rustvyper Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've been promising my younger brother in law (BIL) for a while that we'd build a rifle together & he finally scraped up the $ & parts. My future brother in law (FBIL) wanted to get into the act to & when he saw my custom mosin he fell in love with the idea. I took a week of leave & the 2 Sundays we used to build each rifle. The first Sunday we started the mosin. $150 which included shipping got my FBIL one 1942 Ishevsk rifle, a ATI black synthetic stock & a ATI scope mounting kit. another $50 got a modified bolt handle from mosinparts.net. I was worried he'd get a late war model or a shot out bore as I have both types in my project locker, but we lucked out & got a early war model (no overly rough machining marks) & a crisp bore. It had been counter-bored, but it shot nice tight groups. We were pleased. We got to work by disassembling the rifle & then using a carbide blade on a mini chop saw to shorten the barrel to 23". We followed up by cutting a 11 degree crown & then using a power sander to smooth the outer edges of the barrel end to a more pleasing & less sharp edge. The rear sight & base was the most challenging part of the deal. We ruined to punches trying to get out the pins, even with the help of a torch to melt the solder. We eventually took a dremel & carbide blade & cut the offending base at the bottom of the barrel. That took a lot of slow work to make sure we didn't scar the barrel. That's also why we cut at the bottom just in case we did. After we got the rear sight off, we had to grind both the pins & the small square mounting hump down to almost flush with the contour of the barrel. Then it was just careful power sanding & then stoning to get the right shape. Then it was time to get out the jig & the drill press for a little D&T'ing. I have a Forester Jig I got off ebay for $50. I know, that was a steal! it just needed bushing which brownells happily supplied. I've D&T'ed several actions since & I'd never want another jig! This should have been an easy process & it was until the VERY end. On the last hole when we were almost done tapping, the tap broke! I was heartbroken. I've broken a tap only once before & it ruined the receiver. I was very grim on the prospect of recovering this project, but my FBIL didn't despair. Back into the drill press & 2 drill bit's later the tap shattered & we were picking the pieces out of the threads! Back on track... Next major step was to sandblast the parts & while FBIL attended to that, myself & my BIL got the parkerizing solution ready. Soon as each part came out of the sandblaster, it went straight into the tank to be parkerized. Once out of the tank, it went for a rinse & then hung to be immediately airbrushed with stainless steel color duracoat. We had a good line going. The only part we didn't duracoat was the bolt. He preferred to leave that the parkerized black, so it went for several good coats of finishing oil. At this point we discontinued to let the duracoat age a good 24hrs. My FBIL was definitely chomping at the bit. Monday night we took down the pieces & proceeded to assemble. The ATI stock needed a little help from a dremel & sand paper to inlet the barrel channel a bit, but we got it done. a few dabs of super glue on the scope mount screws & we had her together! Turned into a dang fine rifle & with deer season less than a month away, just in time! All in all my FBIL paid out $200 for the rifle of which he recovered $40 by hocking the stock set + the bayonet & other goodies that came from SOG on ebay. I provided the parkerizing & duracoat as leftovers from other projects so he lucked out on that...but not a bad rifle for $160. He topped it with a $220 Nikon so the scope is worth more than the rifle! I'll post the mauser build tomorrow. I did much better taking pics during that process so there will be more visuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustvyper Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Oh yeah...we were planning some elaborate gunsmithing to try to mount a bold mauser trigger with side safety to this mosin, but after emailing timney the nice PR lady informed me they are due out any time with a custom adjustable mosin nagant trigger with side safety. So, long story short, it's still got the mil trigger on it & he's using the safety method called "don't load the gun". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rivitir Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Thank you for sharing! I'm actually working on getting my first project together so all the info you provided in your build project I found very helpful. You guys did an awesome job on that rifle. I can hardly believe that is a Mosin 50+ years old; it looks better then most brand new rifles. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Mauser pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8uck5nort Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Great looking Mosin! That is in the "I wanna do one someday" category. It looks great and it is an awsome feeling to build your own. Plus he can tinker with this rifle for some time to come as the MN become more popular in the customizing circles. More goodies will be avialble as time goes on. Looking forward to your Mauser build story and pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokengun Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Damn nice rifle the fact that you did 2 rifles in one day makes me envious. I have got projects in the works since 1998 and the list is growing. I tried to copy and paste the mosinparts.net web site into the browser and had no luck in finding the web site. Can you please share an active link for that site I need a Mosin Nagant bolt like the one you have. I bought one off of anti-gun EBay before they banned the sale of bolts and the bolt won’t work with a scope. I noticed you parkerized the parts before you sprayed stainless steel duracoat. I don’t have a park set up, what do think about using just the duracoat What kind of park set up do you have maybe I need to get into Parkerizing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenden Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Man, you turned that old war horse into a nice sporter! I still need to do my mosin build. You did well. Brenden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustvyper Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Damn nice rifle the fact that you did 2 rifles in one day makes me envious. I have got projects in the works since 1998 and the list is growing. I tried to copy and paste the mosinparts.net web site into the browser and had no luck in finding the web site. Can you please share an active link for that site I need a Mosin Nagant bolt like the one you have. I bought one off of anti-gun EBay before they banned the sale of bolts and the bolt wont work with a scope. I noticed you parkerized the parts before you sprayed stainless steel duracoat. I dont have a park set up, what do think about using just the duracoat What kind of park set up do you have maybe I need to get into Parkerizing My fault! I typed that from memory. The actual address is .com Here it is. In reply to your other questions... I've duracoated both parked & unparked steel & parkerizing is defintely the prefered method. I've found if I parkerize I can even duracoat "high-wear" areas like the lugs, bolt & internals on the "sloppier" actions like the mosin & the mauser. If you choose not to parkerize, I'd suggest at least sandblasting as the paint needs something to adhere to. As long as you are doing low-wear areas like barrels & receivers I think you'll be fine. for my set-up I purchased a outdoor propane 2 burner set from harbor freight. I also go the gas regulator there (it just hooks up to your standard grill propane tank) cotton gloves, protective goggles, gloves & apron. stainless steel thermometer came from walmart & the tank came from brownells. their SS tank is $150. I bought the $50 steel tank & then sprayed the inside with cermaic based grill paint. It works, but you have to keep reapplying a new coat of paint after every use so I know I'll eventually wish I'd sprung for the SS tank. Hope that answers your questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biblethumpncop Posted June 10, 2010 Report Share Posted June 10, 2010 Isn't it great to revive old threads? I hadn't seen this gun before today. What a great looking gun! I plan on having my friend electroless nickle my Mosin when he gets done cutting and crowning the barrel and welding on a butterknife bolt handle. I got my Timney Trigger this past week as well. Here is the ATI stock that I made into a Mannlicher style. I haven't figured out what I am doing with the sights or scope yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Stuart Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 I have to say I have never been a fan of the way mossin nagants looked but that rifle looked spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99-100 Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 My brother keeps bringing up Moisins and I have to admit it would be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FC Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 I agree with Paul that MNs are ugly guns, but yours looks nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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