Crates full of bent bolt non-ex snipers??

[NLMosin]

I was at a gun show this weekend and there was a guy there with two crates full of bent bolt 91/30's that did NOT have the holes or the plugged holes a sniper or ex sniper. I asked him what the 'story' was and he said that they were sent back for refurb and had the bent bolts added. The funny thing there was the they were all numbers matching bolts.

On the Tula I was trying to talk myself into buying the font on the numbers on the bolt did not match the reciever in fact the number '2' was half the size of the other numbers. I have read quite a bit about the history of the 91/30 and I dont remember a time when they decided to specifically make bent bolt non-ex snipers. And for him to have so many just seemed weird to me.

Please dont tell me I passed up buying a unique mosin...unless you have to because I did. If theres anything Ive learned when it comes to mosins its that if it seems too good to be true it probably isnt and if you cant make the facts align its because they dont, and stay away.

Thoughts?

[Lee-online]

If you think about how many snipers that were refurbished into a regular 91/30 then conclude the Russian are not going to waste a perfectly usable bent bolt then it make sense to see crates of these. They have came up for sale in the past. Not rare, just another different variation to collect.

I saw a few the other week, they were typical refurbs, just had a sniper bent bolt.

[NLMosin]

Thanks Lee. I was standing there staring into this crate thinking should I walk away or not. I would have kicked myself sideways if it turned out they were unique and I should have got one. So then they must have ground the bolts and re-stamped them at the factory. I wonder how many other 'matching' bolts are ground and restamped. Thank the Mosin Gods that they havent made Remington stamps yet!

[Lee-online]

Almost every "matching" refurb has had its bolt, mag and butt plate ground and restamped. It was apart of the refurbishment process.

[bunkysdad]

How much was he selling them for?

[NLMosin]

He was asking $250. It wasnt a bad price in light of the present mosin climate. I just didnt want to take the chance on buying a bastardized mosin.

[WeldonHunter]

Thanks Lee. I was standing there staring into this crate thinking should I walk away or not. I would have kicked myself sideways if it turned out they were unique and I should have got one. So then they must have ground the bolts and re-stamped them at the factory. I wonder how many other 'matching' bolts are ground and restamped. Thank the Mosin Gods that they havent made Remington stamps yet!

Like Lee says if it's refurbished, which most are, it's been force matched. This explains it well----> http://www.russian-mosin-nagant.com/ref ... index.html

[Darryl]

RGUNS used to sell these. Probably where they came from, but SAMCO also sold some. They were standard M91/30's that were refurbished and had a sniper bolt put on at that time. Perhaps they ran out of standard bolts and used what they had left? But they were imported into the USA that way.

.....D

[redeuce]

Rguns has had them for a long time. They still have them at $175.

[zeebill]

Refurbs have basically no rules! Anything is possible! Would I buy one for $250? Probably not if RGUns had them for markedly less. The real test would be to see how many were left at the end of the weekend and to see if the people who bought them had any knowledge of what they had bought. I some how doubt they did and would think they were sort of in the want to Bubba and mount a scope class. The ones that SAMCO had sort of had some legitimacy to them as I remember didn't they? Bill

[Darryl]

Refurbs have basically no rules! Anything is possible! Would I buy one for $250? Probably not if RGUns had them for markedly less. The real test would be to see how many were left at the end of the weekend and to see if the people who bought them had any knowledge of what they had bought. I some how doubt they did and would think they were sort of in the want to Bubba and mount a scope class. The ones that SAMCO had sort of had some legitimacy to them as I remember didn't they? Bill

The ones from SAMCO with "legitimacy were the snipers with the pins still in them with the bent bolt. They were Russian rifles during WWII, then sent to Yugoslavia after the war. They removed the mount, base and scopes and sold them. Samco bought them. They are still in "sniper configuration", just missing the scope setup. There is another way of telling if they went to Yugoslavia.

They also sold Standard M91/30's that were not "exsnipers" and never had a scope on them. But, they did have a real sniper bent bolt on them. But they have never been in sniper configuration. RGUNS and a few other got a few crates of these rifles also. These had to be done during refurb and they came from the Ukraine in those big crates, not in the individual boxed rifles we see from Russia.

......D

[NLMosin]

You guys are great. Saved me from wasting money. I will get one from RG if I decide.