Finn M-39's at Classic Firearms..

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capt14k

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The ATF definitely put pressure on Pat Burns. My FFL in NJ was contacted by ATF Agent and they wanted all info pertaining to rifles he transferred from the Burns'. The problem was none of the Burns' have an FFL and they have been selling the rifles for years saying they are selling their private collection. My understanding is the husband and his brother lost their FFL years ago. The Burns' have controlled the market on M39s since they imported the last of them (rumored to have been over 20,000). As for the Classic M39s it looks as though Pat dumped the worst of her M39s on Classic and SOG. She is still selling their quality M39s on Gunbroker but no longer through their site. As for getting up in age yes Pat is however their sons run the day to day operations of the business. I wouldn't be surprised once Classic and SOG sell out that they will be selling again through their site. It's rumored that even after the Classic and SOG sales they still have thousands of M39s. My suggestion is to wait or check out their auctions rather than buying from Classic. People have had better luck with SOG but still nothing special. A simple Google search will link to plenty of pics from unhappy buyers.
 

bsmith918

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The ATF definitely put pressure on Pat Burns. My FFL in NJ was contacted by ATF Agent and they wanted all info pertaining to rifles he transferred from the Burns'. The problem was none of the Burns' have an FFL and they have been selling the rifles for years saying they are selling their private collection. My understanding is the husband and his brother lost their FFL years ago. The Burns' have controlled the market on M39s since they imported the last of them (rumored to have been over 20,000). As for the Classic M39s it looks as though Pat dumped the worst of her M39s on Classic and SOG. She is still selling their quality M39s on Gunbroker but no longer through their site. As for getting up in age yes Pat is however their sons run the day to day operations of the business. I wouldn't be surprised once Classic and SOG sell out that they will be selling again through their site. It's rumored that even after the Classic and SOG sales they still have thousands of M39s. My suggestion is to wait or check out their auctions rather than buying from Classic. People have had better luck with SOG but still nothing special. A simple Google search will link to plenty of pics from unhappy buyers.

Pretty much the same as I have heard on several collector forums. The rifles I ordered through Pat were always fairly described and the prices were not too out of whack. My statement about the ATF/Burns was to say that I doubt the ATF forced them to sell to Classic. I am just under the assumption that they were made a really good offer for the more beat up rifles with an agreement not to compete with Classic for sales until they are OoS. You are wrong on the recent SOG rifles. I received two rifles from them and both were unissued. There were a lot of rare rifles to come out of that recent batch. Several were B's, a few sneaks, a round receiver, and a ton of unissued guns. There were some other gems too. The SOG rifles certainly didn't com from Burns. They even have the markings that were put on for foreign civilian sales, some kind of lion. The SOG rifles were also mostly labeled as 53r instead of 54r, though they are D chamber.
 

capt14k

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Pretty much the same as I have heard on several collector forums. The rifles I ordered through Pat were always fairly described and the prices were not too out of whack. My statement about the ATF/Burns was to say that I doubt the ATF forced them to sell to Classic. I am just under the assumption that they were made a really good offer for the more beat up rifles with an agreement not to compete with Classic for sales until they are OoS. You are wrong on the recent SOG rifles. I received two rifles from them and both were unissued. There were a lot of rare rifles to come out of that recent batch. Several were B's, a few sneaks, a round receiver, and a ton of unissued guns. There were some other gems too. The SOG rifles certainly didn't com from Burns. They even have the markings that were put on for foreign civilian sales, some kind of lion. The SOG rifles were also mostly labeled as 53r instead of 54r, though they are D chamber.

I did read the SOG rifles were better than Classic, but I also read they came from Burns' as well and there were some issues at the start. SOG may have hand selected theirs after that. I will say SOG usually is pretty good. Is there really any dealer that didn't get their M39s via Burns' over the last 30 years? They did import the last of the M39s from Finland.
 

30BulletHoles

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I've got a standard grade Sako on order from Classic currently. I just hope for a good shooter without a cracked stock. If that's what I get then I'll be happy.
 

deerwhacker444

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Good luck! We'd like to see it when it comes in.
I ordered a VKT with the Eagle from CF, came in last week, picked it up today.

