Finnish Capture M91/30 D Stamp

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Hi all,

I'm curious as to why some Finnish captured 91/30's have been stamped with the D that denotes safe usage of 7.62x54R? To my understanding the stamp was meant for native Finnish barreled builds that had been manufactured to shoot the 7.62x53R cartridge, but had their chambers widened to accept 7.62x54R when it was later captured in copious amounts. This would mean that the fresh captured rifles would not require chamber widening nor the identifying stamp right? It doesn't appear that the Finns applied the D stamp to all their newly captures Soviet rifles as I have two [SA] marked 1941 dated M91/30s where one is D stamped and the other is not...

Any insight would be helpful!
 
Finns were very... liberal in applying the D stamps. There are rifles with a double D and a triple D out there. _My opinion_ is that this stamp was frequently applied whenever the rifle went through an arsenal and was _tested_ with the D type gauge.

Now, I know I'm nit picking, but while D does _also_ mean that Russian capture ammo is safe to use, it's original meaning is a little different (and it's not a very straight forward subject)

See here: http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/The-Finnish-M27.asp

"This "D" stamping denotes that the rifles chamber has been altered to accept the Finnish D-166 heavy ball bullet. This change was done to accommodate a chamber size that would be able to use all types of 7.62x54R ammunition. The Finnish forces had captured vast quantities of Russian ammunition and it often was not useable in the m/27 due to the Finnish rifles tighter chamber tolerances. This alteration solved that problem and enabled the use of all captured ammunition as well as the new D-166 ball ammo and MG cartridges of the Finnish weapons of the day. It is very uncommon to find a Finnish rifle of any kind that has not been marked with this "D" stamping to indicate this modification. One of the most puzzling markings commonly found on the m/27 is the capitol letter "F" found over the date of the rifle on the barrel shank. This letter was erroneously thought by others to be the designation of Swedish Fägestra steel used in the fabrication of the barrel production. This is not the correct meaning of the "F" marking. In actuality the "F" marking is one of three that were used. The trial rifles of the m/27 series were marked with an "A" to denote the shape and contuor of the neck area of the chamber. The Finnish army had been experimenting with different bullet loads and shell casing measurements to determine the optimum cartridge to achieve the greatest accuracy out of the m/27. The first shell designation with a modified casing measurements in the neck area-that was made with a much steeper shoulder than the normal Finnish 7.62x53R cartridge, was the "A" cartridge designation. This shell was not adopted for wide spread use and the marking was dropped. No known m/27 that I am aware of are found with this "A" chamber shape marking. (The author would be glad to offer a great trade should one pop up!)

The other marking that was used on the barrel was the capitol letter "F" which identified the chamber measurements of the "F" designated cartridge. This cartridge used a shallower neck incline as found on early Finnish 7.62x53R ammunition. The final marking of "D" is as outlined above. The final letter code of "D" indicated an alteration of the chamber diameter and shape to accept the Finnish D-166 cartridge that differed very slightly from the "F" chamber. So in review the barrel markings of "A", "F" and "D" were marked on the barrel of the m/27 just above the date and between the serial number to indicate the barrels chamber characteristic and what type of ammunition was capable of being fired through the weapon."
 
I think iraqivetran8888 did a video on that. Something like the d barrels were un named manufacturer maybe in like a crunch time when rifles were being manufacturered but multiple factories. I think the video was called Finnish mosin tour
 
Finns were very... liberal in applying the D stamps. There are rifles with a double D and a triple D out there. _My opinion_ is that this stamp was frequently applied whenever the rifle went through an arsenal and was _tested_ with the D type gauge.

Now, I know I'm nit picking, but while D does _also_ mean that Russian capture ammo is safe to use, it's original meaning is a little different (and it's not a very straight forward subject)

See here: http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/The-Finnish-M27.asp

"This "D" stamping denotes that the rifles chamber has been altered to accept the Finnish D-166 heavy ball bullet. This change was done to accommodate a chamber size that would be able to use all types of 7.62x54R ammunition. The Finnish forces had captured vast quantities of Russian ammunition and it often was not useable in the m/27 due to the Finnish rifles tighter chamber tolerances. This alteration solved that problem and enabled the use of all captured ammunition as well as the new D-166 ball ammo and MG cartridges of the Finnish weapons of the day. It is very uncommon to find a Finnish rifle of any kind that has not been marked with this "D" stamping to indicate this modification. One of the most puzzling markings commonly found on the m/27 is the capitol letter "F" found over the date of the rifle on the barrel shank. This letter was erroneously thought by others to be the designation of Swedish Fägestra steel used in the fabrication of the barrel production. This is not the correct meaning of the "F" marking. In actuality the "F" marking is one of three that were used. The trial rifles of the m/27 series were marked with an "A" to denote the shape and contuor of the neck area of the chamber. The Finnish army had been experimenting with different bullet loads and shell casing measurements to determine the optimum cartridge to achieve the greatest accuracy out of the m/27. The first shell designation with a modified casing measurements in the neck area-that was made with a much steeper shoulder than the normal Finnish 7.62x53R cartridge, was the "A" cartridge designation. This shell was not adopted for wide spread use and the marking was dropped. No known m/27 that I am aware of are found with this "A" chamber shape marking. (The author would be glad to offer a great trade should one pop up!)

The other marking that was used on the barrel was the capitol letter "F" which identified the chamber measurements of the "F" designated cartridge. This cartridge used a shallower neck incline as found on early Finnish 7.62x53R ammunition. The final marking of "D" is as outlined above. The final letter code of "D" indicated an alteration of the chamber diameter and shape to accept the Finnish D-166 cartridge that differed very slightly from the "F" chamber. So in review the barrel markings of "A", "F" and "D" were marked on the barrel of the m/27 just above the date and between the serial number to indicate the barrels chamber characteristic and what type of ammunition was capable of being fired through the weapon."

That's interesting, to my understanding the Finn D-166 Ball was .310 whilst standard Russian Ball was .312 in diameter so it would still not require any arsenal work on a Soviet made rifle to chamber properly right?
I think you're properly correct in thinking it was an arsenal gauge confirmation stamp. Thanks for the info!
 
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