Mosin Sestroryetsk 1917 with strange "window"... Help!!!

papy

papy

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Hello,

I received that rifle some time ago from a CGN fellow. "Finn matched", very good condition and nice bore but a modification was done in the past on the receiver left side, which I had never seen before. And this work seems very well done...
Any suggestion? Expert advises would be very appreciated. Thank you.

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This hole is threaded
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For one thing, I would think it is a German capture rifle which was sold or given to Finland at some time.

The stamping 72. R. is definitely NOT Russian: there is no "R" in the Cyrillic alphabet; they use "P" (Greek "Rho") instead.

You extra machine-work looks as if it were for putting a Match sight onto the rifle..... or something else fun. There were solid German scope mounts which assembled in that manner; check page 482 of the 1911 Adolf Frank catalogue, for starts.

German Navy used a lot of the rifles captured at Tannenburg, freed up Gew.88s and Gew.98s for the Army..... but the marking on this rifle would indicate Army use, I would think.

Who knows German Capture War One stuff?
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I saw that marking too, George but it is not complete for a German unit marking and the maker date of 1917 is after the Germans generally discontinued unit marking equipment according to my sources.

As we discussed earlier, books are sometimes proved wrong so you just never know.

The "R" looks like the type for a line infantry regiment for the Germans, 72nd regiment. It is, however, missing the company number, and weapon number. If the marking holds out, I would bet it is for a Prussian regiment.

It could be they only stamped the regimental number on captured rifles. My 1916 Remington and 1917 Sesty, both German captures, have no unit markings. They do, however, have German repair depot markings on the butt plate (#5 I believe). Does your Mosin have a number over a letter on the bottom of the butt plate ?
 
smellie said:
Possibly Depot level or Battalion level?

Training batt?

I'm lost on this one.
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Click to expand...

Welcome to the Club... I am lost too...!!!
Some pics, as asked. No specific stamps/marks on the barrel, receiver ("71" mark) and wood, Arty.
At least the buttplate (no additionnal stamps on it, Nabs) was captured in WWI! A puzzle piece!
And thank you, Smellie, I've just ordered tonight the 1911 Adolf Frank catalogue...
My frustration is real because I would like to reinstall what is missing but I can't technically collect any factual informations on it!
It seems that chances are about as close to zero...

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I believe it is a Finnish conversion done job to make the rifle a close copy of the "Tarkkuuskiaari JK M39 Diopterilla" or "Precision Infantry Rifle with Diopter sight". Produced from 39-58. I guess in this case they just attached that Diopter sight on a 91. Or it is a Tarkka-Ampujakivaar Sniper rifle spin off, that used a rear/side mounter scope on a Finnish M39, in this case mounted on a 91.

I knew I seen this before. Years ago when Century Arms was selling a "collectors set" of M91s made by the 7 or 8 different factories I bought one of these sets for about 250.00 and one of them had the same square hole.
 
An M91 that the Finns could mount a scope on, very interesting! Does anyone have any pictures ?

By the way, that is one nice Finnish stock on that rifle.
 
That is VERY interesting!!!!!!! Thank you y2k! I made some searches on Google but good pics of that diopter or rear/side mounter scope seem are very scarce... It seems that a handful of M/91 infantry rifles equipped with variety of pre-war civilian rifle scopes existed in Finnish use (info. from : www.jaegerplatoon.net). Is that one a part of them? I really don't know.
 
Looking at that hole, it looks like someone (maybe armorer) drilled out that hole on a press, then filed it square by hand.

The rear hole isn't threaded so there must have been a light bolt going throug to hold in place whatever fit into the square hole.

Whatever was in there, could go in far or it would bind the bolt.
 
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