Spring Cleaning.......

[Retired Sarge]

Weapons Spring Cleaning.......

Did a little spring cleaning and gun maintenance, here's about half (22) from the collection. There is about 22 more guns between two of the MBR closets that I need to pull out and go over and move. Now that the upstairs part of the house in completely repaired (Hurricane Michael damage).

CINC Household had me move the guns upstairs for storage until we convert the garage. Which will become the new office/militaria/gun room.

 

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[Forest Mosquito]

Hello.
Very, very amazing.

 

[Fat]

That is nice cache you have going there. I really like a mannlicher stock.
Are they all still functional?
Have you fired them all?
Which one is your favorite?

 

[Retired Sarge]

That is nice cache you have going there. I really like a mannlicher stock.
Are they all still functional?
Have you fired them all?
Which one is your favorite?

All are functional.....I've fired about 90% of my weapons thus far, I'm not a reloader which leads to not being able to shoot some of them as often as I would like....As for my favorite, that is a hard one, they all have things about them that I love.

Some I like because of their history, such as the 1863 P1853 Snider-Enfield (Afghanistan bringback but not a Khyber Pass copy), or the DOT 44 K98k Mauser my Grandfather was forced labor in the factory that made it so he could have touched it. The reasons (excuses) are endless......

If there is a specific weapon you would like to see from my small collection let me know, and I'll post up some pictures of it/them.

 

[Fat]

..... I love them all. Anything you choose to show will help educate me and the masses. The more I get to see and read about, the more I learn. IMHO
I’m more familiar with older lever action “cowboy” style rifles and rolling blocks are a favorite too. Ihave hunted with several different shotgun models Win12s Rem870-1100, Browning humpbacks, beretta 390s, Mossbergs, Banellis, Ithaca’s, and more.
I would like to buy a H&K in a 308 cal. but there are many things on that like to own list and probably a few needs before wants for now. Take care.

 

[releventchair]

Well , a guy can imagine looking at your pics...

Is that a 49 Tula SKS?

 

[xr7ator]

Interesting. The thread is titled "spring cleaning" until you open it and then it's "weapons spring cleaning".

 

[releventchair]

Interesting. The thread is titled "spring cleaning" until you open it and then it's "weapons spring cleaning".

Spring is as good a time as any.
Besides, it's hard to sleep on top of a pile of weapons. Or to wash the winter dust and dander off the blankets before storing the heavy ones , when you have to keep moving guns around.

It got so bad here I had a weak moment and sold one to make room for another....

 

[Retired Sarge]

Well , a guy can imagine looking at your pics...

Is that a 49 Tula SKS?

It's an 1956 Jianshe made one, made under Soviet tutelage in China, so no arsenal markings on it. It ended up in Albania some years later as aid and has stock graffiti on it.

 

[Retired Sarge]

..... I love them all. Anything you choose to show will help educate me and the masses. The more I get to see and read about, the more I learn. IMHO
I’m more familiar with older lever action “cowboy” style rifles and rolling blocks are a favorite too. Ihave hunted with several different shotgun models Win12s Rem870-1100, Browning humpbacks, beretta 390s, Mossbergs, Banellis, Ithaca’s, and more.
I would like to buy a H&K in a 308 cal. but there are many things on that like to own list and probably a few needs before wants for now. Take care.

The closest I have to cowboy style is this.

1960s/70s JP Sauer & Sohn Western Marshall 44 Magnum and leather rig my dad bought for it while we were stationed in Mountain Home Idaho (75-77). There is no way to narrow down the date of the these that I know of. My dad carried it when we/he went hunting to dispatch snakes, and if needed to put a wounded animal down. I inherited it in Sept 2011 just a week or so prior to his passing. I fired it once as a skinny arsed kid at around 8-9 years of age. The recoil caused the hammer to hit me in the fore head busting it wide open. Never fired it again until I inherited it and was honestly afraid to pull the trigger. She kicks hard, bruises my hand, because I just can't relax when I shoot it, I always try to strangle the damn thing when I shoot it. The last picture shows it after I replaced the broken ejector rod tube.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Well , a guy can imagine looking at your pics...

Is that a 49 Tula SKS?

Based on what I've read it's an early Chinese made SKS (M56) made under Soviet supervison, which was later sent to Albania as aid by the Chinese aka Sino-Albanian SKS. Not a letter gun (Sino-Soviet), and not arsenal marked, 5 digit SN commonly referred to as a "Ghost". These so called Ghost series rifles leave a lot of speculation.

Receiver, trigger guard and magazine SN's match 60932, bolt is SN F4460, and the rear housing is SN E2634. The entire stock is wood to include the hand guard. The rear sight has the Russian/Cyrillic n stamped on it.

I love the been there, done that look of the rifle and the stock graffiti, she has a story to tell that is for sure.

When we picked her up, there was 3 brand new looking ones and this one. I was looking at Gew 88, when my wife asked to see this one. The guy behind the counter tried to talk her into one of the new looking ones. She responded with "This one has a story" and "This is the type of guns we buy/collect". Then when I moved on from the Gew 88 (Too many issues), and caught up with my wife. She asked me if I liked it, said yeap and she went home with us.

Stock graffiti and locations.

J.B. on the buttstock
FZ on the forestock beneath handguard area
EM on the forestock beneath handguard area
Ism. Muh. on the side of stock above trigger assembly
P. Komcë on the side of stock above trigger assembly

 

[Retired Sarge]

..... I love them all. Anything you choose to show will help educate me and the masses. The more I get to see and read about, the more I learn. IMHO
I’m more familiar with older lever action “cowboy” style rifles and rolling blocks are a favorite too. Ihave hunted with several different shotgun models Win12s Rem870-1100, Browning humpbacks, beretta 390s, Mossbergs, Banellis, Ithaca’s, and more.
I would like to buy a H&K in a 308 cal. but there are many things on that like to own list and probably a few needs before wants for now. Take care.

