial grease) then threw it in the closet without cleaning until he decided to sell it. The bolt internals also showed signs of being fired more than testing. Anyway even with the use of the brass brush and liberal amounts of Hoppes, the bore still felt scratchy. It was now time to show the bore who was boss and find out the truth... Time to wrap the brush with some Big 45. That did the job. After that the bore transformed to pristine with very high shine just a would be expected for one of these guns. The bore has so much shine that I found it difficult to get a good bore shot.
With my other example of these later Polish M-44's (a 1953), I did not take note of all the parts nor photograph them. I'll guess I'll have to rip it apart and check. With this new carbine, all the parts are stamped with either a circle 11, a common inspection stamping or both - even the barrel band springs and bayonet. I've got more than my share of Polish M-44's and I haven't seen this amount of stampings. Like I say, Ill have to check the 1953 but I guess I would have remembered it. Maybe it was something they did in 1955. Don't know yet.
Anyway, this just goes to show that there are still deals out there. And anymore, you have to react quickly when these deals appear because they won't last long. I'm really surprised this wasn't snatched up sooner..
Mosin Nagant Polish M-44
1955 Radom
s./n AD7402
CDI SWAN VT
You can see the bluing blemish in the top right picture. Not a big deal to me.
So, I was perusing GunBroker ads recently when I came across this carbine. The pictures nor the description detailed the things we look for in Milsurps. But, at least the pictures did indicate a matching bolt. And, by the looks of the carbine, the chances were high that it was fully matching. The seller obviously didn't know what he had since he had a BIN of $375 listed. Even though I've got one of these already that I paid more than the BIN price listed, and thinking that if this carbine was complete it would be the deal of the century, my interest peaked. Then I noticed that the seller was in my town - a local gun shop. It was about 8 a.m. and they didn't open until 10. I had to know more details about the gun with the thoughts that it would be quickly snatched up. I was now on pins and needles knowing from experience that if you don't jump quickly the rifle will surely be gone. I got a hold of them about 10:20 and asked if the gun was matching. He checked and said yes. I then asked about the bore condition. He said it was dark and hard to tell. Knowing these Polish carbines, my thoughts were that the bore was full of grease so I committed to purchase it from him if he would take the ad down. He agreed.
A couple of hours later I went to the shop to look at it. No surprises although I really couldn't tell much from the bore either, although I did notice some, what appeared to be, be dirty lands. Didn't matter, I'd check that out later. We sealed the deal. His policy for GunBroker items, if sold in the shop, was to reduce the price because he would have to charge sales tax. Most sellers who sell to folks in their state just add sales tax to whatever the sold price is. So I brought this one home for $344 out the door. He was happy too because to him it was just another Russian M-44 and was sold at a good price. I just smiled...
When I got it home, I immediately got it on the bench to check out the bore. The first patch I ran down the bore was "scratchy" (not the best sign) and came out brown - not necessarily "grease" brown either. I felt an "oh shit" feeling coming on but I continued on. Brass brush loosened up some pretty major powder fowling. I suspect the folks at Radom test fired all of these guns but this was significantly more fowling than a test firing would produce. The gun shop owner told me that the gun was on consignment so my thoughts are the the owner had taken it out and shot more than a few rounds through it (while still in substantial grease) then threw it in the closet without cleaning until he decided to sell it. The bolt internals also showed signs of being fired more than testing. Anyway even with the use of the brass brush and liberal amounts of Hoppes, the bore still felt scratchy. It was now time to show the bore who was boss and find out the truth... Time to wrap the brush with some Big 45. That did the job. After that the bore transformed to pristine with very high shine just a would be expected for one of these guns. The bore has so much shine that I found it difficult to get a good bore shot.
With my other example of these later Polish M-44's (a 1953), I did not take note of all the parts nor photograph them. I'll guess I'll have to rip it apart and check. With this new carbine, all the parts are stamped with either a circle 11, a common inspection stamping or both - even the barrel band springs and bayonet. I've got more than my share of Polish M-44's and I haven't seen this amount of stampings. Like I say, Ill have to check the 1953 but I guess I would have remembered it. Maybe it was something they did in 1955. Don't know yet.
Anyway, this just goes to show that there are still deals out there. And anymore, you have to react quickly when these deals appear because they won't last long. I'm really surprised this wasn't snatched up sooner..
Mosin Nagant Polish M-44
1955 Radom
s./n AD7402
CDI SWAN VT
You can see the bluing blemish in the top right picture. Not a big deal to me.
Maybe a little cold blue would fix it. Not too concerned though..
