Show us your Guns!

[Kirk H.]

Here's one I picked up last month, a 1915 Steyr Mannlicher M95 Stutzen Carabiner.

It's a straight-pull bolt action in 8x56R.

Kilroy and MKL, those are some nice Bolt guns. Kilroy I always enjoy seeing the rifles you post. The only Vintage rifles I own are a 1903A3 built by Smith Corrona built in 1942 and a M1 CArbine built by Inland a Division Of GM that was built in 1945.

Kirk H.

 

[KilroyCD]

Kilroy and MKL, those are some nice Bolt guns. Kilroy I always enjoy seeing the rifles you post. The only Vintage rifles I own are a 1903A3 built by Smith Corrona built in 1942 and a M1 CArbine built by Inland a Division Of GM that was built in 1945.

Kirk H.

Kirk, that's a nice pair to own. Actually, both are on my shopping list as I have neither. My M1 Carbine is a commercial variant (Universal), so I'm still on the lookout for a USGI example at the right price. Lately M1 Carbine prices have been going through the roof. A beat-up Saginaw M1 Carbine with a rusty barrel and shot out bore went for $675 at an auction I was at today. In the condition it was in I wouldn't have bid over $350.

 

[DeaconKC]

+1 on the prices on US milsurps going nuts. MKL many of the Mosins have been stored with an unusual preservative. If you have really sticky extraction problems, take a 20 Gauge brass brush, chuck it in a drill, soak it in mineral spirits or acetone and scrub the daylights out of the chamber.

 

[YLR2312]

+1 on the prices on US milsurps going nuts. MKL many of the Mosins have been stored with an unusual preservative. If you have really sticky extraction problems, take a 20 Gauge brass brush, chuck it in a drill, soak it in mineral spirits or acetone and scrub the daylights out of the chamber.

That preservative is called cosmoline, the more you know.

 

[Story]

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - Two guns believed seized from gangsters Bonnie and Clyde in 1933 after a deadly Missouri shootout with police sold for a combined $210,000 at an auction on Saturday in Kansas City to an unnamed online bidder.
The bidder paid $130,000 for a .45-caliber Thompson submachine gun, known as a "Tommy gun" in gangster slang. The same bidder paid $80,000 for an 1897 12-gauge Winchester shotgun.

http://news.yahoo.com/bonnie-clyde-guns-bring-210-000-missouri-auction-211359920.html

 

[MPicciotto]

+1 on the prices on US milsurps going nuts. MKL many of the Mosins have been stored with an unusual preservative. If you have really sticky extraction problems, take a 20 Gauge brass brush, chuck it in a drill, soak it in mineral spirits or acetone and scrub the daylights out of the chamber.

A little heat goes a long way. The Cosmolene was applied hot. So to remove it heat the action back up. Mil-surps with oil finished stocks can be heated to to drive out soaked in cosmoline. But word of warning. The application of heat to cosmolene trapped under the shellac finish will cause the shellac to blister. I learned the hard way on that one.

I set up some cardboard boxes and used a halogen lamp to heat up the action till the cosmolene ran out of the barrel like think oil. That's how I cleaned one rifle. The other rifle I used simple green and water followed by mineral spirits. Then all the parts that would fit into the toaster oven were put in a glass tray with some papertowels to mop up the cosmoline. A low temp works. Like 200 degrees.

Did you get the cleaning kit with your gun? Usually the oil bottle is full of the stuff, heat works best on it since it's so thick. I've never had a problem with bolt cycling issues. And nobody who properly cleans there gun does. The Mosin is fun to shoot and cheap too with the surplus ammo, just clean properly after shooting that stuff.

Matt

 

[Kirk H.]

Kirk, that's a nice pair to own. Actually, both are on my shopping list as I have neither. My M1 Carbine is a commercial variant (Universal), so I'm still on the lookout for a USGI example at the right price. Lately M1 Carbine prices have been going through the roof. A beat-up Saginaw M1 Carbine with a rusty barrel and shot out bore went for $675 at an auction I was at today. In the condition it was in I wouldn't have bid over $350.

I know what you mean about the prices going through the roof. I picked up the Carbine about 19 years ago and paid 150.00 for it. I saw several in a gun shop the other day ranging in price from 750-1100.

Kirk

 

[jkingrph]

I know what you mean about the prices going through the roof. I picked up the Carbine about 19 years ago and paid 150.00 for it. I saw several in a gun shop the other day ranging in price from 750-1100.

