I have two, a 1938 and a 1942. Both are Tulas and a "hoot to shoot"! They show up mostly at small gun shops, Gun Shows and sometimes at Cabelas on the used gun racks. From all that I have seen the most common wear is at the muzzle. The Ruskys used the steel cleaning rods and attachments in the cleaning kits and weren't too carefull about using the muzzle protector. My '42 has rifleing worn to almost nothing for about the last 3/16" so of the muzzle so once and a while it throws a flyer out there but usually I can get a 5" grouping @100 yrds if I do my job. The '38 is a whole other story. Off of sand bags at 100 yrds it will put them all in a 2 3/4" group all day long. Of course the bore on the '38 is just about perfect.
It will be hard to find a true "numbers matching" but it is possible. I would say if you find one that the numbers are electro-pincled look at it real hard as they are usually not as good a shooter as the ones that have all stamped numbers.
If you don't have shoulders made of steel a good recoil pad or one of the slip on recoil boots is a good investment.
Hope you find one and enjoy it or them as much as I do.
It will be hard to find a true "numbers matching" but it is possible. I would say if you find one that the numbers are electro-pincled look at it real hard as they are usually not as good a shooter as the ones that have all stamped numbers.
If you don't have shoulders made of steel a good recoil pad or one of the slip on recoil boots is a good investment.
Hope you find one and enjoy it or them as much as I do.
