The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hi I am Dennis and I got from my son a 1908 m91Finn and it is missing the hand guard ( I am finding out they are hard to get) and the cleaning rod. Would like to get both or what ever I can if anyone has one or knows where I might get one. I have only shot it a couple of times, but it is sweet gun to shoot. I am also into reloading also and I will pick up what I need to reload the 7.62x54r bullet.

My understanding on cleaning rods for M91 is that originals are very hard to find, however there are reproductions out there.
As for handguards, good luck and keep hunting. You might run into one someday.
Prof

There are a fair number of these relics which were imported without handguards or cleaning rods. Period photos also reveal that some of these rifles were in service in that configuration.

A collector, like myself, has resigned to the fact that some of these guns could be 100% correct just as they appear.

Welcome!

No money, no time, no friends to help you, the enemy outnumbers you 4-5 to one, this means that anything that will shoot no matter how marginal it might be is pressed into service. Just so long as there is enough left to fire it, it will do.

martin08 wrote:There are a fair number of these relics which were imported without handguards or cleaning rods. Period photos also reveal that some of these rifles were in service in that configuration.

A collector, like myself, has resigned to the fact that some of these guns could be 100% correct just as they appear.

Welcome!

+ that above.

Same goes for Arisaka's many were manufactured and not fitted with AA sights, monopod's ect and are original in that configuration yet everyone looks for these accessories to make the rifle "complete"

martin08 wrote:There are a fair number of these relics which were imported without handguards or cleaning rods. Period photos also reveal that some of these rifles were in service in that configuration.

A collector, like myself, has resigned to the fact that some of these guns could be 100% correct just as they appear.

Welcome!

You just like me are merely rationalizing a situation we can not solve I am afraid. Really everyone after about 1894 or so should have a hand guard. To find one is nigh to impossible. I am currently taking one that was in 5 or so pieces and trying to make it one piece again. I do not have the patience to do it nor the skill but I will do it one way or the other. All these guys around want to know if good reproductions of the hand guard would sell from time to time. What do they need an engraved reservation to start trying to make them? If they were reasonably good copies and didn't cost a bundle people would buy them I am sure. The thing that is stopping most from making them is the metal riveted ends that hold them on the rifle via the bands. You can get reproduction Finnish M28 hand guards which contain no metal or rivets so the wood part is possible to make I would say.

Any good machinist with the right size rod could make cleaning rods I am sure. They would be easy to spot as repro's as I am told the serrations in the knob end of them is difficult to copy. Why I have no idea as they made them years ago with older and less modern equipment then we have now? Many Mosins from different periods are recognized to usually not have cleaning rods so to me that is more acceptable than not having a hand guard. I shoot almost everything and man if you get to shooting an M91 and build some barrel heat up and that empty spot where the hand guard should be comes into contact with you skin you get a rude awakening and a nice burn sometimes.

No reason to say they were without hand guards in service when you are looking at blued metal of the barrel and it shows little or no wear in the spot where the hand guard should be! I bought about 30 of them when they were $10 each and thought I was getting took at that price now look when they are around they are $75 + ! Times they are Changing! Bill

I am pretty sure Martin was saying that some were imported without, not used in combat without handguards. I am sure my SA New England Westinghouse was imported without a handguard. I still have not cleaned it because all of the old dried cosmo/grease and dust tells a story. Dust all under the handguard bands and everything.

bunkysdad wrote:I am pretty sure Martin was saying that some were imported without, not used in combat without handguards. I am sure my SA New England Westinghouse was imported without a handguard. I still have not cleaned it because all of the old dried cosmo/grease and dust tells a story. Dust all under the handguard bands and everything.

Did you buy it right from the importer? That dreaded black grease that has ruined so much of my clothing from years ago was always lurking under a hand guard and when I took the hand guard off if I didn't clean it quickly it attracted everything and hardened like a rock when exposed to the air. Searching for decent hand guard years ago at a parts supplier I no longer have was always done in trash clothes or with a pair of old sweats on top of street clothes after I had learned the hard way. Things sat without hand guards after I nailed the ones I wanted for years as they were no longer complete or desirable after that hand guard was gone.

Keep in mind many of the M91's came in many years ago and have been stored poorly in this country with and without hand guards. I hit a honey hole in the attic storage space of an old R&S Straus Auto Parts place in NJ once and while the rifles I got were all complete many of the parts were luckily laying close by but not on the rifles. Go Figure that one out? These were Finnish too. This was back in the 90's and they had been there many years in the heat and cold yet there was little or no rust any where to be found because they were coated with dust and grease which came off easily with Mineral spirits which is what was in my parts cleaner and what I used back then. M91's have almost for sure passed me in the years they were imported at times. Meaning they were here before most all of us knew anything about old Russian rifles or wanted them. Maybe even before JYD was looking and buying them. When Bannerman was cutting them down for hunting rifles they would more than likely just throw or burn the M91 Hand guards and after he stopped they hit the Montgomery Wards and Sears stores again with out hand guards. These rifles had little value with uncut barrels and without hand guards which is the way they were modified and resold as cheap hunting rifles and later unfinished drill rifles. Some had to be saved and these more than likely were without hand guards too.

Everyone would also have to agree the M91 hand guard is one of the least rugged and thin pieces of wood ever put on a battle field rifle in the world. So they got broken and yes maybe some of them were imported without the hand guard but I still think the Finn's would never have issued them with out a hand guard. They were just too meticulous as people to have done something like that. Bill

Yes I agree they are the thinnest piece of wood. They sure do make a great looking rifle when they are there. I will get some pics of mine and get some more opinions here.