Alright, I'll bite. I've spent a lot of time at a bridgeport and lathe slaving over milsurp Mosin Nagants. Some of you guys may bitch that I shouldn't sporterize an antique .. my repsonse to that is always - I bought it, it's my gun, I'll do what I want. If it counts for anything, for every modified MN I have, I have a cleaner version of that same rifle dead stock in a box hidden somewhere.
Here is my first M44 that had a horrible crown on it. I cut the barrel down and built a 'flash suppressor' out of a small block Chevy wrist pin in the bridgeport. Also turned the inner diameter down in the lathe so it was a press fit on the barrel. Pressed it on and slowly TIG welded it on. Then threw the whole thing back in the lathe and made the seam .. well.. seamless. The scope mount was lined up and drilled/tapped in the bridgeport as well - and the stock was relieved for the bent bolt handle that I TIG'd to the original bolt. Yes, thats a cheapy 40mm red dot BSA on there - and yes it's a riot to shoot. It also for some reason has the BEST milsurp trigger I have ever felt -
Next is my first 91/30. It was originally drilled and tapped for the same scope mount as the M44 - until I found this super heavy duty unit from Rock Solid. They were smart enough to make the two front bolts the same as the 'other' version, but have a third bolt towards the rear of the receiver going into the side. I removed the iron sights off this rifle the same as I did the M44 - and it is a major pain in the ass. I put the barrel in the lathe and smoothed a few of the major barrel diameter steps as well as polishing out some minor imperfections. The 'sporter' stock was relieved for the bent bolt handle and the barrel channel was opened up till the barrel fully floated in it. Bent bolt TIG welded on - and this gun has a Huber Concepts 'ball bearing' trigger in it - which isn't ANYWHERE near as nice as the factory trigger in that M44 (I've never felt another as nice) - but is a major improvement from most milsurp MN's. It was then given the zombie skull duracoat job in the cross-hatched sections of the stock as well as the magazine sides (inspired by a guy on another board - gotta give you props USMCDOC
![icon_mrgreen [smilie=icon_mrgreen.gif]](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
- those zombies ain't gonna kill themselves you know! ) And yes, she gets a LOT of looks at the range ...
The latest is another 91/30 that I am converting to an 'original' style sniper rifle with the side mounted fixed power Russian scope for a friend. It has about an hour in the bridgeport for the scope mount and for finish maching the bolt itself. He didn't want to relieve the stock for the aftermarket bent style bolts and wanted a more correct out-swept style. So I stole a big block chevy stainless intake valve and cut the head off it - put it in the vice and heated it - bent it till it looked right and TIG welded it into the bolt. We're not done refinishing the wood for the stock yet, but we've laser sighted the scope in and it's damn close. You need to get those close as those old school scopes actually move the reticle inside the scope... creepy

You can still see the retainer groove on the valve stem - but as soon as he decides what he wants for a bolt handle, I'll weld it on and we'll be done with the machine work on that thing.
I have a lot more - but I'm wrestling with this damn camera trying to figure out how to get better pics out of it... to be continued -
Rob -