It is an M91/30. It’s huge with the bayonet attached. Angus was kind enough to let me fire off a few from his Mosin when we went shooting a few weeks back and I was hooked. Cheap. Purdy. Big boom. (out of the “naughty end” … heh) What’s not to love?

They had another with a laminated stock (don’t know if they still had it when you were there, Angus) which was quite nice, but the markings were much clearer on this one. No cracks in the wood, everything is in excellent shape, and the bolt is nice and smooth.

Now to actually hit a target with it!

Disassembled the rifle and put all the pieces parts in the tub.

Used about 4 or 5 4 quart saucepans of boiling water (enough to cover all the parts) along with a couple of squirts of “dawn” dish detergent. Poured some of the water through the barrel while still very hot. The cosmo just melted off and floated to the top.

Let it soak until the water cooled enough to handle and then cleaned everything up with regular gun cleaning supplies.

Didn’t take any less time than scrubbing with caustic chemicals to get the cosmo off, but it was much less effort and less toxic to boot.

I’ll be taking her apart soon, to both clean and see some of those marks that are buried below the wood. It’s an interesting piece of history and that it goes “BBBOOOOOOMMM” makes it that much cooler.