Picked up a few ratty Chinese Type-53 rifles recently.  I knew these things were rough, but also heard they would make decent shooters.  First thing noticed when taking them outta the box was the incredible amount of dirt and cosmoline on these things, smelled pretty funky too. With lotsa time and elbow grease, a heat gun and cleaning supplies, they cleaned up decent, not all that much rust on the metal and the stocks were in one piece.  Bores are great, one even looked brand new and shiny after I was done with it.  Must have been all the cosmo that was jam packed in there.  Overall, these are mechanically all there.  After double checking the basics I took them to the range.  Jackpot!  They shoot great!  The one with the rattiest stock (they all look ratty) was grouping the size of a quarter at 25 yds with open sights.  Cant wait to try them on the 50yd.  Super pumped after shooting these pieces of history.  Only drawback is my Brother already decided he will be taking one off my hands. 

Nice! I'm looking for a M44 (Polish, Hungarian, Russian) myself. The Chinese ones just don't do it for me. Lol I'm glad they seem to be a good buy for you. From what I can see in the pic, the metal seems really nice.

If you don't mind, where did you get them?

These the ones from Buds?

Got 'em from Buds.  If you have alot of time and dont mind taking a horror story and turning it into a fun shooter, get one. 

Thanks. I bought a couple of "shooter" quality Mosins from AIM a few months ago so something that needs work isn't a problem.

Jeff, I bet those Aim shooter grade Mosins are in way better condition that these were.  You could almost swear these things were buried in a sewer when they came outta the box.  I say grab one if you dont mind taking the time to fix these up.