Hungarian M44 with a twist

[Miller Tyme]

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





















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

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