Mosin Nagant attack!

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grimjaw

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Got two of the three rifles I ordered from AIM in today. I went on a Mosin Nagant binge: Finn 91/30, Russian M44 & M38 (M38 is delayed). The numbers on the Finn are all mismatched; M44 is a forced match. The Finn's got quite a bit of wear, but the bore looks good. Trigger is the best of any 91/30 I've handled so far, and I'm very hopeful that it passes the safety checks (headspace, etc).

The Finnish versions of this rifle are very interesting to me. One possible scenario for some of these rifles would be:

- Russians build gun, send into combat against Finland.
- Gun is 'dropped once', and then captured by Finland.
- Gun is rebuilt, sent into combat against Russia.

Aimed at both sides by both sides. I've read about guns that were captured by the opposing side and used in combat (PPSh-41 for instance), but were there any that were taken and rebuilt in such large numbers as the 91/30?

Anyway, a few more pictures are here.

jmm

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Good looking Finn 91/30. Looks from the picture that it may have a Finn finger stock. I didn't know AIM was offering these. A really good collectable. I have one like this. What marks do you see on it? Is there a 41 by chance? Do I see a hex receiver as well?
 
Niner, where would the '41' be? This one is a hexagonal receiver. I haven't given it the once-over to check for things under the wood, so no telling what I'll find. The bolt is cruddy, but might clean up, but hard to see marks on it at the moment. I was considering trying to find an additional bolt.

jmm
 
Interesting!

My Finn-capture 91/30 has multiple SA capture marks, leading me to wonder if it was captured and recaptured multiple times... or the armorer got antsy with the stamp and hit it more than once the first time.
 
Hmmm Good looking "shootin' iron" :D

Are those special sling adapters? Or did the Finns always come that way? My M-44 Mosin-Nagant has the 'Dog-Collar-though-the-slots' sling mountings
 
The Finns had sling hangers on thier own stocks, as they didn't use the Russian ones. Sometimes the recievers they rebuilt had been in the woods for quite a while....
Finns are supposed to be mismatched! Nice rifle, and I'll bet it's shoot the feet off a fly at 100 yards.
What year is the reciever?
 
don't forget the finn's captured alot of russian 91/30's and did nothing more than stamp SA on it and sent it out to the troops.:)
pete
 
The 41

On my Finn 91/30 the 41 is on the receiver ring just behind the rear sight. This, according to what I read, is a capture mark.
 
I can't find a '41' mark. The receiver date is 1944. It's got a Tikka stamp on the receiver as well as 'SA'. Good indicators so far that it was rebuilt. There's another mark on the hexagonal part of the receiver that reads 'AZF', and what looks like a '3'.

jmm
 

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That's a nice late-war Tikka 91/30. I've seen other examples which use a standard 91/30 stock with hangers stuck through the slots. The Tikka 91/30's are among the most accurate Mosins. They don't have heavy barrels, but they also don't have as thick a stock to deal with. There's a lot of difference between the stamped captured 91/30's and the Tikka 91/30's. Your's has the Tikka "T" and potbelly stock. It's a Finn construction, not just a rebuild. They started making Mosins in the 91/30 pattern as they phased out their M-91's. I think the idea was that they could more easily swap parts with the influx of captured 91/30's than the M-91's or M-39's

I always like the pine tar coloration in the finish on those.
 
I have a rifle like yours except it was...

rebuilt by Tikka in '43. It will shoot minute of angle if my old eyes are having a good day........chris3
 
Grimjaw

AZF means Austrian War-booty. The part that is marked at least was captured in WWI. It stands for Artillerie Zeugs Fabrik. The 1944 was the rebuild date.
 
The part that is marked at least was captured in WWI.

Holy crap! :D

Double fun with this one then. Possibly seen two wars! Much thanks for the info, Niner.

jmm
 
A few more marks. The underside of the receiver behind the trigger reads '1894' and a 'C' inside a circle. So this was rebuilt from an 1894 receiver? The other marks were all found on the receiver.

jmm
 

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The underside of the receiver behind the trigger reads '1894' and a 'C' inside a circle.
Click to expand...

This means the receiver was made in the Chatellerault Arsenal in France in 1894 for a Russian contract. My VKT M39 is also built on a 1894 Chatellerault receiver. BTW, this means your rifle qualifies as a legal antique. :cool:
 
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Russian rifle made by the French for the Czar gets captured by the Austrians and sold to the Finns, where its receiver is used to construct a version of the Soviet 91/30.

Every Mosin has a story to tell!

I remember one posting on the Collector's forum showing a Finn that had gone around the globe, going from a US factory to Russia to Japan and then to Finland.
 
Looking at the picture one can see the nice hue of the birch stock.
Stock seems to be thick finnish birch. Sling mounts in the finnish stocks were made suitable for ski troops since it was and still is only way one can be moving in the "stick hell" four months in a year.
 
I love the Tikka made M91/59. Made by the Russians, captured by the Finns, made into a Finnish 91/30, captured by the Russians, made into a M91/59!

Ash
 
I dont know much about the Mosin Nagant rifles but Im interesting on buying one. I want to practice on long range shooting. The ammo is cheap so Im not worried since I dont have enough money to buy Tikka T3. Which of the Mosin's are good to buy? Will I be able to add a scope later?
 
I dont know much about the Mosin Nagant rifles but Im interesting on buying one. I want to practice on long range shooting. The ammo is cheap so Im not worried since I dont have enough money to buy Tikka T3. Which of the Mosin's are good to buy? Will I be able to add a scope later?
Click to expand...

I would go with a 91/30 for long range shooting. The M38 and M44 are carbines and their effective range is shorter compared to the 91/30. All of them are relatively inexpensive to buy with prices anywhere from $70 to $120 depending on condition or collectability.

Accuracy will vary depending on the surplus ammo you use. Milsurp ammo is typically Polish, Albanian, Czech, or even Russian. I have found the 148gr Cezch "Silver tip" to be the most accurate from my 91/30 although the Polish ammo is supposed to be pretty accurate. Wolf has some 7.62x54R that is accurate but pricey. Winchester makes some soft-point ammo for hunting.

Scopes can be attached, but try to use a mount that will not require drilling holes for mounting. Lot of people like to think of these rifles as a part of world history and doing some sort of permanent mod to them ruins the rifle. Just my $.01 (retired, cant afford the entire $.02 :D )
 
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