Hungarian 91/30?

[sdh1911]

A few weeks back I bought a real nice 1944 dated M38 Tula, real nice little gun. While I was walking out, I saw a very dirty, greasy, ratty looking "non-import" 91/30 cheap. I figured what the heck. I spent days cleaning this bad boy up, but, it payed off. The bore cleaned mint with minimum effort, but, the rest of the gun was cleaned twice with gojo and then the butchers wax. The gun is completely mismatched other than the era, all seems to be pre-war. The funny thing about it is the wire hangers and crappy cleaning rod. I logged onto 7.62X54net and the only reference I could find was to Hungarian guns using this type of hanger. It is a 1937 Izzy with Tula wood dated 1938, real nice star with the arrow in it. I can't figure who made the trigger housing, it has the serial # with what looks like a small circle on it. Could anybody help me figure this one out? Thanks-SDH

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[Claven2]

That's not hungarian. That's a 1937 Izhevsk M91/30 given to communist forces in Spain in 1938 or so to fight Franco's Fascists. After the war, the Spanish gov't refurbed all these captured mosins. Eventually they were sold in North America through Century in the 80's. Typically they are mismatched, usually with a Spanish replacement cleaning rod (like yours) and sometimes with a replacement spanish made handguard missing the metal tips. Yours is wearing a Tula stock and is probably typical of a Spanish Civil War mosin with a total mix of parts. SCW Mosins are collectible in their own right, by the way, and worth more than a Rusian refurb. On the left side of the buttstock there should be a flaming bomb cartouche with something like MP8 stamped inside it. It looks like yours has/had this mark, but it's faint. The receiver might also have "Made in the USSR" stamped into it. This was done by the importer, but not all SCW mosins were so marked. The wire hangers are also typical of a SCW rifle.

I wish I could have seen it before you gojo'd it. The Spanish finish is usually much darker, and I suspect you may have removed some original finish.

Nice find!

[sdh1911]

It wasn't very dark, just dirty and a lot of gunk and on the top wood there was some very minor flaking, but, it didn't look like shellac used on re-furbs and was only on the top wood. Trust me, I'm very fussy about original finishes. There is something stamped on the left, but can make it out, even with 10X (old age and the lack of brain cells have taken it's toll). The cleaning rod was what really had me puzzled, I couldn't find out anything about it. Thanks very much for the info, guess I'll log it in to stay, I never planned on collecting these things, but, as long as its legal, I'll just keep it goin. I highly appreciate your opinion, thanks again-SDH

[sdh1911]

I used some younger eyes than mine to check out the marking on the stock and the little guy says its a M8 maybe L over a circle, does that sound like anything? The next step may be the old fashion pencil and paper trace-SDH

[Claven2]

Yeah, that's definitely the Spanish refurb marking. As I said, I'm 100% certain it's a Spanish civil war gun. It has all the typical traits. You can take it to the bank

[sdh1911]

Cool, its a keeper. Thanks again-SDH