Finnish M39 Rifles With Cracked Stocks And Surface Rust

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Since we began our M39 rifle project we have encountered a number of M39 rifles that we have sorted out of our primary inventory due to the rifles having cracked stocks and / or rust present on the rifle. In the best case scenario the crack may not even be apparent without close examination or in other cases the crack may be very evident upon first glance. In many cases the cracks are very minor, or in non- stress bearing areas such as the forearm or the handguard and should not interfere with the function of the rifle even if no action is taken to repair the crack.

However, in other cases, the crack may be in the grip area of the stock,or linear within the buttstock portion of the stock. These are recoil bearing areas and cracks in these places may be prone to worsen over time if not repaired. In most all cases, if you so desire and possess even a small degree of wood working skills, these cracks should be repairable. One method of repair (and the one I use) will be explained further down.

In all cases the cracks will be just that, cracks, there will be no broken or incomplete stocks here, only rifles with some type of crack in the stock.

As for the rust, there are far less of these rifles than there are rifles with cracks, however, we have encountered some rifles with varying degrees of rust on the metal surface. In most cases the rust is minor and will be limited to surface rust, typically at connector points or just along the stock line or under the stock. In no cases will the rust be to such an extent as to make the rifle unsafe to fire and in fact most rifles should clean up fine with a little navel gel and some elbow grease. In the very worst scenario’s you may expect some speckling or pitting in certain areas of the metals surface but again even that would be limited to only a few rifles in the entire group.

The overall condition of any of these rifles will be reflected by a cross section of the entire lot. In other words, some (with the exception of rust, or a cracked stock) would have been considered hand select with otherwise very good bluing or wood. Others will be more of the standard grade showing the typical dings, scratches, and bluing wear of any of our standard rifles in addition to the cracks / rust.

With the exception of manufacturer, purchase of our cracked or rusted M39’s will be luck of the draw and we will not hand select or honor any special request in regards to these rifles. In other words, someone will get the best one and someone will get the worst one. Some may have highly desirable markings or characteristics such as Imperial Eagle stampings or Hang Tags and others will be Plain Jane.
You may get a high value rifle with a very minor crack in the handguard, or a very standard grade rifle with a cracked stock and some rust and pitting. The only thing for certain is that each one of these rifles will have some degree of a crack on the stock and /or some rust. Also, at this price point, we are not accepting any returns. We have made every effort to describe these honestly and at this price point the flaws in the rifles have been compensated for. All sales on these will be final. We feel that the risk of getting a rifle at this price point that you are not satisfied with is very low but if you are not willing to take that chance we encourage you not to buy one of these rifles.

How to repair a cracked stock.

I have repaired many of these types of stock cracks with great success. Virtually all of the cracks will run linear with the wood grain and so can easily be repaired by simply pulling the cracked surfaces back together and bonding them. For cracks on the handguards or forearms simply gently spread the crack and apply some good wood glue to the inner surfaces and then bind until dry. Cracks in heavier wood such as the butt stock or pistol grip area can be repaired by counter boring into the wood surface enough to let a screw head pass below the surface of the wood, and then using an electric driver to pass wood glue coated Philips head wood screw(s) through the crack to draw the crack together. In extreme cases you can torque the stock to open the crack as much as possible and then apply wood glue to the inside of the crack before utilizing the method above to finalize the repair. Then the stock can be wrapped or vised tightly until the repair sets. Afterwards the counter bored areas can be filled in with dowels or wood putty and flushed to the surface. This replicates the method that the arsenals use in repairing cracks or flaws in the wood stocks.