[cncman]

Seems pretty original to me, everything is marked Izhevsk except the front band. Even the cleaning rod is Izhevsk marked. Has a nice battleship grey patina on it, obviously sanded but still seems to have some of the original finish. Rear sight not pinned, bolt channel not blued. Font seems to match to me and I don't see any signs of grinding and restamping. Bore is VG+. Sling doesn't look familiar to me but looks like it has been on there a long time.

 

[cncman]

got it in an online auction. I have been wondering about the finish. Doesn't seem like tru oil to me, almost seems waxy like furniture polish. No signs of runs or drips or anything.

 

[cncman]

no it really doesn't. I have done tru oil before on my 30/30 too and it doesn't scratch with my thumbnail. I think the fonts seems pretty close but the white crayon is making it look different. I will try to get some detailed pics to see for sure.

yea, but you can use truoil and not have runs or drips if one has just a tad of a idea of what one is doing. Its the newbies that slaver it on and make it a runny and/or glazed donut.

Does the finish look similar to this : (my shooter - $5 painted black rescue stock finished in tru-oil)

Sometimes light can be tricky.. but from the heavy duty sanding i believe and agree with the others the finish has been messed with.. at least it wasn't done tacky.. minus the sanding of course.

 

[cncman]

also, you can see around the right rear slot they avoided sanding it and can see some of the darker more original finish like you see on top.

 

[cncman]

definitely matches, this is under the microscope, look at the markers like the hang tag on the "N" and the flat upper right corner of the "B". This compares the bolt and the floor plate. Last one is the B on the barrel.

 

[cncman]

I have seen a lot worse, I am actually wondering if it was sanded over there but someone over here polished it up. The finger grooves are rounded like you usually see on refurbs. I am thinking it is some kind of wax since my thumbnail leaves a line on it.

yea now it looks good. The floor plate can be tricky sometimes.. nice pick up. Boy if only bubba left that stock alone.. blah

 

[cncman]

forgot to answer the question, I don't see any signs of any arsenal refurbs at all. Unless the stock was sanded over there.

 

[cncman]

but what doesn't add up is that there is a lot of the original finish around the crossbolt, on the top of the stock, around the sling slot and in some of the dings. It almost looks like it was chemically stripped and then polished up. If it was sanded here why is there darker finish over some of the sanded areas? Unless he put a finish on it and didn't like it then stripped it again.

no i don't think its ever been through a refurbishment.. thats why the stock being altered is a big killer.

 

[cncman]

nope no splices or plugs or anything. Here's two more pics, you can see this one escutcheon wasn't even sanded. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter, just curious as to what was done.

the ones ive seen that are heavily sanded are ones that have many stock repairs and/or alterations. Are there any signs of stock repairs?

 

[cncman]

Oh yea, makes sense, hard to think like bubba! Anyone recognize the sling?

They took off the sling escutcheons when they sanded and refinished the stock, then put them back on. Looks like almost every bubba refinish I have ever seen.

 

[cncman]

yea that's what I am used to seeing. Here's some better pics of the sling, it doesn't match up to anything on the combloc sling page, the webbing seems very similar to the typical post war webbing. the collar simply has a slot in one end and a pointed tab on the other end.

The sling isn't shown in enough detail to say conclusively, but looks like it might be an M38 sling (looks pretty short, plus leather reinforcements). Do the leather pieces taper out to a point?

I would agree that the escutcheons have been out, plus they are sanded. Undisturbed ones will have linear grind marks from where they were finish sanded in situ on the stock, and the screws will almost always be clocked with the slots very nearly in line with the slot:

 

[cncman]

it is not as wide as the usual mosin slings, it seems very similar in the webbing and feel to a Chinese SKS sling but not construction. The collars very well could be handmade by bubba but they are old and kind of brittle. Thanks for the help everyone. Even with the stock I am still pretty stoked, It's my first non import, non finned, original matching 91/30 and I am in it for less than $300 even with shipping and fees.

No, not an M38 sling for sure. I haven't seen one like it either.