Odd markings on hex 91/30

**Aragorn243** · 07-21-2013 03:00 PM

About all we can do with a lot of these markings is speculate. Any records kept haven't been made easily available to the authors of the books we have at our disposal.

I looked at the online site Mosin Nagant Rifle Guide to Proofs and Markings and after looking there, I no longer think they are Polish markings. The shape is right but the size is way too big. I also looked at the Imperial eagle and that doesn't look right either. It is too narrow and too neat. I can't compare it to the one on my rifle as mine was struck. There were a lot of countries that used an eagle stamp but none look exactly like this one. The Russians eagles had two crylic letters directly under the feet which this one lacks. Have you taken them apart to confirm where the receivers were made. This could shed some light onto it. The manufacturer and the year made are stamped on the base of the tang.

These rifles traveled around quite a bit and most countries put some sort of mark on them. I have a Russian icon

Imperial that found it's way to Austria icon

and Bulgaria. Peened out and partially ground Imperial marks, strong Austrian capture marks on both the receiver and barrel and Bulgarian pine cones in three places on the stock.

I don't know how they would wind up back in Russian hands if they were in Poland unless the Soviets emptied the warehouses when they withdrew. Considering the mess they left behind I can't imagine them caring all that much about stocks of obsolete rifles. They left Nukes behind in the Ukraine.