My new Finn capture 91/30

BlackPowderBurner

BlackPowderBurner

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So I had a little luck this past weekend and picked this sweetie up, the dealer had no idea what it was and when I asked the price the response was "what does Canadian Tire sell 'em for these days, $150?". I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough :redface:

I do have some question about it for all you Mosin Masters out there, what's a fair selling price for one of these? Are there any figures of how many 91/30s the Finnish captured in the Continuation War? The stock has some external dirt and grime that I've been loathe to attempt cleaning for fear of damaging my precious original finish... are there any methods of just removing the built up oil and filth without removing the finish? Lastly, the cocking knob is a pre 1928 Izhevsk though I can't figure out the (8) stamp in the final picture... any guesses?

Let me know what you think!

http://imgur.com/a/NyzFk

Edit: The cocking knob is apparently of New England Westinghouse manufacture
 
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Nice gun. Had it been an M39 or something I would have some very bad words for you; being lucky enough to only pay $150.

As for value, somewhat more than a regular Mosin. It's nice but nothing special as it doesn't appear to have actually been "Finned" with their special parts and such.
 
Roughly 200,000 M91/30s had been captured or supplied to Finland by the end of the Continuation war. Roughly 25,000 captured for the Winter War, 100,000 captured in the Continuation War, and 57,000 were supplied to Finland by Germany.

Does your rifle have a '41' on the right hand side of the receiver? That is a stamp commonly applied for Continuation war captured rifles, but wasn't applied to Winter War rifles (however yours was produced too late to have served in the Winter War).

Personally I would leave the stock alone, looks good as it is. In terms of value I would say in the 250-350$ area. It is a nice rifle, I hope you enjoy it.
 
It doesn't have the 41 stamp on the receiver though I'm thinking it's still a Continuation War capture based on the date of manufacture... I've decided to leave the stock the heck alone, I really only wanted to read the cartouche. Thanks for the stats!
 
Unfortunately, in the Canadian market Finnish captured 91/30s actually have no value premium over Russian refurbs. In fact, they usually sell for less than their refurbished counterparts. Especially if they've been re-crowned or counter-bored. They end up sitting on the EE for quite a while. I'm not really too sure why this is. Perhaps it's because they're almost always more worn in appearance than the refurbished rifles. Probably it's because 95% of owners don't consider it more than a throw around / truck gun. I'm just not sure.

There is an exception to this however. If the rifle is original matching it will be worth more. Do the buttplate, floor plate and bolt have the same complete serial number (with prefixes) as the barrel in the same font?

Edit: I missed the part about the pre-28 marked cocking piece. That rules out original matching, unfortunately.
 
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That makes no sense at all! You'd think a rarely seen NON refurb'd example would garner interest... The buttplate, floorplate and receiver all have matching numbers and prefixes but you guessed right in that the bolt is a Finnish rework. It was scrubbed (not 100%, you can see a ghost of a 2) and redone without the prefixes. The trigger was also redone by the Finns as it is MUCH cleaner and lighter than the other Russian 91/30s I own.
 
BlackPowderBurner said:
That makes no sense at all! You'd think a rarely seen NON refurb'd example would garner interest... The buttplate, floorplate and receiver all have matching numbers and prefixes but you guessed right in that the bolt is a Finnish rework. It was scrubbed (not 100%, you can see a ghost of a 2) and redone without the prefixes. The trigger was also redone by the Finns as it is MUCH cleaner and lighter than the other Russian 91/30s I own.
Click to expand...

It really doesn't make sense. Myself and other collector's will completely agree with you. A non-refurbished rifle with the rich history of being in Finnish service is definitely more interesting and more collectible but the absolute flood of $100-$200 91/30s for the past decade has really hurt their potential market value. At least for another decade or so. Even the Molot snipers which haven't been imported since 2012 have not even really increased in value. I am a slight exception as I mostly only have interest in original matching firearms of any kind.

A SCW Mosin with a renumbered bolt has been sitting in the EE for months now, at a reasonable price and with trades. Canadians just don't appreciate the Mosin rifle.
 
I sold a Finnish M91/30 dated 1944 at a Gun show last October, it sold for $340. It had been rebuilt by the Finn's with Tikkakoski Barrel, 2 piece replacement stock, and typical Finnish issue Blade style front sight which sits atop a special riser block which was indigenous to the Finnish 91/30 rebuilds. The Finn's didn't use very many round receivers in their rebuilds, and finding a Finish 91/30 rebuild is really not that common.

The true Finnish rebuilds of the 91/30's seem to sell for more than the just a captured and remarked Russian pattern rifle. The Finn's made definite improvements to the Mosin Pattern rifles in many different areas, and this is often reflected in price. For a Finn Rebuild to be considered "matching" only the Barrel number and Bolt Number need match, on the grand scale, they really didn't pay attention to numbering anything else, although sometimes the floorplate will be force matched.

Enjoy it for it's history.
 
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