Tikka 91/30 PU sniper: real or fake?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Patrick, are you telling me that this here fake sniper rifle can quite possibly be made to shoot better by resting it on sand bags with handloaded ammunition?

Amazing but true! I just wanted to get you to test the rifle as well as possible, not yourself!

BTW, what don't you like about the bolt handle?

[vintage hunter]

As I understand it the bolt handle is most always the one thing that will give away a fake Mosin sniper. I have read(internet info mind you) that on real 91/30 snipers the short stubby bolt handle was milled off, the bolt rib drilled, new longer handle pressed in and welded and the weld then uniformed in a lathe before the handle was turned down. But, like I say that's internet hearsay. Then again this particular rifle started life as a 1943 Izhevsk( marked as such on tang bottom) and the 42's and 43's were a bit rough finish wise compared to earlier examples due the high demand for rifles at the time. Sniper variants generally had a somewhat better finish than standard rifles. I completed apprenticeships with the Millwright and Ironworker trades and was at one time or another a welder for both and to me the quality of the handle job just has an amateur look about it. The smaller the object is being welded the better the welder has to be and the small jobs always separate the real welders from the ''blobbers''.
I will get around to testing the rifle but right now the shortage of loading components has that on hold. I want to use .308'' 150gr flat based bullets mainly because the elevation drum is calibrated for 148-150gr FB spritzers at around 2800 fps and I do occasionally take shots at critters out to 300 yds if I can't close the distance. ATM all of the .308'' bullets I have on hand are BTHP's in the 168-200gr range.

[mike radford]

It is almost certainly one of the ones Century put together using Finn rifles in the early 1990s. It is definitely a pretty one. Your mount is Tula and scope is Progress SVT type.

With the Finns, sometimes they would build a sniper on a non-sniper rifle foundation. It is the exception, not the norm or the rule. Very unlikely that this rifle is one that the Finns scoped.

Great rifle. Enjoy.

[vintage hunter]

Thanks Mike. I'd identified the scope as being what you say it is soon after buying the rig. The mount was giving me a bit of trouble as it looks to have been refinished and some of the identifying features removed. In fact there was a blue slip of paper with Russian writing dated 1954 tucked in the scope cover that I assumed was post war refurb/calibration documentation on the scope.
I'm perfectly happy with it being a fake, I can enjoy it without having to worry about destroying any collector value.
Won't be long now before it gets some use, as I type this the farmer that tends my land is planting 40 acres of melons in front of the house and the pesty deer won't be far behind.