The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I picked up my first PU sniper yesterday, a 1944-dated Izhevsk with all matching numbers and I have a couple of questions.

I believe the scope is a 1940-dated NKV Plant No.357 "Progress" produced SVT scope (it also has a 1959-dated 2nd GRAU Arsenal refurb mark).The elevation drum hasn't got a CB mark on it, is there a way of telling if it has a SVT drum or a Mosin PU drum?.Here is a pic of the elevation drum......



Not sure if it is correct but there are no stop pins on the turrets, there is also "203", a letter "K" and "2X" stamped between the elevation and windage turrets.The scope mount has a couple of Izhevsk Arsenal stamps and the rifle serial number electro-pencilled on it.

On the barrel shank just above the wood line is what appears to be a number 4 and traces of the tip of a number 1 but the rest is indistinguishable, would this have been the scope serial number? (No. 04651)

The barrel bands and cleaning rod have what appears to be very old black paint on them, is this common on refurbed rifles?, could it have been done sometime later and should I leave it on???.....I want to say yes by the way!

Marks on the stock that I can make out are;

28 in a circle
18 in a circle x2
28 in a circle
62 in a circle
A letter P
A number 5
3 in a square
5 in a square
Cyrillic letter Я x2
C over 13 in a "tombstone"
Number 2 in a trapezium


And on the receiver/barrel shank, as well as the date/serial number/Soviet crest;

7 (?) in a square x2
Two very small number 3's, on receiver and one opposite on barrel shank
Letter "m" in a square
X in a square (2nd GRAU Kiev?)
Cyrillic у in a circle
3 in a trapezium on trigger guard.
Izhevsk Arsenal stamps on just about everything!.

There are also a couple of stamps on the barrel shank I can't make out, plus a modern-ish German proofmark, 7.62 RUSS and what looks like a chequered shield with 8AH stamped next to it.

Basically I'm wondering how original is my sniper?, here's a pic of her with my other Mosin which is a 1926 Izhevsk ex-Dragoon

Forgot to add that it has no Molot markings anywhere and no importer marks as we don't have those in the UK.The serial numbers on the receiver, bolt, magazine floor plate and buttplate are all stamped matching as well.

Also the machining of the receiver/barrel shank look a lot tidier than a lot of other Mosins I've seen, the bolt is very slick and the trigger feels a lot lighter and smoother.There is also some strange looking machining marks under the rear sight base I haven't seen before, these were obvoiusly made before the sight was fitted.

Anyone???

The questions you ask are very technical for most of the guys here on the forums. Especially the scope information. I would suspect only a few would be able to answer those. Maybe Radnik (send him a PM). He would have those very technical answers.

It was common to use black paint after they blued the metal parts if the bluing was not up to par. They just painted over them.

Showing photos of the rest of the rifle would help. No one will want to comment on things like the number just above the wood line. It could be anything. And they are all clues. Post a photo.

Marks on the stock mean nothing for the most part. They are all inspection marks. Most can't be ID'd.

Here are some of the known marks on the metal.
app.php/page/59

German proof mark means they moved the rifle through Germany before exporting it to USA. Some of that happened back a few years.


The last question. "How original is my Sniper?" It was refurbished. You can read here the process of re-furbishment here.
app.php/page/56
The Snipers were handled almost the same as the standard infantry rifle. However, all the parts of the sniper hey tried to keep together because of fit problems with the scope and base and mounts. So they tried to keep them together. But things like scopes were replaced if the old one was damaged. Sometimes they changed the scope numbers on the rifle, but not always.

Show us more photos of the barrel shank and the import marks and we can tell you more about the rifle.

Dolk

Thanks for the reply, I'll post some more pics later :-)

Dolk. I think he is in the UK . He won't have the import marks.

millman wrote:Dolk. I think he is in the UK . He won't have the import marks.

That's correct, I'm in the UK and we don't have those importers marks like you do in the States

Here's some more pics.....

The scope serial number is 04651 and there appears to be the remains of a number 4 where the serial number would have been....












On looking more closely I think it is a refurb with a force-matched magazine/floor plate and a scrubbed scope serial number, does that seem about right?

I had the action out of the stock earlier and found numerous small inspectors stamps on the underside of the barrel and the the number X6249 stamped on the underside of the barrel shank, the font was around the same size as those of the main serial number on the upper side.

And a photo with her daughter ;-)

It's a correct refurbished PU sniper. It is correct because it came out of the arsenals just like it is. It would have been refurbished and The barrel, Stock, scope base, butt plate magazine would all be matching and probably original. The bolt would have been scrubbed from another PU sniper. They all were with very few exceptions. Looks like your scope was also changed and they scrubbed the scope numbers off the barrel shank and did not put the replacement scope numbers back on. Also, the absence of scope numbers on the scope mount lends to that same conclusion. Typical refurbished PU sniper rifle from the arsenal.

It is sporting a SVT scope (style). Probably made for a SVT40 and reworked to M91/30 specs.

Nice rifle!

Dolk

Thank you for the reply, that answers my questions nicely

I'm very pleased with it and can't wait to see how she shoots

Oh man! Beautiful family you have there Snayperskaya!

Almost_Samurai wrote:Oh man! Beautiful family you have there Snayperskaya!

Thanks mate , a modest collection so far that includes the PU, the 1926 Izhevsk ex-Dragoon, the Dragunov, a nice little 1969 Tula TOZ-8M .22lr Cadet rifle and a "Soviet-ised Romanian AKM.I would love to add an Imperial Mosin to the collection, the earlier the better and not a Finnish capture.

Previous Mosins were a 1938 Izhevsk 91/30, a 1944-dated M44 and a 1953 Romanian M44 that I wish I never sold!.