Mosin Nagant: is there any significance to a missing "r" after the date?
I was just looking at my Mosins and of the 3, 2 of them do not have the r after the date. My '33 Tula and '38 Izhevsk 91/30's both lack the r, but my 1944 Izhevsk M44 has it. After looking at some pictures on 7.62x54r.net I see there is a good mix of rifles with and without the r.
Now, maybe my Google-fu is off, but a search only turned up one discussion on this topic. An old calguns.net thread where a gentleman's 1942 or 1943 rifle was missing the r. Most people seemed to attribute it to rushed wartime production or Ivan had too much vodka while on the assembly line that day. Surely, rushed production wouldn't be the case for my 33 and 38 rifles.
Does anyone have some insight or opinions on this? Thanks!
