Looking to ID M91 receiver stamp

PinkyPlinker

PinkyPlinker

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Picked up a Finn M91 with an interesting (to me) stamp. I've found a couple like it in Googling about but no definite ID. If this is super easy, please forgive. Most often this area is ground off by the Finns so I'm thinking this is an Imperial marking (sort of looks like a double eagle) or possibly a capture stamp from another country? Hungary? The receiver is dated 1917 so an Imperial marking would make it among the very last to carry Nicholas II's mark which would make a personal connection for me.
Thanks!
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If i am correct, its the imperial russian marking,when russia was governed by the Tsar,before the 1917 revolution. All M91 made in russian at that time have the imperial marking. All finish mosin have a russian receiver so some kept the Imperial russian stamp.
 
This is what I believe as well. The Tsar was overthrown in Feb of 1917 so one still carrying the Imperial stamp (if that's what it is) is kinda cool especially when the Finns were grinding them off. It's a 1940 Tikka barrel so maybe too busy with the Winter War to scrub it. Or it's a capture Mark they didn't care about.
 
It is a Imperial double eagle stamp. If you take off the stock you should also see a date and a arsenal stamp on the tang for which factory the receiver was originally made at.

The Soviets didn't always remove the Imperial stamping. For example I have a 1926 Soviet manufactured M91 Infantry Rifle on a 1898 receiver where the Imperial Marking was left intact.

By the same regard the Finnish didn't always remove the Imperial eagle stamp from the receiver, some cared to remove it, some didn't (also 1940 was a fairly busy time for the Finnish).
 
Mosin Nagants are expecially interesting considering most of them show there usage. By that I mean a fair bit of countries stamped different markings on to them to say where they have been. Examples are AZF for Austrian-Hungarian captured rifles, or if you understand the history of the rifles you can get a rough idea what happened to them. I had a early M28/30 once built on a 1919 Tula receiver (a extremely rare manufacturer date). This shouldn't really be possible as Finland wasn't at war with Russia during that time period and since the rifle was built pre-Winter War there was no way for them to have captured the receiver and built the rifle. That rifles receiver must have been captured by one of the sides during the Russian Civil War (maybe someone like Czechslovakia) and in the 1920s been sold to Finland (the Finnish were buying Mosins from anyone selling them). It was then in the early 30s built up to M28/30 standard.

Your able to tell this just from two simple bits of information, the receiver date, and the date of manufacture of the rifle. Very few firearms are as easy to trace back as Mosin Nagants.
 
That's the Russian Imperial military acceptance stamp. All imperial firearms carried it. Check the revolver on bottom right for instance.

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The finns frequently removed it from the receivers when they re-barreled them. It's nice to have one with it still intact.

Now even though the tzar abdicated in 1917, the stamp has been used for a while after that.
 
Interesting that they kept using the stamp post abdication. Kills the idea that it was made during the last months of the Empire. Still possible though and that makes it extra interesting for me.
Thanks!
 
Just as a side note, it wasn't like Russia just went straight into Soviet hands. For the first while it looked like it would end up as a democracy, and it took a civil war for the Soviets to gain complete control.
 
I've been researching this time period. A close friend did her Master's on Nicholas II and feels a closeness with his family. To get engrossed in a family knowing they would be executed was difficult for her. Anything that ties to that period is of great interest to her, and by our relationship, me as well.
Thanks for the info everyone!
 
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