Rare? Mosin-Nagant Rifle

[tkendrick]

A buddy of mine went to Starbucks this AM and were, as usual, talking guns. Both of us have picked up a lot of oddball stuff over the years, and it turned out we each have a Mosin-Nagant rifle.

Mine is nothing to brag about. An arsenal rework that sold at Big 5 a few years back for 69 dollars that one of my grandkids bought me for Christmas.

However, my friends has me a little curious. It's manufactured by Remington Arms and is marked Model of 1917. It has what looks like US Ordinance markings on it. The receiver is octagonal. I knew Remington made these guns, but I didn't know they were so marked.

Other wise, it's still a Mosin Nagant, crappy design, poor ergonomics, etc etc, but I was wondering if this thing is worth anything. He's had a couple of medical problems this year and could use some money.

 

[Acheron]

That looks like a contract rifle that was built for the Tsar's army in 1917. The Russians couldn't build enough rifles to supply their army so the US Government helped pay for American companies to produce MNs for the Imperial Russian Army. Shortly after production completed and before most of the rifles could be shipped to Russia, the Russians had their revolution and signed an armistice with Germany. In response the US witheld most of the rifles for the Russian (now Communist) army.

So in the end that rifle is worth a decent sum of money. MNs never go for very much, but considering that it is 90 years old and a relatively rare make, I would say you should go for it. Since this is a friend you are dealing with don't try and cheat him. I'm not sure exactly what that rifle is worth, but it definitely worth more than $200. Head on over to www.7.62x54r.net for some really helpful info. Find out what the rifle is roughly worth given it's condition, and then make your buddy an offer.

 

[trueblue1776]

It's worth money, just not a whole lot. Those guns are usually on the rack for about $200-275 around here.

 

[Sunray]

Westinghouse made 770,000 of them for Russia too. Remington made 750,000 of them. Only 356,660 from both companies had been delivered by 1917. Depending on who you listen to. Not a bad production rate for 2 to 3 years. Lots of 'em were purchased by the U.S. Government for training and to National Guard units. Your buddies was stamped with U.S. Ordnance markings in 1918. According to the second link article.
Don't know what they're worth. I suspect a bit more than a run of the mill example, though. There was one on Auctionarms. The guy got $249.99 for it.
There's a fair bit of info on-line about them. Interesting bit of history. Have a read of these.
http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/usmosin.html
http://www.mosinnagant.net/USSR/US-Mosin-Nagants.asp

 

[Hoppy590]

It's worth money, just not a whole lot. Those guns are usually on the rack for about $200-275 around here.

i think your confusing the Russian M1891 Remington rifles with the US issued rifles.

 

[Threejs]

Depending on condition, I have seen these go as high as $700 at auction. They seem to normally sell around $300 or so.

Make sure to put lots of pictures on it, if you put it up for auction on gunbroker. Without good pictures, it will not go for much.

 

[Niner]

You might want to check it out closely to see that it wasn't one of the 30.06 conversions made from the remaining stock of rifles when the Russian revolution ended US shipments. These are said to be dangerous to shoot. However, a curiosity, if it is 30.06 it would be worth as much as 7.62x54r to a collector.

 

[Cosmoline]

Condition is the main factor, esp. for the old US M91's. Most of them were reworked by Bannerman or otherwise sporterized. For every one intact example I see a good ten hack jobs. Truly mint examples are almost impossible to find, and can fetch much dinero on the auction sites. IIRC one went for near a thousand dollars last year. But that's for a 100% rifle.

If it's intact, under no circumstances should your friend cut it.

Here's T. Lapin's own article on the subject, which is full of info:

http://www.mosinnagant.net/USSR/US-Mosin-Nagants.asp

Remington Arms and is marked Model of 1917

This, however, makes me wonder if you're actually looking at a Mosin Nagant. Are you sure it's not a 1917 Enfield? A Remington Mosin might have been made in 1917, but it would not say "Model of 1917." This would also explain the little flaming bomb marks on it from the arsenal.

Either way, to get a better idea of value you'd need to have some digital photos and more information.

 

[tkendrick]

I don't have the rifle in front of me.

It's not an Enfield, definitely a Mosin, having said that, I am not sure if it actually says "Model of 1917", or if it just has the date 1917 stamped on it. I am pretty much going by what he told me.

I do know that it is 7.62 Russian. I fired the gun several years ago, and remember it being scary accurate. I was able to hit the old 300 yard gong at South Bay 5 for 5 once I got it dialed in. ('course, that was several years ago)

As for the rest of the markings, I'm going to try and procure some pictures, then I'm going to have to get some help posting them. I've tried a couple of times, recently, but am obviously not doing something right.

I'm not going to buy it myself, I really don't like these guns, personally. The only reason I have one is that one of my Grandkids (9YO) talked his Momma into buying it for me for Christmas a few years back, and I would have gotten rid of it a long time ago, accept he asks about it every time he calls.