Discussion Section 1
Discussion Section 2
The barrel of this rifle appears to still be matched with its original receiver, with the small Tula hammer and 916, representing the year 1916.
When this rifle was manufactured in 1916, Russia was heavily involved in World War I, a member of the Triple Entente (including the United Kingdom, France and Russia). 1916 was a pivotal year in the war for Russia. In the spring of 1916, the Russians launched their second and last major offensive of the war. The offensive stretched from the Russian-Romanian border to Pinsk and lasted for ten weeks. While the Russians inflicted heavy casualties on the Austro-Hungarian army, the front did not significantly change.
One of the interesting features of this rifle is the small “circle JSE” stamp on the receiver, below the imperial eagles. The JSE stamp is from the Johann Springers Erben armory in Austria. From what I understand, this mark is relatively uncommon to find and so to me makes this a very interesting rifle. This rifle made its way to the front lines (possibly) only to wind up being captured by the enemy and sent back to Austria. This is the first rifle in my personal collection that is an Austrian capture.
While being an Austrian capture alone makes this rifle very interesting, its story doesn’t end there. The rifle also has a number of Finnish traits to it, most prominently the [SA] (Suomen Armeija or Finnish Army) stamp on the left side of the barrel shank. This shows that the rifle was property of the Finnish army as late as 1942, when the [SA] marking was adopted.
After Finland broke away from Russia, they chose to adopt the M91 as their standard issue rifle, in part due to the vast numbers they already had on hand. In the 20’s and 30’s Finland purchased additional M91 rifles from Germany and Austria. It’s highly probably that this is when this rifle made its way to Finland, though that certainly cannot be definitively confirmed.
The Finns typically would make minor changes to the M91s in their possession. Often the rear sights would have the Russian arshins crossed out on the left side and new ranges marked in meters on the right hand side.
[marked in meters]
The following photos include various parts of the rifle in more detail:
The right side of the rifle in both shade and sun light.
The left side of the rifle in both shade and sun light.
The bolt appears to have been Finn-matched to the serial number on the barrel shank. While some of the numbers appear similar in font, others do not.
The magazine floor plate appears to have been scrubbed of its original serial number and was not renumbered. It appears that the magazine has the small hammer Tula stamping, though possibly double struck. It also has an “R” stamping but it is not a “circle R” as was used by Remington.
The barrel bands are the early M91, configuration 3 variety (as per 7.62x54r.net). The rear barrel band is marked with the small hammer Tula logo. The fit of the top hand guard in the rear barrel band is exceptionally tight. A light tapping with the hammer from my punch kit is needed to both take it out and put it back into place. (I use the non-metallic side of the hammer, covered with my stock cleaning rag to ensure I don’t harm the hand guards’ wood).
The forward barrel band appears to have the Sestroryetsk arsenal mark on it, though it could potentially be Izhevsk with the bow worn off. The front band does not have the same fitting issues that the rear band does, it goes on effortlessly. The barrel band is held in place by the use of a small screw in front of the band. Above the retainer screw is a larger hole in the stock which may have at one point had a retaining bolt which provided the same functionality as the retaining screw. In this photo you can also see the C.A.I. import mark on the front of the barrel. Also shown is the cleaning rod which came with this rifle. As you can see, the cleaning rod is not a typical for a Mosin. In fact, this cleaning rod will not even fit in the bore beyond the counter bore.
The butt plate of the rifle is also marked with the Sestroryetsk arrow. The number on the butt plate does not match the bolt and barrel, which is common with Finned rifles.
There are a few stamps under the butt plate and it appears that there may have been an ink stamping as well, though I am not able to read it now.
The stock does still have some remnants of the original cartouche. The photo below has been enhanced in order to help draw out details in the cartouche.
The trigger is marked with the small hammer in a circle Tula logo.
The rifle contains a small hammer Tula stamped one piece interrupter / ejector.
Here are a few other photos that I thought would be interesting to show for this rifle.
Discussion Section 1
Discussion Section 2