When I was a kid, I lived for a year in Tachikawa, Japan during the Korean War. Many GI's brought back Mosin-Nagants from Korea. The Chinese People's Volunteers had contributed them to our cause. Most were 91/30's.

These rifles were in much better condition than the rusty junk we picked up in RVN later. Many of these rifles were taken to a Japanese gunsmith shop in Tachikawa. Here they had the bolt handles altered to Mannlicher-Schoenauer shape, the barrels were cut to 22"-24", new sights fitted, polished and blued, andrestocked withsporter-style stocks. Some were even engraved! Now, we regard such work on an M/N to be a waste of time and money, due to the basic crudeness of the weapon and the low prices they command. Yet many of those rifles were quite nice after the work was done, and at that time, Remington was still loading 7.62X54R ammo in this country.

Despite its rather strange design features, the basic crudeness of the M/N rifles is pretty much "skin deep", limited to the lack of a decent final fitting and finishing. The things are tough, serviceable, and accuurate. If one has an M/N that is not all rused up and pitted, a little cosmetic work like hand-polishing, bluing and restocking can turn one into a nice rifle. Particularly now, since scope mounts are available for them. The 91/30 is an excellent basis for such work, especiallyones with the octagon shaped receiver.