The Russian Mosin as used by the Finnish army

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

Tell me some of you wise old fellows; What is the way a fellow can tell when he's looking at a Finnish conversion of the captured Russian rifles?

Good evening,
Forrest

[John 242]

Good info here:
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM91F.htm

I hope this helps you out. I am not qualified to give you a good answer.

[milsurp mike]

One of the easiest ways to tell is the Barrel Shank will be stamped with a Boxed SA mark.Sometimes a 41 stamp also.Look for a D stamp also.Mike

[Piedmont]

Finnish conversion means to me more than Finn capture. A capture will have the SA stamp. To be a Finn it needs a Finn barrel. Look for the S Sako stamp with gear wheel. Or VKT or T in a triangle (Valmet and Tikka respectively). Not all Finns have spliced stocks but most do. Other barrel markings to look for that will indicate a Finn are an S with three sprigs at the top of it (early civil guard mark, M24), SY (later civil guard mark) or SKY (last civil guard marking).

If the barrel shank has a bunch of gobbledeegook written on it, otherwise known as Cyrillic writing, it is a Russian barrel, not a Finn.

[NuJudge]

The Tsar was the Grand Duke of Finland. With the Russian Revolution and the Tsar being deposed, the Finns no longer felt they needed to be ruled by the Russians, and split off on their own. The Russians left a lot of stuff behind, which the Finns added to by purchase in between the wars, and they captured a lot of them in the Winter War and Continuation War.

There's a lot of good info at the links above. In general, look for the boxed SA mark, as a lot of Russian M91 rifles were just reworked. Smaller quantities were stripped down to the reciver and bolt and completely rebuilt, as with the M28 and M39.

CDD

[doubs43]

I presently have a "Finn" model 91 MN on consignment at a local gun store. The rifle appears to have had an interesting journey. It began life as an 1893 French manufactured M91. Markings on the receiver indicate capture by Austria and later ownership by Finland as it has a Tikka 1940 barrel and the "SA" stamp. It has the plain, un-hooded front sight and wire sling hangers. The bolt is serial numbered to the barrel. The bore is perfect.

[EMC45]

I have a New England Westinghouse Mosin 91 that has a Russian bolt and it is box stamped with the "SA". Go figure!

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

Thanks for the responce.

The deal was that I made a trip to California, stopped in a gun store to buy some 4350 ( unavailable here ) and there on his rack was a M91 in excellent full military wood and complete with bayonet.

I'd had one some 40 years ago when they cost $9.95 and knew what it was in a general way but this one was different in that the barrel had no Cyrillic writing on it and no communist star either.

What really turned me on was that the barrel showed crisp rifling and bright, shiny bore - also, it appeared to be freshly crowned, complete with the hooded front sight.

Price? Just $125! It would be mine except for California's crummy 10-day waiting period ~ my stay was only 3 days.

Good afternoon,
Forrest

[milsurp mike]

I would have bought the Rifle and got them to ship it to me.For $125 I would have been glad to pay shipping on that one.Do you know the name of the Gunstore?If so PM me with the INfo.Mike

[milsurp mike]

Most of the Finn's are a Hodge Podge of parts from all sorts of Mosin Nagants.I have several dozen Finn's and they are definately Mixx masters.Mike