1915 Imperial marked Westinghouse manufactured Mosin

[vintage hunter]

Thanks for the reminder Tom. The ''Finn capture'' term is so often used when talking about SA marked Mosin's that I tend to forget all about the ones that were purchased from other nations.

[Kirk]

Would that look like any of these? Might be hard to see, but on the band it looks like an arrow with a letter by it. If you blow the barrel band picture up you can see it much better, I think it is an arrow.

Here's B, E, F, G & R

Attachment 31721Attachment 31722Attachment 31723Attachment 31724Attachment 31725

[clarkmilitaria]

Is the symbol on the receiver above the imperial eagle a Soviet mark? If so, then this rifle spent time in the Soviet arsenals. Was Russia included with the "Germany and other countries" that Finland bought 91's from? If so, then I understand it may not be a capture. But, if the Soviets did not sell 91's to the Finnish, then wouldn't this rifle more likely be a capture? Because if it were bought from Germany or another country, why would it have the Soviet mark on the receiver? Germany would have had to capture it in WWI, (or I guess buy it from the Soviets later, but why would they do that?) I may be wrong, but I doubt the Soviets were marking their guns with their symbols while they were still in WWI (The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk being signed 4 months after the Soviet takeover). If the rifle was captured by Germany then sold to Finland later, it would have had to have been Soviet marked within that time period of 4 months.

[vintage hunter]

I'm not sure what that mark is and I can find no referrence to it anywhere, mine has it too. But, none of my other Mosin's made by the Soviets do. When I first started collecting milsurps in the late 80's one of the first Mosin Nagants I owned was a Westinghouse 1891. Unfortunatly I no longer have it. It was in extraordinarily good condition(90-95%) with bright shiney bore and no import marks but IIRC it too had the mark on the barrel shank like yours and the one I have now. The condition and lack of import marks suggest it may have been one that was sold off as surpuls in the 20's and had never left the US. I've read that there were Russian inspectors roaming around in the Remington and Westinghouse factories to ensure that the rifles being built here were as good as those being made in Russian factories. This it pure speculation on my part but it's possible the mark in question may be a final inspector or acceptance mark.

[clarkmilitaria]

Well, I just bought it, $140 is a great price in my opinion for that much history and a good rifle. The bore is great, shiny with strong rifling. At least the rear sight is Westinghouse also, I don't know about the rest. Thanks for all of the input.

[Homer2]

I hope you bought it. That's probably a $300 rifle with tons of great history. Finn rifles are mix masters, so I wouldn't change a thing. Trying to get all Westinghouse parts would not help the value, and may actually hurt it. An all original matching NEW can bring $1200. Typical Finns are $250-350. Yours looks above average.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Well, I just bought it, $140 is a great price in my opinion for that much history and a good rifle. The bore is great, shiny with strong rifling. At least the rear sight is Westinghouse also, I don't know about the rest. Thanks for all of the input.

Well done. Another Finn is now in safe hands.