GunnyUSMC
Member
Being that your M44 was made in 1946 there is a slight chance that it's a non refurbished, unissued rifle. I do say slight due to the fact, Ivan refurbished just about everything during the cold war. During refurbishment rifles were broken down and separated by parts. The parts were cleaned, inspected and then refinished The parts were then put into bins and rifles were rebuilt from the refurbished parts.I almost got an unadulterated Dragoon, but the guy wanted an obscene price for it. If I remember right he was "trying to get 500 out of it and would just put it back in the safe if he couldn't get that." It was unconverted but it was still counterbored and force matched. Some people...
No photos of the M44, but it's pretty typical of all the M44s you see on the internet. Just a 46 izzy if I remember right, but in really nice shape.
Depending on when and where the rifles were refurbished, the renumbering of the parts to match the sn# on the barrel will vary. Some parts had their sn# scrubbed very well, some not so good. Some the sn# was just lined out. Some the sn# were not removed.
You have to look very close, but a dead give away that the rifle was refurbed is that the manufacture marks don't match. Izhevsk and Tula are your two most common manufactures and the manufactures mark will very depending on the when they were made.
Now, an unaltered Dragoon. for $500 that's a smoking deal. The lone rifle I posted the pic of is a Finn marked 1898 Izhevsk M91 Dragoon. It has first sires Dragoon barrel bands and an altered first sires Dragoon handguard. There is no SN# on the butt plate, but it is Izhevsk marked. The trigger guard is Tula and the floorplate has been scrubbed. The rifle is valued at $600 to $800
I have three M91 Dragoons in my collection and ten M91 rifles.
If you like the carbines, look for a M91/59. These are M91/30s that were cut down to carbines and have slightly thicker barrels.