I picked up this Ex-Dragoon Mosin at Surplus City the other day. It has a 1925 Izzy barrel on a 1917 Tula reciever. The gun at some point in time was captured by Finns and re-captured by Russia. When the Russians re-captured it they scrubbed most of the Finnish markings off of the gun. I dont know if it was in Dragoon configuration when the Finns had it, or the Russians updated it into 91/30 specs before capture. There is a ton of blood pitting on the gun so it definately saw action, but the bore is immaculate. The Russians scrubbed the hell out of the gun, so there is a bunch of "hidden" markings that I am deciphering now. For those of yall that think Mosins are worthless junk, I paid $125 for the gun and have already been offered over $500 for it, and I haven't even had it for 48hrs yet. It pays to be on the prowl when you see some interesting marks.

"Blood pitting"?

 

Is that what it sounds like? If so , how can you tell what caused the pitting?

Blood pitting is just like it sounds, pitting caused by blood. Blood is rich in oxygen which causes metal to pit extremely fast. I will try to get some pics of what i am talking about, but you can normally tell when it is localized pitting. It looks like something spilled or splashed on the gun and the pitted area has a liquid shape. the metal out of the area looks fine, but in that one spot you will see a lot of pitting. It is hard to describe, I will try my hardest to get a pic for you so you can see.

Here is a Russian PU sniper scope that has blood pitting on it. You can see how it looks like something spilled on the scope. The guy that owns the scope had it tested, and it tested positive for human blood.

and a Mosin Mag...

I'm not even going to express my feelings towards you at this moment since it mostly would get bleeped out.

 

Now I really have to take apart my ex-dragoon and see if I got lucky as well.

Thanks for the explanation and pics Eric. I had no idea our blood is like Alien acid blood when in contact with metal (albeit not as potent).

 

Very fascinating, and would explain a strange pitted area on my NEW Mosin. I noticed it on the underside of the barrel in front of the chamber. I'll check it later on to see if it matches the same type of of thing as your pics.

 

This knowledge brings a whole new level of historical meaning to surplus arms in my mind, even if it is quite morbid.

Yeah, that creeps me out a little bit. What if the gun is haunted by the person whose blood is on it?? How do you kill a zombie rifle??

Yeah, that creeps me out a little bit. What if the gun is haunted by the person whose blood is on it?? How do you kill a zombie rifle??

 

Shoot it in the action it's the only way they go down!

Eric - back to Pink Unicorn status for you.

 

I don't care that I have met you personally - I still, STILL don't believe that you, or your so called "deals" exist.

Nice find

did you shoot it today ?

Damn, that's a piece of history right there homie! With proof!!!

I haven't exactly hidden my disdain for mosins, but I have to admit, that one is quite the specimen. Question tho - is that the original wood? Not sure if it's the picture or not, but the wood looks immaculate!

Original wood, the reason it looks so sharp is because its a laminate stock

I guess Mosins usually don't have laminated wood? I can't remember ever seeing wood like that on a mosin before

laminated wood on mosins is not common but I wouldn't say extremely rare. Having a laminated stock definitely up's the value of the gun a significant amount from about 100 to about 150ish and up IMO. Then on top of it being an Ex- Dragoon and then on top of all of that, the fact that it was an Austrian captured gun, and all Austrian captured guns were sold to the Finnish, then it was re-captured by the Germans and then re-arsenaled through the Germans. That history right there will send the price of this gun skyrocketing. Eric has already had an offer of over 500 dollars in less than 48 hours. A gun like this doesn't come around pretty much ever.

cool - thx for the info Matt

no problem, always here to pass on the surplus fever!!

no problem, always here to pass on the surplus fever!!

 

I don't think he'll catch it, unless they were selling old M9 Beretta's or Colt M16s!