I recently acquired a very rare specimen of a Mosin Nagant variant, the Finnish M27. This version of the M27 was only produced for a 2 month window of time during 1942. This rifle is stamped with the
“PUOLUSTUSLAITOS” marking and was later stamped with the typical [SA] marks. The receiver is a 1895 Tula as it is stamped on the tang, the barrel is a Tikka stamped with the date of 1928. It’s also been D stamped to allow for the Finnish ammo.
While one might say just leave it alone that’s really cool, this rifle needed more than a little TLC. All the barrel bands and half the magazine are missing the bluing, the stock was also covered in a thick coat of polyurethane, and I mean thick. Whoever had refinished the rifle didn’t bother to take the rifle apart, so the bands where covered with poly and basically glued in place so you could not get the rifle apart to do an inspection.
Condition of the M27 when I bought it was good but the finish was aweful
I wanted to inspect under the barrel so this whole light restoration started from the simple need to safety check the firearm. After working on the rifle for about an hour both bands were finally removed from the rifle. There were drips of poly on the front band and the rear the stuff had gotten underneath and coated the inside of the bands as well. Finally I was able to remove the action from the stock. The barrel and action were in great shape, Sharp lands and shiny, but this was an old warhorse. The rear swivel sling mount was frozen in position, the bolt had some signs of light surface rust from handling, the back side of the butt plate showed major surface rusting and the barrel lug had a small area of deep pitting, nothing that could affect the rifle however.
Surface rust and light pitting this warhorse needed help
Some of this would be consistent with being exposed to moisture such as snow. So first things first I needed to get that rust under control. For this I started with some WD40 on the swivel and butt plate allowing them to soak. The bolt was polished and both the barrel and bolt received a treatment with Militec 1. I really like the Militec 1 products, IF you follow the directions for the treatment as per the instructions you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy your firearm is to clean and maintain. I have shown the Militec 1 products to many of my friends who are now Militec 1 converts.
So with the action and metal parts now stable I turned my attention to the stock. There are a lot of strippers on the market but I went with Citristrip because I have children and pets in the area so some thing less harmful was just the thing to get that wood free of it’s plastic encasement. It took 2 treatments to get everything off to my satisfaction. So after a good wipe down with Mineral Spirits and Denatured Alcohol and 2 days of dry time the stock was ready for a it’s new finish.
Re blued barrel band
I also decided to re blue the bluing in the barrel bands and butt plate, first off let me say that different metals take bluing differently so this may not apply to what you have. The front barrel band was different material from the rear band so some experimentation was required. First I buffed all the parts with a brass brush in my drill press until I had removed all the old bluing and surface rust, I continued until I had given the the metal even surface appearance.
(TIP) Also wear gloves to keep the oils from your body from getting into that freshly exposed metal. I used those blue gloves nitrile gloves they work great.
Use gloves during bluing process too, Then after they were buffed I wiped the entire part in acetone to make sure there was no oils left in the metal at all and let dry, but not to long. Surface rust can begin to form on humid days pretty quickly. Make sure your using clean rags and not used shop rags for wipe down and I used cotton balls to control the application of the bluing.
Be patient the butt plate started to turn black almost immediately but the other parts took much longer, don’t rush and continue to apply the product slowly and evenly. I gave each part several applications with about 5 minutes between coats. Don’t worry it just stops when the metal can’t blue any more.
I also re blued the magazine and buffed the bolt
As for what I used there are a couple options IF you want a black finish there is a product from Brownells called Oxpho Blue, I recommend the cream, it stays put longer. I wanted an original blue look so I used Birchwood Casey’s product. I used the thin stuff because that is all I could find. BUT they make a paste as well. You must also remember there is a critical step that this requires and that is developing. You need to hit the part with oil to stop the bluing process. Bluing is a controlled rusting process so you need to halt it when your happy with the results. IF you don’t it will start getting a nasty brown color in the bluing. I used WD40 to develop the finish.
So the Finnished product? Sorry I could not resist the pun, I think this old girl looks great. Yes I know that the finish on the stock is not original but there were some issues with the stock that simply did not allow for a pine tar finish.
Completed Project
If perhaps some day I find an original M27 stock in great shape I’ll change it out. But for now I’m just going to enjoy this piece of history. Since the rifle is now completed I treated the bolt and all metal surfaces with my secret weapon, Milited 1 oil and grease products. That bolt cycles like butter and the bore is like a mirror. Looking forward to some serious range time in the next couple weeks as my schedule permits. I’ll post results soon.
Stay on Target
Mark
