Mosin Nagant Sniper info..

[Aragorn243]

Ex-snipers will have the old screw holes visible on the inside of the receiver wall on the left opposite the bolt. That's about the only thing that will be consistent with all of them. They didn't simply line out the scope serial number on most, they ground it off. The screw holes were filled and welded over, polished and then re-blued during the arsenal process. Tiger striped stocks are laminate stocks and are post war additions. They would not be original to a 1943 rifle, they are also not exclusive to snipers, they used them as replacements on all rifles that had bad stocks.

Pre-war rifles will all be "finished". 1942 and 1943 rifles will usually not be well finished. They look rough. A 1942 or 1943 rifle that looks better than most may indicate it was a sniper but you need to check inside the receiver for the mount holes. Sniper rifles were indeed selected for accuracy and they were finished a bit further than the run of the mill rifles. That's how I got mine, completely by accident. I was looking at a dozen or so and this one had a nicely finished receiver as opposed to badly finished receivers on the rest. It wasn't until I got it home and got the cosmoline out of it that I found the holes for the scope mount.

[jjjxlr8]

You might get lucky and find one with the original (repaired) stock, too! These are much easier to spot.

[big_blue79]

Got me one of them ^ , right on the end of the forend stock:

[erno86]

BigDuke,

May I suggest that you search for the Russian Mosin Nagant Forum on the WEB. They seem to have the best information on real and fake M91-30 sniper rifles.

My M91-30 "sniper," does not have a laminated stock on it. I referred to the "tiger stripes" in my last post, as darker wood on lighter wood so as to make it a patchy camoflage hue to it; not the elongated lines of a laminated stock. I wish I could show you a picture of it, but I'am not that computer savvy. It is one of the most beautiful stocks that I have ever seen. It does stand out in a crowd. It does not have a shiny finish on the stock.

If you want to read about the true written story, written by the Russian sniper, Vasily Zaitsev himself, about his escapades in Stalingrad ---- you can check my thread on ATS {Above Top Secret,} discussion forum ---- in the Weaponry forum, titled: Duel of the Master Snipers, a thread posted by me, known as Erno86.


Cheers,

Erno86

[erno86]

I bought my Mosin "sniper," from a gunshop here in Maryland. The gunsmith there, polished the trigger and sear so much that it had a "hair" trigger pull on it. This is a dangerous condition for a Mosin, if you drop a loaded rifle. ALWAYS... do a drop test on your Mosin before or after you buy it, or polish the trigger group. I had to replace the trigger leaf spring and sear by ordering another set from Numrich Gun Parts.

Just pound your unloaded, cocked, safety off, butt of your Mosin stock on a carpeted floor --- with a "reasonable" force to see if it goes off. I imagine... if you pound hard enough --- they will all go off. The hair trigger on my Mosin, before I replaced it, would go off, when I would just hit the palm of my hand on the rear of the cocked bolt.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Sniper rifles were indeed selected for accuracy and they were finished a bit further than the run of the mill rifles.

This is something I do not quite understand. To select a rifle for accuracy, it must first be assembled in order to shoot it. Which would surely mean it had been finished. Or were they assembled, selected for accuracy, and then dismantled and refinished with a smoother surface?

[jjjxlr8]

I believe they received more attention during the manufacturing process and were more accurate as a result. Afterall, there are known serial number blocks for the snipers.

[jjjxlr8]

BigDuke,

....I referred to the "tiger stripes" in my last post, as darker wood on lighter wood so as to make it a patchy camoflage hue to it; not the elongated lines of a laminated stock. I wish I could show you a picture of it, but I'am not that computer savvy. It is one of the most beautiful stocks that I have ever seen. It does stand out in a crowd. It does not have a shiny finish on the stock.
....

Your not talking about a Finnish arctic birch stock are you? Those certainly have beautiful "tiger striped" figure in the wood and also do not have a shiny shellac finish.

Here's an M39 that I have with such a stock.


This isn't a very good photo, but the M91/30 (ex-PEM sniper) and the SKS45 at the bottom have that nice Russian dark/light effect. They have the Russian shellac finish, though, so they are a bit shiny.

[Aragorn243]

This is something I do not quite understand. To select a rifle for accuracy, it must first be assembled in order to shoot it. Which would surely mean it had been finished. Or were they assembled, selected for accuracy, and then dismantled and refinished with a smoother surface?

Who knows. Seems little is really understood with these due to Soviet secrecy or failure to keep records. I'm just passing along what I've read on the selection process. I would guess they were finished further after assembly as I've noted no difference in the finish of my barrel, it still shows the lathe marks. The receiver however has been polished.

[bigduke6]

Erno86,

You mention Vasily Zaitsev , looking at pics of him he used a nagant with PE scope and a side rail mount (similar to the german LSR mount ) would this be a rarer sniper variation than the usual PU mounted rifles.

UPDATED, I,ve answered my own question with a bit of reading on the forum you suggested very interesting but could not find you peice on Vasily, any chance you post a link?