1938 Tula MN 91/30?

[MD]

Some years ago I bought by mail order a Mosin Nagant rifle stamped 1938.I think I paid $59.99 back in 1982.

Initially I had received a sale catalogue from SIR in Winnipeg advertising a MN sniper with a scope for that price. I I thought it was too good to be true and immediately ordered one. It was too good to be true and and they sent me this rifle apologizing for a typo in the flyer stating that sniper rifles were worth much more than that and would I please accept this "specially selected" model. So I did.

I had ordered an M91 from them a couple years before for $19.99 and it was awful. This one was more than nice.

What amazed me was that the stock appeared to be unmarred by much handling. It doesn't have a glossy finish like the ones I saw in Cabela's in the U.S. recently. It was a dully finished wood, maybe not even birch, I don't know. Possible. The metal finish was quite good as well and it was stamped "SA" as well indicating a Finnish capture.

But if it was refurbed by the Finns, it didn't appear to have been used.

How could that have happened?

 

[grelmar]

Some years ago I bought by mail order a Mosin Nagant rifle stamped 1938.I think I paid $59.99 back in 1982.

Initially I had received a sale catalogue from SIR in Winnipeg advertising a MN sniper with a scope for that price. I I thought it was too good to be true and immediately ordered one. It was too good to be true and and they sent me this rifle apologizing for a typo in the flyer stating that sniper rifles were worth much more than that and would I please accept this "specially selected" model. So I did.

I had ordered an M91 from them a couple years before for $19.99 and it was awful. This one was more than nice.

What amazed me was that the stock appeared to be unmarred by much handling. It doesn't have a glossy finish like the ones I saw in Cabela's in the U.S. recently. It was a dully finished wood, maybe not even birch, I don't know. Possible. The metal finish was quite good as well and it was stamped "SA" as well indicating a Finnish capture.

But if it was refurbed by the Finns, it didn't appear to have been used.

How could that have happened?

The Finns whupped the Soviets so bad they captured more rifles than they could hand out. While the Soviets "won" the Winter War, they lost 127,000 dead compared to Finland's 26,000 dead, and only took a small chunk of territory before they signed a peace deal.

Especially at the outset of the war, the Soviet forces were so poorly trained and led, that there were a lot of "Never fired, only dropped once" rifles around.

 

[desporterizer]

The Finns built or refurbed a whole bunch of rifles & put the non-standard pattern rifles away in war reserves. Lots of mint 1944 tikka barreled 91/30 out there. Shoot great too.