Quote:
Originally Posted by Red October1984
I'll have to look at the Mosin tomorrow and tell for sure...
I'm thinking it's a Tula M91/30...  |
Did you figure out what you have?
A star with a hammer or a triangle with a star or a hammer inside it was produced at Tula.A star with an arrow or bow and arrow inside it was produced at Izhmash. A date from 1930 up on a rifle with a full size barrel makes it a 91/30.A date of 1938 to 1943 on a carbine makes it an M38( these mounted a removable cruciform bayonet just like the 91/30s).A pre 1938 date on a carbine makes it a "dragoon" but those are very rare in the US.
A date of 1944 or later on a carbine makes it an M44 it may or may not have a folding bayonet still attached.If the M44 has folding bayonet but a date of 1943 then you might have one of the 50,000 test run M44s produced in late 1943 or more likely you have an M38 that at some point had an M44 bayonet attached to it.
If you do not see any of the described markings and no Cyrillic letters you most likely have a Finnish Mosin-Nagant.If yours has the words Westinghouse or Remington you have a very rare rifle produced for the Czar but never shipped due to the 1917 Revolution.These rifles where sold on the US market in the 1920's.Except for the ones the A.E.F. left in Murmansk.
If you see a pre 1917 date you have a much rarer rifle as well look for the Russian eagle stamp.
A little known secret about standard 91/30s(none sniper) that many people are not aware of is that the bayonet actually improves the harmonics of the barrel and makes the rifle more accurate.