The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

What is the general consensus of a SA stamp on the receiver instead of the barrel? Is this mostly uncommon or suspect?

I have never come across any on the receiver. Is that the only place it is stamped? What rifle is it on?

I can't say I've seen one on the receiver at least not that I recall but I don't think that alone should disqualify it as being legit. I've seen legit SA Stamps on Finnish made bayonets that really have no reason to be there.

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All my stamps are on barrel. I think on left side.

Never seen one, but like capt14k says, that in itself wouldn't make it suspect.

These days I cast a jaundiced eye on any SA stamp as I know the stamp itself is now reproduced and likely being used ( why buy it otherwise) to manufacture "pieces of history" or embellish existing pieces of history. You need to look at the entire piece carefully, not just the stamp. You need to see what other Finn attributes the rifle has other than the stamp. Finn stock? Sling hangers? Finn trigger or shims? Finn altered sights, bolt knob serial number? It is no longer safe to assume any rifle is a Finn because it has the SA stamp unless it is obviously Finn such as the M39 or other rifle only produced in Finland. You see a Soviet era rifle or older M91 you need to know what you are looking for, and that means doing your homework first so you can tell what a Balkan used M91 looks like from a Finn used one, and so on. Learn stock styles and finishes, and all the other small points that differentiate a Finn Mosin from the others. I trust the Finn rifles in my collection because I bought them at a time when nobody was making SA stamp kits, and the low cost of the rifles at that time did not provide any incentive to fraud. These days however I don't trust any "Finn capture" Soviet era Mosin without verifying it by finding some other Finn attribute past that damn SA stamp.

Typically the SA stamp is on the left side of the barrel shank. Not uncommon to have it on the top of the barrel shank. M24 has six SA stamps on the top and sides of the barrel shank. The guy must have gotten paid for piece work.

A fellow down south was caught just in the last year or so applying SA Stamps. Opened a business very similar in name to The Mosin Crate. Unfortunately fake SA Stamps do exist. The same scumbag that sells the full assortment of Nazi Stamps sells SA Stamps as well. Best thing to do is post some pictures.

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I have to agree about the other Finn traits. There are none other in this case except it is non refurb pre war stock with all numbers appearing original matching.

Now that we can see it being stamped above the import serial numbers, I'd think it's highly suspicious!

cj1964 wrote:Now that we can see it being stamped above the import serial numbers, I'd think it's highly suspicious!

It's in an odd place for sure... The question is; Does it look to be a fresh stamping?

I will not say why on here or anywhere else online but I would say that is a bogus stamping. I would highly suspect both the seller and the original owner if they are different. Nothing more to say for me. Bill

PS Heed JYD's sage comments about value!

From my untrained eye, it looks fresher than the import serial numbers.

Have never seen SA on receiver. Only serial numbers, at wood line. Strange combination. Yes, that SA is brighter than sn.

From the picture it certainly does not look legit. It didn't happen to come from a short lived online business from NC?

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The depth & clarity is off on that [SA] stamp.... rather faint.

The community takes care of it's own. This guy shows up, suddenly changes his goofy company name to something extremely similar to mine(and a guy whose willing to fake markings to get money would no doubt sue for money so I won't name him). Lets say "The Mosin Crater" is the name he used. Very similar to mine. Then he built a website like mine, stole peoples pictures of gunboards, stole entire paragraphs off mine and did things to openly confuse folks with my business.

I was pissed but said nothing until I found out about the fake SA stamped stuff at which point I had to make clear to the community this guy(who was also in NC to add the cherry on top) was not me.

Just some redneck who stole others ideas and started off OK from what I hear but quickly moved to fantasy markings for an extra buck. Community ran him off which I was extremely proud of. He even deleted his gunbroker account because some collectors apparently made threats(not the right thing to do).

All that aside.. As JYD put it, LOOK AT THE ENTIRE RIFLE. Is it a 1943 or 44 91/30? It should be suspect. Is it a refurbed rifle? Even more suspect. If its a rifle generally pre 1940 and has a Finnish stock, you're good to go. Everything from the import marking(usually century) needs to be looked at. Such as a rifle imported by PW arms would likely not be correct. I've been through thousands of 91/30 refurbs and only ever found one Finnish recapture. Never seen it put on the receiver that I can remember. Be sure to ask about where an item came from. If it came out of NC and you have a weird feeling.. just walk away.

No telling how many fabricated pieces are out there these days. Thank goodness while most fakers can put a stamp on a rifle, they are after money and don't invest time in figuring out what rifles said stamps would be correct on..

I'd love to see more photos of the entire rifle before I will comment. It's not very common to se the SA mark in that spot.

Yes, it looks odd to me as well, especially since there are no other Finn traits associated with it.
The positives are it is pre-1940 and not refurbed and all S/Ns appear to be original stamped. Even the alpha prefix letters are the same.
I'm not going to buy it anyway, just thought it was interesting.

I have a '41 Ishevisk, continuation capture, w/ no changes except the two piece stock, it's SA is on the left side of barrel, so there's you another round receiver post Winter war example, I cant remember any stamped on the reciever