Looks like an original bolt that somebody bent with a hammer or something similar. The base of the shaft seems to be more flat on top, if you look close.

Even with the bolt the way it is, you got a great deal. :wink:

*EDIT* I should add that; I don't believe the Finns made their own bolts and it is very common for an M39 to have a mismatched number on the bolt.

 

That wasn't done by the Finn armorers, it's a post-issue mod. You could use it as-is or find a scrubbed bolt body and swap the two parts out.

For $110, that VKT m39 was a steal! Congrats on acquiring what is most likely a MOA rifle for next to nothing

A mismatched bolt on a Finn is definitely the exception and not the norm. The Finns used the purchased and captured parts from Soviet Mosins to build their rifles, but they scrubbed the number off the bolt bodies and stamped them to match the barrel serial.

 

That is a great deal. I just got my first finn last week for 200 bucks and I'm happy as hell with it. I'd would straighten the bolt ot replace it. But that's just me. :wink:

 

I just saw your thread on this at the "other" site. DO NOT FOLLOW THE BONEHEAD SUGGESTION OF CUTTING THE STOCK FOR THE BOLT! :roll:
I would just buy a new bolt body for it ($10-$20).
You got a great deal on this rifle. Don't make it worth less than what you paid for it. :wink:

 

bent?

Yes,looks like Comrade Bubba got carried away w/ hammer,must have forgot the sickle. That is a Russian bolt,cyrillic GP prefix. You can swap out the bolt body,probably will not affect headspace,but check to be sure. You can find a Bubba out there who may want the bent one. Please do not cut the stock ! M39 rifles can be very accurate with good ammo. More accurate than many people shooting them !

 

Re: bent?

M39 rifles can be very accurate with good ammo. More accurate than many people shooting them!

+1

From my '43 Sako at 100 yards. :grin:

 

I love my '39, got it at Roses for 39.95. :shock:

 

I love my '39, got it at Roses for 39.95. :shock:

Roses? She sounds more like a peach with that price. Anyway you call it they both sound sweet!!

 

In the late 90's Milsurps were my crack and Roses' was my dealer...Enfields, Mausers, Mosins, Carcanos ....all under $50

I loved getting the Sunday ads to see what was on special. I'd cut grass, shovel snow, knock over little old ladies, anything to get come cash and convince my dad I needed another gun.

I never could afford those 200.00 Mak 90s or 300.00 Daewoos.

My biggest surprise came at Christmas when my dad bought me a SKS....I still have it....good memories.

 

that was a hell of a deal.

 

I beg to differ, it was done by armorers in Finland. A friend of mine just picked up a few of them from a depot in Finland.

 

Re: bent?

Yes,looks like Comrade Bubba got carried away w/ hammer,must have forgot the sickle. That is a Russian bolt,cyrillic GP prefix. You can swap out the bolt body,probably will not affect headspace,but check to be sure. You can find a Bubba out there who may want the bent one. Please do not cut the stock ! M39 rifles can be very accurate with good ammo. More accurate than many people shooting them !

On a Mosin, the bolthead "sets" the headspace. You can change out any other part of the bolt without affecting headspace.

 

Dont worry, the last thing I would do it carve out some of the stock to fit the bent bolt handle. Clearly some people are a bit off when it comes to these things. The stock is a niceone with the finger joints in the middle. Ill post pics soon. Also, onthe barrel, right near the muzzle, there are 3 numbers, 2 of them have a line through them. The first is 39, then 65, then 72 or something like that. ANy idea of what thats about?

 

I love my '39, got it at Roses for 39.95. :shock:

Me too! Sure wish they still sold guns there. Bought a lot of nice milsurps there over the years. M39s are great rifles! Nice score Fishpaw!

 

From all I've read, I strongly doubt that was done by the Fins.

Get a new bolt body, or straighten your existing out. Either way, you got a helluva score on that rifle. Congrats.

 

My advice is to leave it be and enjoy what you have. I am still researching this with some of my friends in Finland.

 

Dont worry, the last thing I would do it carve out some of the stock to fit the bent bolt handle. Clearly some people are a bit off when it comes to these things. The stock is a niceone with the finger joints in the middle. Ill post pics soon. Also, onthe barrel, right near the muzzle, there are 3 numbers, 2 of them have a line through them. The first is 39, then 65, then 72 or something like that. ANy idea of what thats about?

The armory installed the front sight based on a test firing. Different heights were used to adjust so that the POI equaled the POA.

The grunt in the field wasn't supposed to change that height, so the sight was often marked and the barrel near it with the height in mm (72=7.2mm). An inspecting officer or NCO could then tell at a glance if the sight had been changed by the grunt.

Agreed that the bolt was almost certainly not installed by the Finn armorers, there are no accounts of the M39 with a bent, short bolt. The few snipers based on the M39 used a lengthened bolt. There is precious little leverage, but just enough, when cycling a Mosin with a straight bolt, but what little there is, is further reduced with that short little bent.

All a short bent bolt does is to make an often tough-to-cycle bolt even tougher to cycle.

 

Yes, it was done after all I talked to my friend a bit more about it. He picked up 20 or so bolt bodies from a Finnish depot last month that had been turned down the same way (the only ones they had-the guys at the depot told him they thought they were sniper bolt handles) perhaps done on a small scale- perhaps done and not liked and immediately relegated to the scrap bins-but done none the less.

Some of them have been hollowed out on the bottom of the handle like the German G-33/40. I don't know if any original bolts ever left the factory like that? As I am not a big Mosin connoisseur as of yet I do not know if any were hollowed out at the factory when they were originally produced before the Finns bent and modified them- it just is neat to see such things crop up from time to time.

I was happy when I ran into him at a show last month in Europe and he said to me I know you sometimes you like Mosin sniper stuff and I've got some sniper bolt bodies from one of the depots I go to. I said, cool I could use a few- then he showed me them-and I was very skeptical at first but I picked up the only two hollowed out handles he had- because I did not think any ever left the factory that way so I bought them.

(I will insert my caveat here: Is the one Fishpaw has original? I don't know? Is it possible? I would hazard to guess- a guarded yes(?).

 

If it was done in Finland, wouldn't they have Finn-matched it?

I love my 91/30s, need some carbines now...

Scott

 

I finally got back to my house and was able to snap some photos.

As for matching to the gun I don't know, it is highly possible that it is an aftermarket add-on yes.

 

Flattened and hollowed to clear the stock probably. Interesting!