Mosin Nagant M91

[Eaglelord17]

The Finns re-barreled that rifle in '41 and they most always used the hex receiver for their versions of Mosin Nagants.

They wouldn't have had much round receivers to work with. The round receivers were only put into production 1936/37 in the USSR. The Finns wouldn't have had access to any other than the rifles they captured and those they captured with round receivers would be fairly new and likely in good shape overall, odds are good enough to reissue as is.

 

[05RAV]

1941 Imperial TIKKA M91, Seriously? Why would the Finns bother to spin up a brand new M91 length barrel? What is this CTN DEUTSCH stamp about? Talk amongst yourselves.

[/SIZE]

You have a very interesting example of the Finn-matched 3-line rifle Model 1891 (popular name "Mosin"). Originally, the rifle was captured by the Imperial German Army during WW1 from the Russian Imperial Army (the Imperial Russian Eagle is still left intact on the octagonal receiver). The underside receiver tang should have stamped date of production of the receiver. The marking "CTN DEUTSCH" indicates that it was repaired at the Imperial German Artillery Depot at Cüstrin (or Küstrin), a city located at the river Oder (nowadays, half of the city belongs to Poland and is named Kostrzyn). Then the rifle was stored in there until it was purchased by Finland. These purchases began in the 1920’s and continued into the 1940’s with most of the purchases coming from nations who captured or were issued Russian M91’s in World War One. Apparently, in 1941 the Finns rebarreled your rifle with a Tikka barrel (Tikkakosken Rauta- ja Puuteollisuus Oy-Metal and Wood Industry Of Tikkakoski Limited).

 

[milsurpo]

The later Finn M91s are actually new production using salvaged parts like receivers along with Finn manufactured new parts such as barrel and stock (though their "new" stocks might include the rear of an older Russian stock). It wasn't actually a matter of re-barreling an existing rifle. Even the earliest Finn M1891s seem to have this characteristic- you'll never find what can be identified as a coherent set of parts from a single rifle that simply had a new barrel added.

milsurpo

 

[05RAV]

The later Finn M91s are actually new production using salvaged parts like receivers along with Finn manufactured new parts such as barrel and stock (though their "new" stocks might include the rear of an older Russian stock). It wasn't actually a matter of re-barreling an existing rifle. Even the earliest Finn M1891s seem to have this characteristic- you'll never find what can be identified as a coherent set of parts from a single rifle that simply had a new barrel added.
milsurpo

Right. I use the word "rebarreled" in a loose form meaning that an old barrel must have been removed from an old receiver at some point in time and a new barrel was fitted to an old receiver. As I understand the literature, when Finland was buying the Russian M91's in in the interwar period from various countries, they were buying the entire rifles not just receivers. The Finns were also installing bolt and magazine assemblies and some other small parts which did not match the original receivers but they re-numbered those parts to match the receiver which in American parlance is called ""Finnish Matching". I have a Remington 3-line Model 1891 rifle that has an original Remington receiver and barrel, a typical two-piece Finnish stock, the Tula-made bolt and magazine assemblies and a motley of some other small parts.

 

[milsurpo]

05RAV: The range of originality (ie. pre-Finn originality) in Finn captured or purchased 91/30s and M91's is huge. There are quite a few SA stamped 91/30s that are virtually left as-manufactured and they are our best source of "original" 91/30s in Canada. The m91's (Infantry or Dragoon length) tend to be more of the "mixmaster" variety although the Finns seemed to have a tendency to leave some US Mosins more or less alone. I have a Remington that is all original and matching with only the SA stamp to show it was in Finland. I also have a N.E.W. that is all original other than the floorplate. With Russian or Soviet M1891s the best I've been able to find is a factory matching bolt in a rifle with a period correct (but mismatched buttplate) Russian stock. The worst I've found was an 1898 Izhevsk (barrel) which the Finns mated to a N.E.W. receiver (ie, Finn new manufacture with salvaged barrel, etc). Absolutely awful as an Imperial Mosin but the bolt was re-stamped to match which makes it "Finn-matching" so a correct rifle. Value of it, unfortunately, not very high, certainly a tiny fraction of what an intact and largely original 1898 Izhevsk would be worth.

milsurpo