1897 Mosin Nagant M91 with Hex. Receiver

[Midmichigun]

All,
I will be posting pics shortly of my Mosin Nagant that I came into, a number of years ago. This was purchased via a Dunhams Discount some time back.
This rifle has been through a bit, so I am looking for an education of what is "new" vs. original. The Czar crest was removed from the hex. receiver, and the arsenal name has been partly obliterated.
The serial number is: 149,302. The last bit of the arsenal name appears to be: KIN. The date has an "r" or "T" after it.
As is typical, it is a mismatch rifle.
Unfortunately I have neither a bayonet or cleaning rod with it.
Stay tuned for pictures! I am uploading them via Photobucket.

Information

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[fernleaf]

Sounds like an Izhevsk made rifle.

The 'r' after the date is a Cyrillic 'g', which stands for 'god', and means 'year' in English.

Is there an [SA] mark on the barrel shank anywhere? We'll need to see those photos to really help you out..

[Midmichigun]

Fernleaf,
Here are a few photos to start things off...

[Aragorn243]

Lot of Izhevsk marks on it. Those are the bow and arrow symbols.

[Midmichigun]

Aragorn,
Thanks for the input. As you can appreciate, I am having problems getting good clear photos of the receiver. I tried to fill it in with white paint, and still had limited success.... I blame the cheap camera!


The next photo has a "rack" stamped on the stock. Rather poor quality with little contrast. Interesting is that there is a "repair" in the area. Simple dowel cut and plug!

[Aragorn243]

That's an interesting sling on that. Even with the mismatched bolt it's more interesting than the average 91/30.

What is the finish on it? Looks like an oil finish in some pics and shellac in others. Not going through a refurb I'm interested in what the finish is as there is some question as to whether the shellac was original or not.

[fernleaf]

Thats a non-Finned M91 made by Izhevsk in 1897. More than likely it was used by a country in South-East Europe before being released to the US surplus market - one of the so called 'Balkan Imports', probably from Bulgaria. The Imperial Russian eagles have been scrubbed off by whatever country it ended up in.

The sling is a Romanian Ak/SKS sling.

[Midmichigun]

Guys!
I thought I just had another boring Mosin!
As to the sling... that is what came with the rifle when my Dad purchased it from a retail store (probably Dunhams Sports)... back in the late 1990's early 2000's. I believe it came with a bayonet, but I don't know what he did with that.
We figured that the Imperial crests were "scrubbed" after the Communists took over.
I will take better photos of the bolt when I get a chance. There is a second set of serial numbers that are badly faded....
I suspect that the wood finish is some attempt at cleaning up the wood on the rifle. I thought I remembered it with peeling shellac. But the color is approximately the same as I believe how my Dad received it.

[Midmichigun]

Guys,
As promised... here are extra photos of the bolt:

Upside down photo of what appears to be the letters/ numbers: TK3x. Also seen is the bow and arrow (near bolt root).


If you have suggestions on where to find any more cartouches... or anything of interest let me know.

Ok... onto a photo of the stock.. inside the barrel channel....


Now for some interesting photos... just to show the inspector marks... is there anything that I should look for?? As you can appreciate, the camera won't focus in that close...



Moving to the rear tang and trigger region...



Holy Smokes! There are certainly MANY marks and cartouches... any way to decode these things?? The tang does matchthe receiver ring (1897).

Strange question... if you look at one of the photos, I have the following number on both the barrel and receiver (in line with each other): 531888. They are upside down! Why don't they match the receiver SN, and why are they below the wood (probably not importers marks).

Thanks for viewing... and please make comments!

[kriswaller]

I have one like that but it has been thru hell.. It has 3 sa stamps on it, been counter bored the archins are crossed out on one side and meters are stamped on the other has the old ladder style rear sights and blade front sight for its appearance it shoots really good i picked it up at a gun store a few yrs ago and it started talking to me so she went home with me.............. I reload for it and it seems to like 155 to 200 grain cast bullets too its pretty consistent with that............... What a gun it is!!!!!! its a beast.............. I love it.......