M91 Westinghouse Mosin stock ID

[winston94]

hello all,
pick up a 91 Mosin and found this couture mark on stock... can anyone ID?
Attachment 76546


thanks,
Mike

Information

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[Eaglelord17]

Hard to tell from the photo but I would say either a Imperial crest or maybe a German capture mark (WWI). If it is a WWI German capture mark then it is likely a stock off a different rifle originally as these rifles generally arrived too late to have served in WWI.

http://www.mosinnagant.net/images/DeutschesReich2.jpg

[winston94]

hello Eaglelord... when you say arrived to late.. do you mean the american made Mosin's didn't make it to front lines of WW1 to be captured so if could be another stock from another rifle? i got this from a old time family friends private collection.. he was and still is a dealer... he would buy crates of this stuff back in the day and then cherry pick... so when i got interested in these Mosin/surplus he brought this one out of his collecton and sold to me... this one is not import marked so its been here awhile i guess.. anyway thanks allot for your feedback.. and appreciate any other feedback...

mike

[Brian Dick]

I think it's the Imperial Crest. I have one in newish condition and it's stamped on the left side of the buttstock. I imported 17 New England Westinghouse M1891 rifles along with about 80 other variants in 2006 that were direct from Finnish War reserves and rebuilt in Finland. They were obviously captured during WW1, most likely by Austro-Hungarian forces and were sent by Germany to Finland before WWII.

[winston94]

very cool ok thanks allot for the info Brian...

[Eaglelord17]

I think it's the Imperial Crest. I have one in newish condition and it's stamped on the left side of the buttstock. I imported 17 New England Westinghouse M1891 rifles along with about 80 other variants in 2006 that were direct from Finnish War reserves and rebuilt in Finland. They were obviously captured during WW1, most likely by Austro-Hungarian forces and were sent by Germany to Finland before WWII.

I am just curious did the M91s have any Austrian Capture Markings? The reason I ask is generally Post-WWI Finland was buying up Mosin Nagants from every source it could get its hands on (I had a early M28/30 made on a 1919 Tula receiver which the only way they could have acquired that is by buying off other nations). Sources would include those that had come in through the former Russian ports into Finland, Czechoslovakia (they were given 77,000 from the US), those captured from other countries around Russia (Bulgaria, Austria, Poland, Germany, Turkey, etc.), not to mention those captured in the Russian Civil War. So unless it actually has Austrian capture marks, it would only be speculation as to who it actually arrived from.

OP the reason I say they generally didn't receive much combat in WWI is just because approximately 131,400 Remington Mosins and 225,260 Westinghouse Mosins made it into Russia before the Revolution (remember WWI got very interesting for the Russians in 1917 with the Revolution, WWI ended shortly afterwards for them and the Russian Civil War took over after that). Those rifles that arrived had a tough time making it out of the ports they arrived in as the railways and roads were not nearly as developed as they needed to be to move all the supplies they had to move inland (the number shipped would also have been higher later on than sooner as it took longer to set up tooling and getting production ramped up).

[Brian Dick]

I don't remember whether they were marked or not with Austrian capture marks. I've just relayed what I was told at the time by the seller. Since I'm not a big student of the Mosin Nagant, I could very well be wrong. They were all very nice rifles. Roy Jinks who's S&W's Historian even bought one because he collects all manner of firearms built in the Springfield, MA area. Buy the rifle not the story I reckon!

[winston94]

i think im going to to take it apart an see if there is any other marks on the barrel etc.. if it did go through Germany or Austria/Hungery it should be marked correct? if i find something i will post it..

[Eaglelord17]

Generally capture markings are visible on the receiver or stock. Usually they didn't take them apart to apply them. If you look online you can find a list of markings and what they mean.

[winston94]

ok i will take a look... thanks allot for all the info...