In Grandpa's crawlspace

Dantes Inferno

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Went to Pappa's place for thanksgiving dinner and start to talk about a gun my grandpa wants to sell. Its a Valmet overunder 16g / 6.5x52R. 1977 never been fired. So I snap some photos and talk about it with him and he disappears. Comes back out of breath and sweaty from the crawlspace (hes 83) with a Mosin in his hand. His dad bought the gun from his uncle in around 1930 and had a curly birch (think Scandinavian knife handles) stock put on it. I don't know much about mosin's but it has a nice and smooth action. It was purchased in Finland if that means anything. I didn't notice any significant markings on the receiver either. I shoulda checked it out more but Mummi (grandma) gets all stressed when the rifles come out. Next time I'm out there we will have to go shooting and see how it runs.

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Moisins have their arsenal markings, dates, numbers and so forth all on the CHAMBER. The receiver itself usually has an arsenal mark and date under the receiver tang where you can't see it.

Given that you saw no markings, one might think a Finnish commercially-rebarreled rifle; Finnish MILITARY barrels are marked the same way as Russian.

This could be a most unusual Toy and certainly worth taking a very close look at.

Grandpa is a very fortunate guy.

6.5x52R, by the way, is what we call a .25-35 WCF; you can still get shells..... and they are so easy to fake up from .30-30 brass.
 
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I think you will find that the rifle was bought well after 1930. This is a Finnish modified Model 28-30 as the rear sight indicates. This rear sight was modified in the 1930 Trials Model but was not issued for use until April, 1933. Is the right side of the magazine in front of the trigger marked "HV" and on the right side of the rear sight base, is there a "gear" marking with a "S" that has three sprigs on top of it?

We really need to see the markings on the chamber of the rifle, and any markings on the side of it just above the wood line. These were Civil Guard rifles, and could have Area markings on it which would help date the rifle even further.

As we get older, dates tend to merge. I find that at 72, I am guilty of this. My ex-wife's Birthday was a disasterous example of this.

I forgot her NAME!Laugh2

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Cool. We will have to wait till around christmas time until I get a chance to get back out there and investigate it further. I hopefully we will even take it out to the range.

He is meticulous about paperwork, and might even have original sales receipts if we look hard enough.
 
The Octagonal Receivers are STIFFER, which is why they are still being used in the new Finnish sniping rifle: more ACCURATE.

The Round Receiver was easier, cheaper and faster to build, could be made easier with a poorly-trained work force, so that is what Communist Russia converted TO.
 
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