Found a couple Mosins last night.

[bykerhd]

Went to an auction last night. Some interesting stuff there. One of the better deals appeared to be a Remington 1903A3 that went for just under $ 400. There is a 10% buyers premium(rip-off charge) and 6% sales tax added on top of that and all the bids. Looked in very nice shape. looked to be a 2 groove barrel ?
I ended up with a 91/30 Finn capture and a Russian M-44. Bought both and paid just under $170 for the pair after adding in the 10% premium and sales tax.
The 91/30 is a 1938 Tula round receiver in a Finn potbelly stock. The bore looks excellent, the stock has some light handling dings, but is overall very nice. The bluing is maybe 70% and the numbers are pretty standard Finn mixmaster. The bolt has several lined out numbers, but the bolt handle has the same last numbers as the barrel shank. Overall, quite a nice 91/30 with the very small Century import mark.
The M-44 is a 1946 Izhevsk refurb, The nicest refurb I have seen yet with every number matching and a like new bore. Bluing is perfect and the stock is excellent with no flaking varnish, although the color is more yellow than reddish like many are. I'm assuming it is a refurb due to softened metal edges, but I don't know that.

[bykerhd]

Here is a bit closer picture. The M-44 has an all leather sling with a brass buckle and sewn ends. Very heavy leather although showing wear. I hadn't seen one like it before. Looks to have a star stamped on the leather in one spot.

[MTS]

Pretty good deal on these rifles.

I think the 03-A3 is pretty overrated, anyway.

[DYNOMIKE]

Nice find!
I like the color of the wood on both rifles..:whiskey:

[bykerhd]

The Finned 91/30 turns out to have been counterbored in about 3/8". Hard to understand as the bore is really excellent. I'm looking forward to shooting both. The more I look at it, the more I think the M-44 may be in new condition and NOT a refurb. Of course I am probably wrong, but I have never seen a refurb that looks this good and all parts match without any visible signs of wear.

[RS39]

Congrats!

My 1948 M44 also appears to have been made/sighted/stored only before I bought it.

Does the 91/30 have a M39-style 2-stage trigger pull?

[bykerhd]

The trigger on the Finned 91/30 is just standard Mosin.
Certainly does not compare to an M-39.

[Mebsuta]

Of all the Mosins, IMO the pot-bellied Finn is the one have. Of 4-5 Mosins I have had, the Finnish 91/30 was the only one that shot reasonable well for me. 3/8 is a small counterbore. Does it have a Russian or a Finn barrel? That rifle is a good find.

[bykerhd]

The barrel on the Finned Russian 91/30 is marked as 1938 Tula. It has the boxed SA Finn capture stamp.

[bowser]

check the buttstock for a square with slash through it. refurb designation for the wood, a split square or diamond with quadrant lines is refurb mark for the metal.

either way, nice rifles to have.

[masman]

good pickups:) wish i could have made it up there.i would have loved to have had a shot at that finn.oh well maybe next time.did they have anything else?i saw enfields on the list anything special about them?

[bykerhd]

One kind of tired looking No 4 mk I, 2 or 3 sporterized No 1 mk IIIs and a couple hacked up No. 4s Nothing special that I saw. Dirt cheap though. I think a decent looking No. 1 mk III with a scope brought about $ 100. The rest were under $70-80 including the unsporterized No. 4. There were two cut down 1917s too. One went quite high and the other very low. No rhyme or reason to it. Surplus rifles weren't bringing much generally.