Many years ago when I was in my teens, I saw a magazine advertisement for military surplus rifles, $50 apiece or two for $75. I pooled my paper route money and bought two, one Mauser and one Mosin. They arrived in old boxes, wrapped in waxed paper and packed (and I mean PACKED) in some sort of heavy yellowish grease, probably Cosmoline. It took me three days to clean up the Mauser and it was such a pain in the keyster that I left the Mosin in the box. Fast forward 36 years: Yesterday I finally got around to breaking out the Mosin and cleaning it up some, still a long way to go. In any event, the bore is in great shape, rifling intact throughout and the metal overall is in great shape with the exception of the clamping rings around the fore-stock, they are corroded a wee bit. Near as I can tell by doing some research on the net, I have a Mosin Nagant model 24, the underside of the barrel is stamped Bohler-Stahl, the top of the barrel has a Christmas Tree stamp with an “S” enclosed in some sort of double triangle underneath the Tree stamp. I’m looking for a project so I’m thinking of modernizing this rifle but, I don’t want to if I can’t get ammo for it, parts, or have it blow-up in my face. Any comments would be appreciated as I’m NOT a modern firearms collector and know very little about curios and relics. Thanks in advance.