I was out on the road this morning and stopped by a gun shop that is out of my area, but I've been to several times. They have a dog there that likes to play hide-and-seek with me, so I make it a point to stop by several times a year.
I was looking at the old military surplus bolt-action rifles on the display rack in the middle of the store. They had about half-a-dozen Mosins. So, sort of half-heartedly, I picked them up and checked them out. One of them was made in 1942 by the Izhevsk Arsenal. No big deal, Izhevsk made the majority of them during the war.
Then I opened the bolt and looked inside the left bolt raceway and there they were: The plugged holes which indicate that the rifle had once been a sniper rifle and then, after the war, had been made into standard configuration. The bore was bright, not rough in any way. That decison took about a nanosecond.
The rifle is now in the trunk of my car.
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8 comments:
Good on you.
Was in two different stores that sold guns last weekend for different purposes. There were a lot of guns and I did look at a 30-30 but made myself walk away from both places.
Can you explain what makes this special and what, if anything you would do with it? I mean, that you wouldn't do with a non-sniper?
I'm just clueless here, and interested, so please don't misunderstand.
Yogi--
The Rooskis made a Very Big Thing of sniping in WW2. They had some people who were VERY good at it, and they raised a lot of hell with the Wehrmacht. For a somewhat romanticized Hollywood version of it, rent "Enemy At The Gates".
An authentic Russian sniper rifle is definitely a historical artifact.
Yogi, the Russian ex-sniper rifles are, in general, going to shoot more accurately and have better triggers than the standard rifles. I have an ex-sniper that had a post-war scope mounted on it; the trigger has the "glass rod" effect that good rifles do and the rifle will shoot MOA groups. I also have a standard infantry-issue one that has a gritty trigger and is more accurate than an AK.
Some of the wholesalers now charge extra for ex-snipers, like $20 or so. Finding one mixed in with the regular rifles was a decent thrill.
Hey, thanks for the info, folks.
Would you consider posting a photo of the plugged holes so we can see their location and appearance?
Is the trigger on your new rifle as good as your other sniper rifle?
Is there any way to trace the rifle to a specific Russian sniper?
exmixer
Exmixer, I doubt it. In 1942, the Red Army probably wasn't keeping very detailed records, especially for the snipers who were trained in front-line schools. And even if they did, given the current atmosphere in the Russian government, they'd probably not be interested in cooperating.
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