Romanian M44

[Tcmosin]

Looking at buying a Romanian M44, anything that I need to be aware of about these and whats the going rate for them.

[BuckeyeSgt]

Rongo is the guru on these. It all depends on matching parts, condition and maybe the year. I think I paid $225 for a matching one but missing a cleaning rod.

[Rongo]

"Guru" is a bit extreme... I like to think of myself more as a well informed idiot.

But lets see if we can figure this out.
Romanian M44. the rarest of the 4 Satellite Nations Versions of the Soviet M44 Platform. Lets start with M44 Production Numbers.
The Soviet Union made a bit over 7 Million M44's over a 6 year period. Poland manufactured approximately 350,000, Hungary around 170,000, China made who knows how many... But I would conservatively guess they made at least 200,000; No one knows for sure.
Romania? A whopping 70,000 over a three year period. 1953 was the first year & the number of those was 2,000-3,000. If you find one of these buy it. 1954 was 36,000 & 1955 was 31,000. Not too many.

One thing to remember is of the Nations who manufactured M44's Romania was by far the poorest. They utilized a lot of spare parts & many of the Romanian M44's you will find will have Surplus Soviet parts on them & some will even have Polish & Hungarian. It is uncommon to find a true numbers matching, all Romanian parts gun.
Romanian M44's are usually very fine shooters & are well made in my opinion. Prices are still low on these as they have yet to catch on... But over time I expect the Numbers matching ones in original condition to continue a steady rise in the coming years. Don't be afraid of buying one & normal going prices are still comparable or even less than a standard Soviet example. Anything in the $200 range is a fair deal for a good condition rifle. Expect to pay a premium for a 1953 date.

Check the Mosin Showcase for reference under "Other Countries M44". There are some submissions of Romys by myself & Miller Tyme you can check out.

[Rongo]

Some more Romanian info, threads & links.


http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13916
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6402
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6249
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2182
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM44R.htm

And one of my favorites & yet un-acquired is Instructie and Exercitiu Rifles

Romania made production runs of rifles with a changing prefix. Fellow forum member Finloq made an extensive survey a few years back of the Romanian Prefix production numbering system. Each Prefix was approximately a production run of 2,000 rifles. Finloq's final tally is listed below. I appreciate the hard work he did to put this together & I hope you don't mind my sharing your findings here Sir.

Thank You Finloq!

1953 - AX, CP
1954 - AL, CP, BD, BH, BZ, DX, ET, FS, GR, GV, HU, KM, MD, RF, SK, TV, UZ, VZ
1955 - AB, AC, AL, BC, BE, BF, CA, CD, DF, EC, LE, MC, TV, YA, YE, ZX

Carry over prefix sets from year to year:

CP - 1953, 1954
TV - 1954, 1955

[qz2026]

I have a few of these and they range from pretty rough to pristine with early Mfg serial number (RF19). Finding numbers matching is as difficult as it is with most EBLOC M-44's and you will pay the premium. Many will have pieces and parts and bolts from Hungary. Sears and Interrupter/Ejectors could be from anywhere. Expect to pay $200 plus but be cautious about the bore. I like them but, I like all the M-44's Obviously if you wish to collect M-44's you have to have a Romanian or two...

I won't go into further detail. Rongo and all the links above have done more than I could anyway.

See, if you would just get up here, you could put your hands on several different varieties of Romanian M-44's.

[Miller Tyme]

I have a few of these and they range from pretty rough to pristine with early Mfg serial number (RF19).

The rough ones are the ones with the most charactor

(Ron these are for you.)

[qz2026]

I agree. I like the ones with character like this one. Actually, I did a write up on this rifle. This was the one the guy shot without the bolt head.

[Rongo]

I have a few of these and they range from pretty rough to pristine with early Mfg serial number (RF19).

The rough ones are the ones with the most charactor

(Ron these are for you.)

Wonderful eye candy... Thanks for sharing!

[Tcmosin]

Thanks for the input, took the drive to go look at this rifle, very nice over all. But I had to pass on this one, bore condition a little worn and fuzzy, numbers match except for the bolt, no import marks that I could see. I think he was fair on the price at $250 but it just wasn't talking to me.

[Rongo]

If it's not a talking best off a walking. Maybe next time.

[bunkysdad]

Darn, I think it is talking to me, but sadly I wasn't there.

[qz2026]

Thanks for the input, took the drive to go look at this rifle, very nice over all. But I had to pass on this one, bore condition a little worn and fuzzy, numbers match except for the bolt, no import marks that I could see. I think he was fair on the price at $250 but it just wasn't talking to me.

I had one that would have talked to you but it also talked to JDolinski very loudly. Problem is that it still talks to me too and it's none to happy with me for trading it away...

[Dan4good]

i have one i believe its a 1955 all matching except the bolt which is hungarian and mine is in excellent shape too i paid 140 face to face sale this summer

[Tcmosin]

I think I'll be looking some more, I've seen a few T53 around, just need to find a nice one. If that is possible.

[wingspar]

Thanks for the input, took the drive to go look at this rifle, very nice over all. But I had to pass on this one, bore condition a little worn and fuzzy, numbers match except for the bolt, no import marks that I could see. I think he was fair on the price at $250 but it just wasn't talking to me.

I have a 1955 Romanian M44 that is pretty decent shape with matching numbers except for the bolt. However, the bore is shot. Bullets tumble at 20 yards and fly all over the place. It’s a wall hangar.

My import mark is in the location in the photo below.

[Matt556]

Some more Romanian info, threads & links.


http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13916
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6402
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6249
http://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2182
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM44R.htm

And one of my favorites & yet un-acquired is Instructie and Exercitiu Rifles

Romania made production runs of rifles with a changing prefix. Fellow forum member Finloq made an extensive survey a few years back of the Romanian Prefix production numbering system. Each Prefix was approximately a production run of 2,000 rifles. Finloq's final tally is listed below. I appreciate the hard work he did to put this together & I hope you don't mind my sharing your findings here Sir.

Thank You Finloq!

1953 - AX, CP
1954 - AL, CP, BD, BH, BZ, DX, ET, FS, GR, GV, HU, KM, MD, RF, SK, TV, UZ, VZ
1955 - AB, AC, AL, BC, BE, BF, CA, CD, DF, EC, LE, MC, TV, YA, YE, ZX

Carry over prefix sets from year to year:

CP - 1953, 1954
TV - 1954, 1955

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to add to the 1955 prefixs: I have four Romanian 1955 M44s with the prefix of LD. Two of which are on GunBroker right now if you want to see photographic proof. Let me know if there are any questions about this, probably water under the bridge, but I didn't see a reference anywhere. Thanks.