The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hi everyone I'm looking to add a Finnish M39 Civil Guard rifle to my collection. There is one currently for sale that has all the correct Finnish markings and such, however, the Century Arms International import mark on the barrel doesn't line up with the info from 7.62x54r.net for what it should have. If you see in the attached photo the first line of the import mark shows "C.A.I. ST ALB VT" According to 7.62x54r.net the first line of the import mark should have been marked "CAI ST. A. VT."

Is this a big concern regarding the authenticity of the rifle or is this a simple mismark? 7.62x54r.net indicates that CAI mismarked M28s as M27s on their import marks, I wonder if this is what happened on the M39 I want to buy.

Thanks guys for your input and help in advance!

The stamper was probably drunk that day. That tiny segment of rifle looks fine.

millman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:54 pm The stamper was probably drunk that day. That tiny segment of rifle looks fine.

I was thinking on similar lines, but it did give me pause on an otherwise very nice rifle.

Just curious, how much for M39 SkY? Must be rare in the USA/Can.

These things are going for a fortune anymore. Over the last year they have doubled in price - About $800 now and some are selling for more - a couple over $1K. The newbies are driving the market now.

I wouldn't worry at all about the importer stampings. I've never considered an import mark as being something to judge authenticity about. I can give you tons of examples of Century mistakes in their stampings and changes to their stampings over the years. Frankly, I've never seen a "ST A." stamp before. I've always seen ST ALB VT or GEORGIA VT in the past. With Century, more than any other importer, you can expect to find just about anything on their import stamps. It all depends on what year they stamped it and WHO stamped it...

qz2026 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:59 am These things are going for a fortune anymore. Over the last year they have doubled in price - About $800 now and some are selling for more - a couple over $1K. The newbies are driving the market now.

I wouldn't worry at all about the importer stampings. I've never considered an import mark as being something to judge authenticity about. I can give you tons of examples of Century mistakes in their stampings and changes to their stampings over the years. Frankly, I've never seen a "ST A." stamp before. I've always seen ST ALB VT or GEORGIA VT in the past. With Century, more than any other importer, you can expect to find just about anything on their import stamps. It all depends on what year they stamped it and WHO stamped it...

Thanks for the feedback. I figured it was a simple stamper mistake but my knowledge is a lot thinner on mosins then garands and carbines so I wanted to double check.