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I just got my order of 5 Tula all matching rifles from Royal Tiger. The condition of these rifles are IMO better then the Molot rifles. My only concern is there is no scope number on the side of the barrel shank. Is this normal? I am somewhat worried there is not scope number on the barrel but other then that the rifles are in great condition. All of the rifles are 43 or 44 Tula with a mix of scopes. One of the rifles has visible grind marks on the barrel shank where the old scope number was ground off and the bolt is also ground on. There is only one rifle that is like this. Here are the pic and let me know what you think. My opinion is the rifles are real PU snipers.
At least who ever is issuing these, they are not stamping scope numbers on the Tula rifles! That is telling me that the arsenals in "RUSSIA" marked them the same as they did in the Ukraine with no scope numbers on the side of the barrel on the Tulas.
These "look" correct to me. I wonder if these are even handled by Molot? Or are they handled by someone else?
Who is the exporters?
Is the Molot markings under the hand guard?
All of them are marked CH. I did pick up 5 if this is indeed the last batch the prices will start to rise. These are the same rifles that Classic is currently selling and are 100% original. Royal Tiger will hand pick and from my understanding Classic will not. The condition of these rifles is IMO the best that have been imported in along time. all of the rifles i got have really nice bores and almost no flaking on the stock.
by the way I just sold an Enfield Sniper so I had a bit of money on my gun fund, not just spare change laying around.
Dolk,
the rifles are imported by Royal Tiger/IO in Florida and came from the Tula arsenal in Russia. The rifles are not marked under the hand guard but on the side of the rear sight.
Longcolt44 wrote:The etching is a Molot marking. These may have been ex or never used Tula sniper rifles using all Russian parts to make it a sniper.
I don't think those are Molot etchings. Those are required to be on all Russian rifles. I don't see a Molot mark on it.
The fact that the side of the barrel is not stamped to match the scope on a Tula PU sniper makes me believe these are brought in by someone else other then Molot. Molot snipers have the scope number stamped on the side of the barrel on Tulas'. I would bet those were put on by Molot. I think Molot was the one "matching" the scope up to the rifle with modern font stamps on Molot PU snipers.
This new batch coming out of Russia do not have scope numbers on the side of the barrel on the Tula snipers. They don't appear to be handled by Molot either. But they do carry the Russian requirement of the marks on them (diamond) and "Made in Russia"....... either that or .......Molot is getting smarter.
I just got one very much like this from Classic, but mine is a 1944 Izhevsk. It has the same etched markings on it. Import mark on the underside front of the barrel says "IO Inc.". On mine you can see where the original scope number was ground off. Everything else about it looks to be authentic, from what I have read on the forum.