Kirk

I got my first Swedish Mauser back in late 89 or early 90. A co worker had gotten a ffl and was wanting to order/sell something so I had him order it for me. $69 at the time. Now a really ragged one starts around 275 and they go up from there depending on year and condition.

I also purchased my first Swiss K-31 in 2005 for $79. Now try to find one for less than 275-300.

 

[DeaconKC]

YLR, yup, on the cosmoline, but the Mosins seem to have a horrible variant if it, much worse than even the infamous "Turkosmoline" , that combined with the roughly finished chamber, makes for a very difficult time on extraction with many Mosins! That is what has become a very drastic and needed solution.

 

[Renault]

"If you have really sticky extraction problems"........

I would also suggest not shooting any steel cased ammo in any of your rifles or handsguns, period........

I've lost count on how many I've had to "ream" out of Yugo 24/47's and Nagants. AND how many high dollar AR-15's we've had to send back to the mfg to have new bbls installed in a receiver...... Just a suggestion...

Renault

 

[Renault]

I got my first Swedish Mauser back in late 89 or early 90. A co worker had gotten a ffl and was wanting to order/sell something so I had him order it for me. $69 at the time. Now a really ragged one starts around 275 and they go up from there depending on year and condition.

I also purchased my first Swiss K-31 in 2005 for $79. Now try to find one for less than 275-300.

WOW those were the days. First Model 1911 Schmidt-Ruben was $24.95! That was 1969. Also a M1916 Oviedo 7x 57 Mauser for $19.95. K98 was $35 bucks and the first #1 Mk III SMLE was a mere $30 samolias! I remember pasteboard barels of French M1916 Mannlicher/Berthiers for $6.95 and not having the cash to buy one! The 5 gallon bucket of "Rosalie" bayonets for said rifle were $3.95 each!

 

[jkingrph]

"If you have really sticky extraction problems"........

I would also suggest not shooting any steel cased ammo in any of your rifles or handsguns, period........

I've lost count on how many I've had to "ream" out of Yugo 24/47's and Nagants. AND how many high dollar AR-15's we've had to send back to the mfg to have new bbls installed in a receiver...... Just a suggestion...

Renault

Never used any in my firearms. I have doubts as to it's springiness or shrinking back down after pressure drops as easily as brass does. Secondly, most of it has a "varnish" coat to prevent rusting, that could cause harder extraction.

 

[Renault]

Bingo! It adheres to the chamber. If you have a less than smooth chamber it only makes it worse. The brass cools a bit and shrinks. Geez????? Wonder why they've always used it for modern ctgs???? (Not talking about that Evansville Chrystler, 1943 Tommy gun ammo that still won't go away! Some funky ammo!!). Only time they varied from brass was due to material availability restraints or the ability to make a cheaper export ctg! (Like the Russian stuff).... Might be okay in your Romanian AK or Yugo SKS.... But I wouldn't run it thru a rifle or handgun I reall liked.

Just remember don't keep your brass cases in a leather loop on a belt for extended periods of time. Or expose the stuff to bad or less than desirable elements. Else verdigris may develop on the cases. This will give you chambering and extraction problems too!

Brass has some self lubricating qualities. I've never understood why an individual with unload a grand or so in one of the new craze black guns then skimp to save a little change on cheap, crappy, dirty ammo, that will eventually, ruin their rifle.....

 

[jkingrph]

WOW those were the days. First Model 1911 Schmidt-Ruben was $24.95! That was 1969. Also a M1916 Oviedo 7x 57 Mauser for $19.95. K98 was $35 bucks and the first #1 Mk III SMLE was a mere $30 samolias! I remember pasteboard barels of French M1916 Mannlicher/Berthiers for $6.95 and not having the cash to buy one! The 5 gallon bucket of "Rosalie" bayonets for said rifle were $3.95 each!

I can remember those days, just out of college for six months and not enough cash. Then the draft got after me so I joined the Air Force. Basic training, two months wait then three months OCS, then another couple of months in a tech school for a job I was medically unqualified for and they knew it (allergies). Finished the school and on to first pcs posting where I was promptly grounded because the allergies would not let me fly. Played the paperwork and waiting game before they finally got me a slot in the pharmacy field.

Shortly after that I jumped from butter bar to railroad tracks, and slowly started buying a few guns, new ones that I still have. Then I took flying lessions and guns took a back seat, then met the young lady that became my wife, and a two year posting to Turkey where we could only have smoothbores, then back to Florida for 5 years and out.

