91/30 Questions

[EastCoastCollector]

Hey guys,

New user here, long time lurker. I just bought another 91/30 and have a few questions about it I wanted to see if anyone here could answer. Its a Balkan 91/30 and I was wondering if anyone here could shed some more light on it. Is there anyway to tell which Balkan country it was used by or held in? Is the blade front sight a normal thing to see on Balkan 91/30s? Ive only seen it on Finn captures. Hopefully none of the info I have is wrong but I hope you guys can point me in the right direction. Cheers!

Picture album(all photo creds go to previous owner, just way better than anything I couldve taken): http://imgur.com/a/5Jw6d

[Longcolt44]

I'm not seeing anything indication a Balkan rifle. It does look to have been refinished however.

[EastCoastCollector]

Thats a bummer, I paid significantly less than a regular refurb 91/30 so all in all Im not upset. Any idea on the front sight post? It looks Finnish or SCW -esque but could it just be something some bubba added after the fact? This is part of why I love Mosins, even between refurb 91/30's theres still a huge variety and mystery. Thanks for the reply!

[racerguy00]

I've seen that same front sight posted once before somewhere. Its an oddball one. I'm not sure if it's a balkan import or not honestly.

[Longcolt44]

It looks like there are shims helping to hold the front site in. The site base is a wedge shape and the site blade is straight. It could be from any of a number of rifles.

[steelbuttplate]

Yea, the front sight is unique, the cleaning rod looks Finn, the receiver is ground out weird not like I've ever seen . There is a strange mark on the trigger guard, What about the bottom of the barrel and the tang?

[EastCoastCollector]

I'm actually out of town right now, I got it probably 6 hours before I left and didn't get a chance to tear it down. When I get home I definitely will post more pics. The barrel and bore were probably 5/10 overall if that helps anything, far from the mirror shine my other refurbs are.

[zeebill]

Looks to have been refinished and stock repaired here. Balkan? Not to my eyes on the internet at least. Poor installation of a random front sight I would say using too big a hammer and hitting the wrong places. Any decent gunsmith would use a brass pin to set the sight blade in place and not leave the dents you have. Stock repair has too many nails or whatever they used before refinishing which is obvious with the dents and scrapes being covered after sanding. Who knows it could be a great shooter but it is not a collector for sure. Go to the range and see what she does, for all you know it could be your best shooter! Good Luck! Bill

[cj1964]

In answer to your first question, I don't think there's a positive way to identify which Balkan country a rifle came from. A Romanian M91 stock is a good indicator of origin and I've seen a lot of them with a "F" or "G" suffix added to the serial number on the barrel - and sometimes stock. A Bulgarian pine cone is a good indicator, but the borders of those two countries changed many times, so it's far from definitive!! M91's have more clues than 91/30's (rear sight wedge, scrubbed Tsarist marks, etc.) Your rifle has the look of a Balkan, but there are no other clues to pinpoint it's origin. It's still a nice unrefurbished war rifle and I like it as such.

[mogunner]

Mosin's used two blade style front sights over the years, yours is neither and looks to be something roughly fabricated hence the shims needed, machining a dovetail takes a bit more exacting machinery than a file and hacksaw. Probably thrown together so it could be shot, or sold.

[EastCoastCollector]

Hey guys, sorry for the late reesponse but I got back in to town yesterday and only just had a chance to tear it down now. Here are some additional pics of some markings Ive never seen before,on my Mosins at least. Probably just inspection markings that the meaning has been lost. And as for the comment of someone saying theres a strange mark on the trigger guard it looks like there was in Izhevsk marking there that whoever went over the rifle tried to deface, Ive added a picture of it to the album. The Soviet crest on the barrel shank does seem to have been ground off as well, plus most of the major parts seem to have had a phosphate type of finish added. Not sure if any country ever did this which is why now Im thinking this was someones project rifle.

Pics: Here

*edit*

This is the same marking thats on my cocking knob. It is an early piece (old Russian typeface on the back)

[djbuck1]

Old style Tula hammers on the cocking knob and trigger; old style Izhevsk bow and arrow on the bolt head.

Any pics of the barrel shank?

[EastCoastCollector]

There are some pics of the top of the barrel shank in the first post and I didnt notice any unusual or different markings compared to my other '43 on the bottom of the shank, I could still get some pictures though if it would help anything? This thing is put together with more of a mix of old and new(er) both Tula and Izhevsk parts than Ive seen on any other rifle. Probably doesnt mean anything but theres parts from every era of Russia on this thing, kinda cool.

[djbuck1]

Okay, those other images didn't come up on the other computer I was using. I see now that the receiver is a fairly typical 1943 wartime Izhevsk, as is the stock. My opinion, which is strictly conjecture, is that someone may have had a lot of spare parts lying around and "built" an M91/30.

Let me be very clear that I do not support doing that. But as one collects, spare parts accumulate. You get a rifle with a broken part, and buy a replacement and a spare. You see a box of Mosin parts for sale? You buy them. You have an historic stock that you don't want to risk shooting? You pick up a refurb stock to use for that purpose.

I suspect that anyone who has been collecting for a while has enough parts to put together a complete rifle. My conjecture is that someone may have done this and sold it. Uneconomic? At today's prices for parts, yes. But they accrue over time.

[EastCoastCollector]

So far I don't see any reason for that to be untrue, which is actually fairly interesting because it wasn't done on this side of the pond then. The guy I got it from buys everything from an importer here in Canada, he gets special first dibs pick of everything that comes in from Europe Im guessing. He gets all kinds of rare and hard to find (north of the border) Mosins so that just adds to the "where the hell did this thing come from" question.

[djbuck1]

Well, I am far from an expert, but if it is any sort of rare rifle, the guys with The Knowledge on this site will tell you.

[EastCoastCollector]

Was also given this link by the previous owner, the photos are down but it is the rifle in question. It was made clear pretty early in to it that it was NOT a Finn capture as the URL title suggests. Korean war trophy (Canada w/ no import or refurb marks), Balkan, and quick WW2 refinish are all suggested. Who knows. Looks like itll shoot well and I do like the blade sight so regardless of where it came from Im pleased.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread. ... nn-capture

[EastCoastCollector]

P.S. post: I just took a look at the front sight and its NOT shimmed in place, that looks like metal thats been struck with something steel or other metal and taken off the finish.

[Longcolt44]

P.S. post: I just took a look at the front sight and its NOT shimmed in place, that looks like metal thats been struck with something steel or other metal and taken off the finish.

Most likely someone may have "pinned" in place after adjusting it.