Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The New Addition.

Here is the 91/59 that I picked up when I replaced the M-44 a couple of weeks ago. She was quite a bit more beat up and dirty than showing here. After my last range trip I dissassembled her and completetly stripped the stock. I found this hiding under all of the cosmoline stains. I did use some peroxide to bleach the heavier stains out of the wood.


Today the stripper clips and ammo pouches showed up. Not sure about the stripper clips. They seem fine but are really tricky when loading the rifle. I believe that they are aftermarket so that may have something to do with it. As for the pouches, I am cutting a block of wood to several sections that will approximate the size of the clips. The leather on these pouches has shrank some. I will soak the leather in water and saddlesoap mixture then place the wood inside and allow them to dry some. That should bring them back to functional service(with the proper treatmensts of course).

One thing I really like about Milsurp stuff is its ruggedness. The pouches are of high quality saddle leather not some cheaper nylon garbage like we see in todays gear. Nylon is durable and light, hence why the troops are using it. There is just something about leather and wood and brass that says "I am made for the long haul, not just the show today" to me.
Maybe its the craftsman in me.

No thoughts on todays political scene(that I am willing to share openly) Too disgusted with things as they are and the Media is only adding fuel to the fire for me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Russian M.N. stripper clips are very strange. They seem like bent pieces of aluminum. They do work, though, with some practice. The hardest stripper clips I know of to make work are the British Enfield clips.

Diogenes said...

I figure a few minor cuts and I will get the hang of it. Guess I am somewhat spoiled by the ease that the SKS clips work.

Ryan said...

Seems like a good plan. Getting used to stripper clips and such is weird. My Garand and its en block clips are sort of awkward at least for a guy used to AR's and AK's. Practice makes perfect and worst case just feed loose rounds into the mag.

Anonymous said...

The SKS stripper clips are a hell of a lot easier to use (and find) than the old ones for the Mosin Nagants. I got some reproductions from Sportsmans Guide and they work ok although they are sort of "wobbly" when you strip the rounds into the magazine.

Diogenes said...

I found that using a discharged case near the back of the clip seems to ease the load and actually is rather smooth. I think the strippers I recieved are some of those reproductions. Pretty wobbly and if you try to push from the lead edge of the clip it seems to jam up on the back of the magazine.