The only lever gun I own....

Here's a 1973 Marlin Original Golden - 39M my father purchased new from the Rod & Gun Club at Zaragoza AB, Spain in 73. It was the gun I Iearned to shoot with, and the gun I carried for hunting for 1 1/2 years before we moved to Kadena AB, Okinawa, I was responsible for its upkeep and cleaning while we were stationed at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. He bought the sling at the same time and they've been together since. The rifle has the Bullseye decoration on the bottom of the buttstock, which Marlin has done to walnut stocked guns for sometime. Pain to get a picture of it due to the sling.

I inherited the rifle in Sept 2011 a week or so prior to my dads passing. The gun was stored in less than desirable conditions for some years prior to me getting it.

 

[releventchair]

I've a late (81 maybe) Chinese SKS that's minty.
Factory/arsenal 974.
Like many Chines SKS's , figuring out what was made where and when can get interesting. Or futile...
History though , if only in the design alone.

Your graffiti might include some trench "art". Regardless ,it's has it's own provenance , known more to it's former users. But no less real.

 

[Gene Mean]

Very cool! They make for nice decor around the house.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Very cool! They make for nice decor around the house.

Yeap lots of "Decor" around here.......

 

[Retired Sarge]

I've a late (81 maybe) Chinese SKS that's minty.
Factory/arsenal 974.
Like many Chines SKS's , figuring out what was made where and when can get interesting. Or futile...
History though , if only in the design alone.

Your graffiti might include some trench "art". Regardless ,it's has it's own provenance , known more to it's former users. But no less real.

Thought of getting a minty one a few times, plus finding Russian and Albanian examples.....But life gets in the way sometimes. Hoping all the hype and panic dies down some and prices stabilize again so I can hunt for my next toy.

She has a story, just wish I could hear it.....Regardless i like the "Ole Warhorse"!

 

[releventchair]

Thought of getting a minty one a few times, plus finding Russian and Albanian examples.....But life gets in the way sometimes. Hoping all the hype and panic dies down some and prices stabilize again so I can hunt for my next toy.

She has a story, just wish I could hear it.....Regardless i like the "Ole Warhorse"!

This ones only minty cause the previous owner bought it new ,then auctioned it off at a small town auction after setting on it for decades plus. And it was much cheaper than they been going for.... The limited scope of customers probably helped. But the seller made out alright too compared to what he paid.
Numbers match. No noticeable character from previous owner, or use.
The box it came in has character though.
K.B.I. import. Neatly stamped in small print. No laser type engraving here or there.


I been keeping an eye out in case he puts another one up for auction. Just in case bids are too low again. Danged things keep going up since production ended and importing got so diced up.
No more offered lately though. Maybe next week.....L.o.l..
Other rifles do well there. To rich for my blood usually.
One shotgun I have a mate to was sold (no , not by me) there for over ten times what I paid long ago. Can't say it didn't hold it's value...

There are some Carcano rounds that were not attracting much interest. (Most ammo gets out of hand with bids.)
I'll check them shortly as tonight the bidding ends in a couple hours or less.

 

[Retired Sarge]

That is nice cache you have going there. I really like a mannlicher stock.
Are they all still functional?
Have you fired them all?
Which one is your favorite?

I should add I have slings and bayonets etc for the majority of them. I need 3 M91 Mosin Nagant lock-ring bayonets (Originally needed 2, but I broke the lock-ring on the one I already had), and a bayonet for the M95 Steyr Mannlicher carbine. Plus one sling for something and one cleaning rod for the Swiss Vetterli M69/71, oh and a scabbard for my M1 Garand bayonet.

I'm sort of retentive in the fact I make my weapons 100%.

 

[Retired Sarge]

This ones only minty cause the previous owner bought it new ,then auctioned it off at a small town auction after setting on it for decades plus. And it was much cheaper than they been going for.... The limited scope of customers probably helped. But the seller made out alright too compared to what he paid.
Numbers match. No noticeable character from previous owner, or use.
The box it came in has character though.
K.B.I. import. Neatly stamped in small print. No laser type engraving here or there.


I been keeping an eye out in case he puts another one up for auction. Just in case bids are too low again. Danged things keep going up since production ended and importing got so diced up.
No more offered lately though. Maybe next week.....L.o.l..
Other rifles do well there. To rich for my blood usually.
One shotgun I have a mate to was sold (no , not by me) there for over ten times what I paid long ago. Can't say it didn't hold it's value...

There are some Carcano rounds that were not attracting much interest. (Most ammo gets out of hand with bids.)
I'll check them shortly as tonight the bidding ends in a couple hours or less.

Prices are ridiculously high right now. Here's some recent (30 Jan 2021, when I did my last check for my semi annual gun records update) hammer prices for M91/30s on GB. The same guns that people balked at paying $100.00 for in 2011 when I bought my first one, and for even less before that.

1933 Izhevsk $800.00
1935 Tula $755.00
1942 Izhevsk $695.00
1943 Izhevsk $660.00

Russian Capture K98ks were in the $200.00 to 300.00 range and people were saying no way they'd pay that much for a mix-master. Now they are in the $700.00, range, heck even Turkish Mausers are commanding high prices and some of them were worn out dogs.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Finished cleaning up the last of the rifles, there is one rifle I need to get a stubborn bayonet off of. So it's disassembled and not on the racks. Now I get to start on the handguns.