|
hello,,the m-39's at one time could be bought all day long for around 100 bucks and that was for nice ones ,,the bolt should match but thats only a slight deduction these days for md 39's ,,i've seen alot of them and at one time i remember seeing them at a local small gunshow for 69 bucks ,,i wish i would have bought a truck load then..lol..lol
,,i see them quite often with elaborate stock splices that look like a cabinet maker did the work with toothed splices in them ,,very cool when you think about the work involved in this type of repair ,, the sako made models are very desirable because of the name and these days there around 250-400 for nice matching examples ,,for one with non matching numbers id say still 250-275 if it's just the bolt that doesn't match,,very accurate rifles and proably the best mosin nagant on the market these days short of the old westinghouse and remington made model 1891's,,
,,as for your question on refinishing ,,id say to go for it but try to acheive the reddish color usually found on them when staining ,,if i were doing it i might start out with a stripper on the varnish first,,i like a stripper called Tuff Stuff One Minute paint and varnish remover.. and beleive me it only takes one minute to remove the finish ,,you may need to use two coats to remove all the finish but for gunstocks i have never used an easier finish remover ,,i usually use a coarse steel wool to remove the heavy layers of finishes then use a 00 wool for final finish layers ,
,,once the finish is off if the woods really beat up i usually try to steam most of the dents out useing a pan of water boiling with an old towel to lay over the stock to concentrate the steam on the aeras i'm trying to remove the dings and dents from,,keep the water boiling at all times and just lay the stock on the top of the pot covered with the towel and keep checking it untill the marks are raised ..be careful around any proof marks as the steaming will raise the proofs and sometimes they will almost raise them to the point of no return and you will loose them during final sanding ,,i don't sand any more than i have to and only sand in the direction of the grain ,, with carefull attention to the top and bottom of the pistol grip aeras because these aeras are usually the closest grained aeras and can be the most problems when refinishing to give that original finish look ,,also be careful if there are any of the splices i talked about because they could seperate when steaming ,,afterwards just sand till your happy with the look and then wet the stock down and let it sit for awhile till it's dry then fine sand and stain and varnish it ,,the original rifle had a high gloss finish and a good varnish will give you this look or you could use mulitple coats of boiled linseed oil or tru oil and hand rub them till you get it the way ya want it ,,shouldn't really hurt the values on these becaues therre gonna bring the prices i quoted as long as your refinishing looks good and isn't sloppy..
,,ok i guess thats your stock refinishing lesson for today,,schools out..lol..
bigcurt
|
more posts...