I figured those M38s were from there. I probably had my hands all over those, too. I'm only an hour from the shop, but only recently 'discovered' it when I was on a truck parts hunting trip. I'm glad this SCW made it to a good home. I have a few others up my sleeve. I'll have something cool to show off by the end of the week which Brandon talked me into buying. When was the last time you were up here?

Dave, did this one come from On Target?

This is a rifle I picked up back in October which some of you may have seen already, but I haven't shared it here. I bought this from a guy, who had owned it for 20 or so years, for $75. It is a 1960 like most other Vietnam capture rifles. Most of the metal is turned to a dark brown patina with pitting mostly on the receiver. The stock is war time WWII Russian and the buttplate still has the Russian serial number which is still readable. I believe the rifle this stock was wrapped around was knocked out by a bullet as there is a evidence of a bullet impact by the nose cap. The stock had splintered and it was repaired with some kind of putty which is quite hard. When looking from the inside of the stock you can see where the edge nose cap was pushed into the stock and is now a permanent fixture. The handguard is missing a good chunk which I am not sure is as old as the other damage on the rifle. The bayonet was broken in half or otherwise damaged as it looks to have been welded back together. It was a fairly clean job and it still folds into place nicely. It must've took some force to break, it kind of makes you curious how it happened. The mag and bolt are matching to each other and are earlier Chinese evident by their 7 digit numbers. The bore is dirty and a bit rusty, but I can still make out decent rifling. I don't really plan to shoot this rifle anyway. That's about what I can remember at the moment. I don't have papers, but the rifle lacks import marks and the evidence, I believe, is pretty strong in favor of a Vietnam capture. Enjoy!

Sweet! I have a 1920/53 Izhevsk MO ExDragoon my girlfriend bought me from Cabelas. It was so heavily scrubbed during refurb the receiver flats almost match the contour of the barrel. Markings are still present and readable, but very scrubbed over. It saw some poor post-refurb storage as the buttplate is rusted terribly and you can't read the number. The pressed eschuteons on the stock are heavily rusted and there was a good deal of patchy pitting along most of the barrel under the woodline. This rifle has had a hard life.

Lotta, I saw a regular refurb on the rack at Cabelas with similar "damage" on the side of the receiver like that. I didn't quite know what to think of it. I thought it was more of a manufacturing error as it was a war time rifle. I think the age and use of your rifle lends more evidence towards being some kind of battle damage though. Cool rifle!


Here is the only crappy picture I have of my first. It's just a typical 1925 Izhevsk Ex-Dragoon. I paid about $80 or $90 for it about 10 years ago. I had some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket and didn't really care what I bought at the small gun show dad took my brother and I to. It was about all I could afford! I actually went a few years before I bought another, a '44 Izhevsk M44 non-refurb, I paid $60 for it. Last year my Mosin Nagant collecting exploding and I brought home #12 a few weeks ago, a '60 T53 which is likely a Vietnam bringback.

http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/reply/79385/Recent-experience-shooting-the-1889-rifle#reply-79385

Here is a thread for what it's worth on shooting the 1889. My local Gander has some put the retards workings there wouldn't listen to me when I told them they had the caliber labeled wrong. I don't know if I'll buy one from them now. Anyways, That's about the going price for them.