Mosin Nagant, M91/30, 7.62x54r Russian Rifle

Mosin Nagant M91/30 Shoots the 7.62x54R cartridge. (pronouced “Moi-seen”). Purchased this March 10th 2012 out of a box of about 20 guns @ the Gwinnett Fairgrounds Gun Show from Cherokee Gun & Pawn for $99, $107 after taxes and such.
Mine was manufactured in 1943, serial #672 round receiver from the Izhevsk arsenal (Russia). Mine was also has the Arms depot/refurbishment mark from a Soviet facility located in Ukraine on the right side Stock and on the Receiver/Barrel. Final black powder proof on barrel shank.

the number 2161 is on the underside of the barrel/receiver, per 7.62x54r.net “Numbers are also found on the underside of the barrel and receiver. These are not serial numbers but tracking numbers used during production before the final serial number was assigned.”

Data & Facts – Type II

Produced from 1933 – 1944

Arsenals – Ishevsk, Tula

Improved front and rear sights and used a spring type barrel band retainer. Produced mainly with a round receiver after 1938.

The Model 1891/30 Rifle (Vintovka obr. 1891/30) was commissioned by the Revolutionary Military Council of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. Early in 1924 a committee consisting of Ye. K. Kabakov and I. A. Komaritskii, began work on modernizing the M1891, using the dragoon model as a basis. The first trial rifles were made in 1927 and by 1930 a new design had been agreed upon, which was standardized on 28 April as the “Rifle Model 1891/30” (vintovka obrazers 1891/30goda.) Production of the M1891/30 began on 10 June 1930 at Tula and Izhevsk and ceased at Tula in the spring or summer of 1942 . Izhevsk discontinued production in 1944. Because supplies of M1891 parts (barrels, receivers, stocks, etc.) were in great supply, some M1891/30s were still being made with hexagonal receivers as late as mid-1936.

The story of the M91/30 can’t be told without mentioning the trials and tribulations of the arsenals that produced it during the Great Patriotic War or W.W.II. The Soviet Union was able to produced a sufficient amount of weapons on a wartime footing to equip it’s massive army while in some cases moving that production hundreds of miles and maintaining their output in crude facilities that often times were nothing more than a bombed out tractor factory. Izhevsk and Tula were fortunate to remain behind soviet lines during the war. Although Tula was threatened at one point. On the other hand was forced to cease production in 1941 due to the approach of Finnish troops. The entire operation was relocated to Leningrad where it resumed production. There are conflicting stories about this though. Karl-Heinz Wrobel indicates that Sestroryetsk discontinued their weapons production long before the war. However, A number of SVT40’s appeared on the US market in the past few years with what was believed to be Sestroryetsk arsenal marks. A story has emerged that this is the Kirov mark. However, I can not find any documented evidence of Kirov being an official state arsenal. There is some mention of an arsenal being relocated there but Tula and Izhevsk never moved. I can only surmise that the Soviets installed the equipment from Sestroryetsk there to produce SVT’s and the arms makers used the Sestroryetsk mark.

M91/30’s were produced using both the older hex receivers as well as the more modern round receivers. Those produced during the height of the war had at least two distinguishing features: extremely rough milling on the receiver and a high receiver wall on the left side of the receiver. Both of these measures were intentional to cut down on the milling process and to expedite the guns to the front line soldier.

Stats

Length: 1218mm

Weight (unloaded): 3890 kg.

Barrel: 730 mm, 4 groove, right-hand twist

Magazine: 5 round integral box

Rate of Fire: Bolt-action, 10 – 12 rounds per minute

Caliber: 7.62x54Rmm vintovochnyi patron obr 1891g

Muzzle Velocity: 860 mps