Overall I'm more than pleased, nicer than I thought I'd get. The action is gummed up with yellow, dried up looking oil of some sort so the bolt is extremely stiff, but once that gets cleaned up, I think it will be fine. Average amount of dings and scratches, some recoil stiffeners added in the butt area, one plug patch, overall not to bad IMO.

Doesn't feel like a Mosin, feels more like a K31. Sights are very K31'ish. This is a "Mans" rifle, gotta weigh close to 10lbs. Don't think I'll be schlepping this one across the countryside.

Pics Here, if anybody is interested.
 

jbrentd

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I ordered a VKT with the Eagle from CF, came in last week, picked it up today.

Overall I'm more than pleased, nicer than I thought I'd get. The action is gummed up with yellow, dried up looking oil of some sort so the bolt is extremely stiff, but once that gets cleaned up, I think it will be fine. Average amount of dings and scratches, some recoil stiffeners added in the butt area, one plug patch, overall not to bad IMO.

Doesn't feel like a Mosin, feels more like a K31. Sights are very K31'ish. This is a "Mans" rifle, gotta weigh close to 10lbs. Don't think I'll be schlepping this one across the countryside.

Pics Here, if anybody is interested.

Looks great...beautiful stock you got there. Some of them, but not all, have shims for accuracy, I think. If your's does, be mindful of how they were installed when you take it apart. So, you can put them back in the right spot(s).
 

coolhandluke

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I ordered a VKT with the Eagle from CF, came in last week, picked it up today.

Overall I'm more than pleased, nicer than I thought I'd get. The action is gummed up with yellow, dried up looking oil of some sort so the bolt is extremely stiff, but once that gets cleaned up, I think it will be fine. Average amount of dings and scratches, some recoil stiffeners added in the butt area, one plug patch, overall not to bad IMO.

Doesn't feel like a Mosin, feels more like a K31. Sights are very K31'ish. This is a "Mans" rifle, gotta weigh close to 10lbs. Don't think I'll be schlepping this one across the countryside.

Pics Here, if anybody is interested.

Nice rifle...it could be my '42 VKT's twin. Much better than the first batch that came from Classic.

I'm assuming that by "with the eagle" you are referring to the imperial eagle crest still being intact on the receiver. It seems to be much more common for VKT's to still retain their imperial eagles than with the other M39 manufacturers. BTW...the crud gumming up the action is typical Finnish preservative grease. If it's a rifle that you plan to shoot, field strip her and give everything (but the wood) a good bath in mineral spirits while hitting all the nooks and crannies with a stiff nylon brush. If it's a rifle that you plan to set aside as a part of your collection, go ahead and leave the grease in place. It seems the hardcore collectors prefer them that way.

Do you have a MN bolt tool for disassembling the bolt and for checking firing pin protrusion after you have cleaned and reassembled it?
 

deerwhacker444

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Nice rifle...it could be my '42 VKT's twin. Much better than the first batch that came from Classic.

I'm assuming that by "with the eagle" you are referring to the imperial eagle crest still being intact on the receiver. It seems to be much more common for VKT's to still retain their imperial eagles than with the other M39 manufacturers. BTW...the crud gumming up the action is typical Finnish preservative grease. If it's a rifle that you plan to shoot, field strip her and give everything (but the wood) a good bath in mineral spirits while hitting all the nooks and crannies with a stiff nylon brush. If it's a rifle that you plan to set aside as a part of your collection, go ahead and leave the grease in place. It seems the hardcore collectors prefer them that way.

Do you have a MN bolt tool for disassembling the bolt and for checking firing pin protrusion after you have cleaned and reassembled it?

I plan on shooting this one a good deal, yeah it's the imperial crest. Will definitely break it down in the future for a good cleaning. No I do not have a bolt tool, have never run across any for sale, although I haven't been looking very hard. Stripped down a junker 91/30 bolt once, put it back together just by eyeball'n the firing pin protrusion. Haven't blown a primer yet, but I still should get one of those tools...

Was a little surprised by the trigger, wasn't as good as I as expecting, but it's Way better than my 91/30. I'd describe it as a very light single stage, with Lost of creep and very little discernible "wall". Should work fine once I shoot a few rounds thru it.
 

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