[gew-98]

Got rid of a junk truck in the yard and the guy gave me a rusty beat up mess of a mosin. Turned out to be a finn 28/30 in rough shape. Cleaned it up and found bore looked every bit as bad as I had imagined. But 30 rounds of silver bear later I had it zeroed and it actually did what I asked of it out to 90 yds. Surprise surprise

!.

 

[WaM14gunner]

I dont know man, that aint my idea of a rough looking Mosin. My 1942 91/30 looks rougher than that one by far and it shoots pretty well too.
Bore looked pretty rough, so a while back I spent some serious time with it, cleaning, scrubbing and dang it actually came out looking half decent.
Picked it up years ago at a local fun show for $65.

 

[Tims87gn]

That 28/30 looks fine to me. Matching numbers and the original stock too. Its a keeper. If you don't want it, it would look pretty next to mine. lol

 

[GregT]

Got rid of a junk truck in the yard and the guy gave me a rusty beat up mess of a mosin. Turned out to be a finn 28/30 in rough shape. Cleaned it up and found bore looked every bit as bad as I had imagined. But 30 rounds of silver bear later I had it zeroed and it actually did what I asked of it out to 90 yds. Surprise surprise View attachment 475740 View attachment 475740 View attachment 475740 View attachment 475740 View attachment 475742 View attachment 475743 View attachment 475744 View attachment 475740 View attachment 475742 View attachment 475743 View attachment 475744 View attachment 475740 View attachment 475742 View attachment 475743 View attachment 475744
!.

Nice rifle remodeled by SAKO, possible capture during the Winter War.
GregT

 

[Tims87gn]

Winter War was Nov 39- Mar 40. This was made for the Civil Guard before the War.

 

[gew-98]

You should have seen this piece when the fella brought it to me.... looked like they took it out of a shipwreck !, It's a 39 dtae so winter war is out , but very likely spiked some russkis in it .

 

[GregT]

Nice rifle remodeled by SAKO, possible capture during the Winter War.
GregT

The sights on the Model 28/30's are really nice also. I've got to photograph my Rossi pump model 62 SA in a little while and I have at least one of these old Finn's. I mis-spoke yesterday when I noted your rifle in my reply. I should have been more clear: Your rifle was originally built in 1939. The Finns captured your rifle which started life as a Model 91/30. The winter war started in 1939 and my bet your rifle was captured sometime in 1940+, and the dead Russian removed to the ditch. Taken to the workshops of SAKO. The forend was cut off and a new forend of Arctic Beech was tongue and grooved in place of the original wood. The wood, in this instance, is resistant to deep cold that would cause changing in sighting as it probably did with the original crude Russian sights. The trigger was also changed to the latest SAKO design and gives you a very fine double stage trigger at perhaps 5# or so. The Finn property marking "SA", is in a round cornered, rectangular box and is stamped at the base of the barrel on the left side near the front of the receiver ring. The base of the barrel still shows the Russian Eagle in a round cartouche on the barrel reinforce at the top. You will also find "1939" stamped adjacent to the hole for the tang bolt, but you will have to take the barreled action and turn it upside down to see it. (All Mosin Nagants have the manufacture's date there). The groove diameter of the new SAKO barrel was also reamed at .308" rather than .312-13", again for accuracy purposes. And SAKO did this during wartime. Somewhere on your rifle, possibly on the right side of the receiver ring near the woodline, is the Finn Civil Guard number. This will tell you what Civil Guard District the rifle was issued to. (Pull the table off the net). The Civil Guard Cartouche is also stamped in the wood.
With all of this in mind, now you know why the rifle shoots as well as it does with a few battle scars on it.
They are elegant riflesa1 (Yours even has its cleaning rod! I shoot mine only with cast bullets to preserve the barrel.
GregT

 

[nf1e]

Looks can be very deceiving. Shooting is the counter.

 

[gew-98]

The sights on the Model 28/30's are really nice also. I've got to photograph my Rossi pump model 62 SA in a little while and I have at least one of these old Finn's. I mis-spoke yesterday when I noted your rifle in my reply. I should have been more clear: Your rifle was originally built in 1939. The Finns captured your rifle which started life as a Model 91/30. The winter war started in 1939 and my bet your rifle was captured sometime in 1940+, and the dead Russian removed to the ditch. Taken to the workshops of SAKO. The forend was cut off and a new forend of Arctic Beech was tongue and grooved in place of the original wood. The wood, in this instance, is resistant to deep cold that would cause changing in sighting as it probably did with the original crude Russian sights. The trigger was also changed to the latest SAKO design and gives you a very fine double stage trigger at perhaps 5# or so. The Finn property marking "SA", is in a round cornered, rectangular box and is stamped at the base of the barrel on the left side near the front of the receiver ring. The base of the barrel still shows the Russian Eagle in a round cartouche on the barrel reinforce at the top. You will also find "1939" stamped adjacent to the hole for the tang bolt, but you will have to take the barreled action and turn it upside down to see it. (All Mosin Nagants have the manufacture's date there). The groove diameter of the new SAKO barrel was also reamed at .308" rather than .312-13", again for accuracy purposes. And SAKO did this during wartime. Somewhere on your rifle, possibly on the right side of the receiver ring near the woodline, is the Finn Civil Guard number. This will tell you what Civil Guard District the rifle was issued to. (Pull the table off the net). The Civil Guard Cartouche is also stamped in the wood.
With all of this in mind, now you know why the rifle shoots as well as it does with a few battle scars on it.
They are elegant riflesa1 (Yours even has its cleaning rod! I shoot mine only with cast bullets to preserve the barrel.
GregT

I never really was into finn rifles , have had a few over the years. Though I have to say this rifle started out as 91 not a 91/30 as the receiver has the czarist eagle , not the commie hammer & sickle . The 1939 date is clear as a bell , and I do think the strock S marking is 38 as in 1938. It could be #9 , but sure looks like an 8 to me. I have a 37 Tula 91/30 that is SA marked , bolt renumbered by finns to match. Counterbored at muzzle and has the copperish type "caps" on the handguard. Frosted bore but it does shoot good. The trigger on this 28/30 has a long double stage , but as in all such old mil rifle triggers It's easy to take up the creep and get a decent release. I'm no rube to military rifles in any way , just never got into finn rifles. There is no "district" identifier on receiver ,wood or barrel. As I understand it by the time this rifle was produced - even if and or for the civil guard they generally went to Army stores regardless at that point.

 

[russmerle]

Fins are the best of the Mosins. You have a nice one and she’ll shoot well even with a frosted barrel. I owned a M28-28/30, very fine rifle and with much more patina than yours. I sold it for ten fold and still regret it.