By that time it was 1979, and with a 2 year old son there was not much for guns, but I did start slowly in the mid 80's, and finally got into the milsurps in 89 or 90, focusing mostly on Swiss and Swedes. My most accurate and best shooting is probably a Swiss 96/11 with a Furter adjustable site. I got it through a group buy directly imported over on one of the Swiss rifle forums.

My pride is a little Model 38 Swedish Mauser, an arsenal modified Mod 96 dated 1900 and made by Oberndorf Mauser, with a two digit serial number. I have been following and contributing to a Swedish Mauser forum and mine seems to be the lowest numbered Swede reported so far of this special run of guns by the Germans for the Swedes.

 

[jkingrph]

Bingo! It adheres to the chamber. If you have a less than smooth chamber it only makes it worse. The brass cools a bit and shrinks. Geez????? Wonder why they've always used it for modern ctgs???? (Not talking about that Evansville Chrystler, 1943 Tommy gun ammo that still won't go away! Some funky ammo!!). Only time they varied from brass was due to material availability restraints or the ability to make a cheaper export ctg! (Like the Russian stuff).... Might be okay in your Romanian AK or Yugo SKS.... But I wouldn't run it thru a rifle or handgun I reall liked.

Just remember don't keep your brass cases in a leather loop on a belt for extended periods of time. Or expose the stuff to bad or less than desirable elements. Else verdigris may develop on the cases. This will give you chambering and extraction problems too!

Brass has some self lubricating qualities. I've never understood why an individual with unload a grand or so in one of the new craze black guns then skimp to save a little change on cheap, crappy, dirty ammo, that will eventually, ruin their rifle.....

You bring back memories. I can remember some of that WWII 45ACP ammo that must have had steel cases. The were not brass and not nickle plated but were a dull silver color, and did not seem to have a lacquer or varnish coating.

I have "built" several AR type rifles, got fascinated with them, and a few in the 6.5 Grendel caliber, even to the point of going a gas piston system vs the standard direct gas impingment. I understand there is some steel cased ammo coming, but I paid too much for premium grade barrels, as well as the 5.56mm barrels in other uppers to chance using cheap cases in them. It's brass forever!

 

[MKL]

The cosmolene was on thick and heavy. I used heat and a digresser. It removed easily. I oiled ‘er up and hopefully Wednesday I will take it out and fire it. Yes, it came with the cleaning kit and the double compartment bottle.

Thanks for the tips.

A little heat goes a long way. The Cosmolene was applied hot. So to remove it heat the action back up. Mil-surps with oil finished stocks can be heated to to drive out soaked in cosmoline. But word of warning. The application of heat to cosmolene trapped under the shellac finish will cause the shellac to blister. I learned the hard way on that one.

I set up some cardboard boxes and used a halogen lamp to heat up the action till the cosmolene ran out of the barrel like think oil. That's how I cleaned one rifle. The other rifle I used simple green and water followed by mineral spirits. Then all the parts that would fit into the toaster oven were put in a glass tray with some papertowels to mop up the cosmoline. A low temp works. Like 200 degrees.

Did you get the cleaning kit with your gun? Usually the oil bottle is full of the stuff, heat works best on it since it's so thick. I've never had a problem with bolt cycling issues. And nobody who properly cleans there gun does. The Mosin is fun to shoot and cheap too with the surplus ammo, just clean properly after shooting that stuff.

Matt

 

[MPicciotto]

Your welcome. Check out the 7.62x54r.net website and forums for all you could ever want to know about the Mosin-Nagant rifles in original configuration. Including a guide to the markings and further information on cleaning.

Matt

 

[KilroyCD]

Here's a fun little piece I just added to my collection. I picked up this Carcano M91 at an auction this past Saturday, and got it pretty cheaply due to the fact it had been sporterized. It was one of the Carcanos that had been imported in the 1960s and had the stock chopped down and barrel shortened to be sold as a sporting gun. Well, there was no real way to completely "un-Bubba" it, so I started looking for M38 short rifle stocks. One supplier (Sarco) who normally has them is sold out temporarily, but I couldn't leave well enough alone. I have a number of bits and pieces laying around, so I decided to try to give it back its military identity. Problem is, the bits and pieces are all Mauser bits and pieces. This Carcano now sports a Mauser handguard, barrel bands and a forend graft from a broken Gew.98 stock. I now call this my "Carcauser". That is, until Sarco gets M38 short rifle stocks back in again (if ever).

 

[DeaconKC]

Kilroy, that turned out nice, well done!

 

[jkingrph]

I don't know anything about the Carcano, but that one looks good.