A lot of the M44s were made postwar and were never used- pretty much new rifles, OTOH M38s tend to have had a lot of use and more often than not, end up on the other end of the wear and tear spectrum.
I would feel comfortable buying a Russian* M44 sight unseen, but I haven't seen too many M38s that I would willingly buy. **
*There have been Romanian and Chinese versions of the M44 imported in the past that tended to be very rough condition.
**I happen to own a romanian M44 and a Russian M38- best examples I could find at local Dunham's stores at the time, both keyhole shots.