Restoration

Mosin Nagant

Counter-bore repair, stock and shellac work, correct bluing, and the patience these rifles deserve. We keep the history — the arsenal marks, the import story — and lose the cosmoline. Send photos and we'll tell you what your Mosin needs.

Shellac, steel, and doing it the Russian way

A Mosin restored with polyurethane and cold blue isn't restored — it's repainted. These rifles wore shellac over birch and hot-blued steel, and that's what ours get: shellac mixed and applied the way the arsenals did it, bluing done properly, and the stamps and arsenal marks left exactly where seventy years put them.

Most Mosins that reach us are honest rifles under a bad refinish or a hardware-store stock repair. Undoing previous work without damaging what's underneath is most of the craft.

Counter-boring and the crown

Decades of corrosive ammunition and steel cleaning rods leave many Mosin muzzles worn at the crown, and accuracy goes with them. Counter-boring — recessing the crown back to good rifling — is the period-correct fix, and it's one the arsenals themselves used. Done right it's invisible from the outside and the rifle shoots like it should.

How a Mosin restoration runs here

Photos & assessment

You send photos — muzzle, bore, stock, markings. We identify the arsenal and date and tell you what's original, what isn't, and what we'd do.

Estimate

A written plan and price. Mosins are affordable rifles and we quote accordingly — we'll tell you when a repair isn't worth its cost.

Metal work

Counter-boring if the crown needs it, rust removal, and hot bluing on our own bench.

Wood & shellac

Stock repairs done to match, then finished in shellac — the correct finish, applied the correct way.

Assembly & record

Function check, headspace check, and before/after photographs with the job record.

Answers

Common questions

Is a Mosin even worth restoring?

That's your call, and we'll give you an honest number to make it with. Plenty of Mosins carry family or unit history that has nothing to do with market price — and plenty of owners just want the rifle right. We quote the work honestly and never talk anyone into restoring a rifle that doesn't need it.

Should the cosmoline actually come out of the stock?

For a rifle that gets shot, yes — cosmoline weeps out of birch every warm day and softens the wood over time. We draw it out before any stock work; shellac won't hold over an oil-saturated surface.

Elsewhere on the bench

Bring us the project.

Start an NFA transfer, ask about a service, or send photos for an estimate. We answer fast.

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