~English Proveb
I used the cliche in order to fend off the inevitable hybrid words which were sure to follow:
1. Mausin
2. Moser
In other words, the desperate lack of firearms on all sides of The Great War spawned some crazy crossbred weapons. I was fortunate enough to acquire one of them in a recent private sale. This rarely encountered H-band conversion (Gewehr 88/98 bayonet lug) of a 1914/6 Peter The Great Tula M91 likely saw possession by both the Russians and Germans (Austrians?), before making its way to the Balkan Region, and finally to the U.S.
I could never hope to attain the literary eloquence of John P. Sheehan, nor the intensity of his research and specimen study abilities, so a link to his article on WWI Bayonet Adaptions Of Captured Model 1891 Three-Line-Rifles is appropriate here:
http://mosinnagant.net/USSR/JPS-bayonet-one.asp
While JPS masterfully covers the H-band Gewehr 88/98 bayonet lug topic in depth, I will only add that my specimen does not exhibit any well known German or Austrian depot stamps. But it does have what appear to be a B-stamp on the left buttstock, a Z-stamp just forward of the top buttplate tang, a depot/rack/unit (?) number of 105677 G. on the right buttstock, a minute M-stamp on top or the buttplate tang, a reassigned year from 1914 to 1916, and a small number 65 on the top of the receiver tang. The ersatz sling hangers will forever keep the bottom stamp of the receiver tang a mystery.
Following its double duty on the front lines with Russia and as a second line firearm with the Central Powers in WWI, the M91 shows evidence of subsequent travel to a country such as Romania. It has had its barrel serial number lined out, with a new one applied. The bolt, mag plate and buttplate were force matched to this new number. It received a wedge to buttress the rear sight spring. However, the usually scrubbed Imperial Romanov Eagles do remain intact.
And lastly, some sloppy application of white paint made several runs down the upright standing buttstock before it dried. It isn't very natural looking on an M91, but its yellowing coat tells me it has been there for at least a decade or two, so it remains.
Chambered in 7.62X54R. Sadly, I have no Imperial German or ersatz bayonets to attempt fitting.
Now the pics, and thanks for looking.
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