After pining away for an Ares 1891/30 PU Mosin Nagant, I've decided to build my own based around a real stock. The goal is to end up with a Mosin sniper build which is authentic for the 1942-1945 period, when most of this variant was mass produced.
This is an example of what I am after for a finished project;
The Mosin Nagant family of rifles has a very colourful history as I found when I began researching this build, if you would like to learn more here is a great link to get you started;
http://world.guns.ru/rifle/repeating...s/mosin-e.html
I'm not going to prattle on about the characteristics of the real weapon, you can look that up yourself if you are interested.
On to the build!
PART LIST
01. S&T Mosin Nagant 1891/30
02. RS war-era 1891/30 Mosin Nagant wood stock *
03. RS mosin cleaning rod
04. RS bent sniper bolt handle
05. RS scope bracket, mount and PU sniper scope.
06. RS 1952 dated Mosin canvas sling
* Turns out when I received the stock, it's actually PRE war, can't nail down an exact date but it would be from 1930-1939.
Also props to Jeff and the boys @ Capital Airsoft for securing me a mosin rifle, super great guy and if you are in the market for anything airsoft it's work checking them out.
WORK REQUIRED
Stock: The stock needs to have material removed where the airsoft internals need space. The entire stock and hand guard need to be stripped down to bare wood and some filler applied behind the receiver as there is a 1/4" gap where the airsoft receiver is shorter than the RS one. Stock will then be refinished with shellac as it was originally.
Sniper handle: Chop existing handle off of bolt, drill and tap mounting hole for new sniper bolt and install handle.
Scope and mount: Drill and tap receiver for scope mount bracket, then install scope.
WORK LOG
Onto it!
So here is a stock image of the S&T Mosin I am using as a base gun;
Out of the box it shoots 475fps and is actually quite gameable. However; there are a number of flaws and errors which as a Russian arms enthusiast I find only slightly less atrocious than your average quadruple homicide;
- Stock is wrong wood, colour and finish;
- Stock is wrong shape and too thick;
- Sling slots are wrong (post war) type;
- Brass caps for hand guard and stock are not lacquered black; and
- Barrel bands are both oversized and require set screw instead of being fitted.
Now onto fitting the real stock;
As seen above, the real stock is quite the looker compared to the toy-like (I actually thought it was plastic at first) S&T stock. This particular stock is a 1930-1939 manufactured stock which was produced by the Tula plant (as per the markings). It was re-arsenaled at some point as an arsenal stamp is present on the stock (a boxed W), and some repair work as been done in terms of removing damaged wood and repair of those sections. Most were unnoticeable until the shellac was removed, which is a testament to the skill of whomever did the work.
First I stripped the original shellac finish off the stock with some eco friendly wood stripper, and then after a quick soap and steel wool bath a light sanding was done with 100 and then 180 grit sandpaper. Care was taken to preserve all the proof and arsenal markings. Here is a shot showing the material that had to be removed at the rear of the trigger guard; thankfully a 1/4" dremel router bit goes through this wood like a hot knife through butter. As seen just above the removed material is a section of the stock that has been repaired.
The trigger guard/magazine assembly fitted. Thankfully the two screw holes actually line up perfectly with the ones in the real stock; a small mercy.
After a few hours of stripping, routering, chiseling, and test fitting here she is;
Everything is fitting together quite well at this point, and I'm just waiting on some wood filler to dry overnight and then tomorrow it's onto refinishing the wood! Here is another close up shot of the receiver and wood;
A light weathering job has been done on all the metal components, however not many are actually steel so this may be as far as I go in that regard.