Chinese Type 53

[Runamuck]

Thanks to this forum, I am now a designated collector and C&R. My first purchase I went cheap and picked up a type 53 just for fun and get my feet wet. What a nasty ugly greasey piece, cleaned up as well as can be expected for such a cheapo. In the disassembly and clean up I realized it was missing the extractor. Now my question, where to find an extractor and will any Mosin extractor work in this ugly beast. Does anyone at this time think they will increase in value like the SKS that used to be the same price range in the 80s & 90s?. No pics yet as I am afraid it will break my camera.

 

[Dave91]

Any extractor is good. It will go up in value but not nearly like the SKS' did.

 

[Alphabrew]

The SKS rise was amazing. I wouldn't count on that happening again. But who knows, a lot depends on national policy regarding importation.

 

[Melnic]

Should find them on eBay

 

[Americus]

Refinish the stock with a varithane and buff it down with steel wool to the desired level, it feels like you're being a bubba, but you'll thank yourself when its something nice instead of something the dog left out back.

From what i've seen a refinish / restore isn't generally frowned upon when the condition is very poor.

 

[Dave91]

The best way to look at the price increase is probably that the T53 will be worth about half of what an M44 is worth.

 

[Machodoc]

Refinish the stock with a varithane and buff it down with steel wool to the desired level, it feels like you're being a bubba, but you'll thank yourself when its something nice instead of something the dog left out back.

From what i've seen a refinish / restore isn't generally frowned upon when the condition is very poor.

Most collectors would rather have an ugly rifle that's original, than a pretty one that's had all of its history and character removed. Many of us don't mind a bit shooting original rifles that look like the dog left it out back. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

As always, though, it's your rifle. Just don't expect to get a lot of support from a group like this when you go talking about using varithane, etc., on the stock of even a fairly common piece. It may not be so common in another 30 years.

 

[Runamuck]

well this thread is going from looking for an extractor to a debate on refinishing. thanks for the info about what extractor might work and where to find one. I have no intention of completely refinishing this rifle, just an intense clean up and make if functional, not that I am against refinishing just how much time and energy should go into a $100 rifle. this all all about having fun. btw the dog didnt leave it out back, he dug a hole, crapped on it and buried it for the last 50+ years.

 

[Machodoc]

well this thread is going from looking for an extractor to a debate on refinishing. thanks for the info about what extractor might work and where to find one. I have no intention of completely refinishing this rifle, just an intense clean up and make if functional, not that I am against refinishing just how much time and energy should go into a $100 rifle. this all all about having fun. btw the dog didnt leave it out back, he dug a hole, crapped on it and buried it for the last 50+ years.

Your question about an extractor was answered before the thread headed off in other directions. That happens around here.

P.S. ... most of the Chinese carbines look like that. The bring-backs from Viet Nam tended to look like death took a crap on them, and the ones that went through Albania look like death used them for a cosmo suppository. Most collectors would still prefer that, though, to one that someone refinished. (Just look at the difference in value of original v. "sporterized" Enfields, for example. They were once cheap rifles that you could find anywhere, too!)

 

[Runamuck]

Your question about an extractor was answered before the thread headed off in other directions. That happens around here.

Yeah, I was just hoping to nip it in the bud before it stared getting ugly

 

[Machodoc]

Yeah, I was just hoping to nip it in the bud before it stared getting ugly

You're at least a couple of years too late for that! Don't worry about it. It's an ongoing debate around here. It may sound like it's getting ugly, but it usually isn't. Unless someone comes in here to troll around and intentionally piss off the collectors, we all just agree to disagree.

We who are into collecting freely acknowledge the "it's your gun" principle.

In return, those who think of C&R as "cheap and replaceable" need to realize that it's a collector's license, and making certain mods to them takes them out of C&R status. And since this is a collectors' group, nobody should come here expecting the majority of us to encourage anything other than conservation, with occasional accurate restoration when a piece is too far gone for conservation (not very often!).

The only reason we even bother to keep pointing these things out is because there are new folks and lurkers dropping in here all the time. We don't want one of them to read all about how to bubba up guns here, to think it's what "the cool kids do" with older firearms, then go out and screw up something really of value out of ignorance. It does happen (see a recent thread about someone screwing up "just another Mosin" that was a Cossack).

http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=143917

 

[Melnic]

BTW, if you think it's ugly, here is what I did with mine :
http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=102953
Macodoc's Post #7 describes his Conversation process which I followed.
My Post #44 shows finished product.

This was WAY less work than a refinish job and the stock looks more like it matches the finish of the patina of the metal compared to a stock refinish.
I had found a spare M44 stock that I refinished and used the same stain/blo method. I put it on the T53, then looked at it and took it back off and put the conserved original stock back on. My M44 stock and refinish was to me a waste of time. But in the sense that I realized it was not worth it, was worth the time doing to know when and when not to refinish.

 

[Runamuck]

Melnic, yours turned out real nice, I hope to have as much luck with mine. Thanks for the links, I will try the refinishing tricks Machodoc spelled out so nicely. After re-reading the steps a few more times of course. What is the general feeling on the barrel and reciever repair, refinishing. I have a lot of rust much of it pitted, not sure if I should sand down, brush it out as much as possible or re-blue, the bore isnt as bad as the outside luckily. Any hints or tricks, or dare I say, advise are appreciated.
Hope that last statement doesnt open up too much of a can of worms around here.

 

[Melnic]

My muzzle was crap. So it did not shoot well, Others have said theirs shoots well. I had some blackend rust on the bolt. I cleaned with kroil but did not sand, did not buff, did not use navel jelly. It would not look right IMO. I would follow the rejuvination process. Clean it up, disassemble bolt for sure,scrub barrel to get crud out, mineral spirits all the metal then put back together and shoot it.

 

[Machodoc]

My muzzle was crap. So it did not shoot well, Others have said theirs shoots well. I had some blackend rust on the bolt. I cleaned with kroil but did not sand, did not buff, did not use navel jelly. It would not look right IMO. I would follow the rejuvination process. Clean it up, disassemble bolt for sure,scrub barrel to get crud out, mineral spirits all the metal then put back together and shoot it.

^^^ This. You can do a lot of good with kroil and a soft brush, and a lot of harm with more aggressive mechanical methods.

Don't get a Chinese 53 if you are looking for an accurate gun. Most of them have been shot to death and/or abused in other ways, so it's rare to find one with a really nice bore. I got lucky, and did find one, but I did a lot of looking and ordering more than I wanted in order to get that one ... and luck played a big role. Be happy with something that's a piece of history and throws impressive flames out when fired at dusk. Don't worry what you hit with it ... or not ... if you got it as a battle rifle for WWIII, you made a crappy choice to begin with. Just have it on hand so that you can let your friends be able to say that they've shot one. They won't bitch about not holding a 2" group at 200 yards.

My brother has a V-N bring-back that his late neighbor gave him before he passed. He's got the papers for it, has all the info about how the guy got it, etc., and since the fellow was a good friend, it's a very special rifle.

It shoots like crap, with bullets keyholing soon after they leave the barrel. No matter. That's not why he has it.

(The blonde, below, is in remarkably good cosmetic, and excellent mechanical, condition for a type 53. The brunette below it is far more typical of what you'll get from online dealers ... but it's all good!)