Blighty wrote:Rare bird if all matching. Cyrillic script in front of each number, same font, no electro pencilled numbers anywhere including the scope mount? Correct configuration of the woodwork?
After sending loads of photos to a gentleman in the States that is very knowledgeable when it comes to Mosins and Mosin snipers in particular it appears I have a genuine PU sniper that falls within the range of known snipers but it has been through a refurb, below is his assessment of it based on the photos I sent him.
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Thanks for the photos, after viewing them I'm pleased to tell you that your PU is definitely original, and although it has been through the arsenal refurbishment program it falls in the known block of snipers:
https://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...30-sniper-list
The original scope serial would have been on the left side of the shank where that faint number 4 is. It appears to have been removed and it was common to have that done or lined out when passing through the refurb process.On the barrel shank between the Soviet crest and the date there appears to be a partial refurb stamp which looks as though it is a box with a x (same as the mark on the scope body) and would indicate that it was refurbed at the 2nd GRAU Arsenal located in Kiev.
The magazine floor plate is a force matched part that once belonged to a different rifle, although it is nice that the serial number is stamped rather than electro-pencilled.
The box with the x and the 1959 date on the scope indicates that the scope was refurbished when the rifle was refurbished.The scope is indeed a genuine 1940 NKV No.357 "Progress" Plant SVT scope which retains it's original SVT calibrated elevation drum.The giveaways that it is genuine are the crisp edges to the Soviet star above the date, the fact it has a dated known refurb stamp and inspectors stamps between the windage and elevation turrets, the former is never as crisp on reproduction scopes and the latter two are never seen on repro's.The electro-pencilled serial number on the scope mount is original as this serial number was never stamped on genuine PU rifles, but is often mistakenly stamped on fake snipers.
The stock was also refurbished but appears to be the rifles original stock as the sling slot escutcheons are correct for the date of the rifle although unusually there appears to be no visible refurb mark, which are usually in the middle of the right side of the butt.
The black paint on the barrel bands and cleaning rod is typical for a mid to late '50s refurbed rifle.
All in all a honest pretty typical example of an original 1944 PU with one force matched part which is pretty good going compared to some"
Even though it has been refurbed I'm still very pleased with it and for what I paid for it I definitely can't complain!
