Hungarian M44 with a twist

I found a Hungarian M44 on line that intrigued me, it appeared to be well used and showed signs of possibly having seen Romanian Military service. What really caught my attention was the shield painted on L/H side of the butt stock with the letters PTTR in the center. A little research showed that PTTR in Romania stood for Posta Telefon Telegraf Radio, ( Postal, Telephone, Telegraph, Radio, the former name of the Romanian Postal services). The reserve was very reasonable so I decided to go ahead and buy it.

After the rifle arrived I inspected it and everything I have seen about this rifle appears to bear out my conclusion that this rifle made it’s way to Romania. The rifle is a mixture of Hungarian , ( stock barreled action, stock trim), and Polish ( bolt & mag housing) parts. The bolt & mag housing have been lined out with an EP, the mag housing was EP’ed to match the rifle, while the cocking knob was EP’ed to another rifle. The stock has been heavly sanded and coated with a heavy layer of shellac similar to another Romanian M44 in my collection. I am still working on trying to find out if the PTTR on the stock any connection to the Romanian Posta Telefon Telegraf Radio.

Not long after receiving this rifle its twin showed up on a Facebook posting that has added to the interest to try to find the story behind these rifles.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Main...ch/?query=PTTR


https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000122-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000215-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000315-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000414-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000516-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000619-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000716-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000816-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000918-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001016-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001114-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001218-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001320-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001416-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI001518-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CI000315-1.jpg


To add one more twist to the story a friend of mine recently found this M44 mix-master at a gun show in PA

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...20126png-1.jpg

Seriously, what would the postal service need rifles for? I can think of joke answers, like riding guard on a stagecoach, or encouraging tardy payers to settle their phone bills, but not a serious answer.

Good question Patrick, but often for escort service on postal cars on trains, some were also deputized as local defense auxiliaries. 'No, Mr international observer, these are not militaries, zey is just postal workers....'

Patrick,we are talking about more than just mail, PTTR was postal, telephone, and telegraph, which in the modern world of the late 20th century would mean the majority of the communication systems, something a despot communist goverment might want to gaurd and maintain control of.

And another so marked carbine has surfaced bring the count of PTTR marked carbines to 3

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Main...4604268241279/

In the US, we (the public) recently discovered via tracking the government purchase of ammunition, that many of our government agencies had firearms. Agencies that have no business having firearms. So that a communist government would have firearms in their postal service doesn't surprise me in the slightest as I think the US postal service has an armed branch, an investigative unit, enforcement, etc.

Speaking of joke answers the last rifle in the OP's post is much more recent. The first rifle is a postal, telephone, telegraph and radio carbine while the second is a much later facebook carbine.