This Finnish M/39 is chambered in 7.62x53R, serial 363xx, and is Finn matching. Two things set it apart. The stock is figured arctic birch with a strong tiger stripe through the grain, the pattern Finnish collectors look for and pay for, and it is the rifle’s own rather than something added to it. The receiver still wears the Imperial Russian Tsarist eagle, unsanitized and clearly visible, where a great many Finnish rifles had the crest ground away. The barrel is dated 1942, carries the SA property stamp of the Finnish Army, and is marked B for a Belgian made barrel and D for a chamber throat reamed to the Finnish D166 cartridge, the modification that lets these rifles feed the long Finnish bullet and Russian ammunition alike without complaint. The bore is strong and the rifle is mechanically excellent. The stock has a small repaired hairline crack behind the tang, which is noted here rather than left to be found. It comes with its original leather sling and has its cleaning rod. The rifle is offered as it is shown.
The M/39 was the last of the Finnish Mosin-Nagants, approved in April 1939 as a joint design of the Finnish Armed Forces and the Civil Guard, and built around a heavier stock with a semi-pistol grip cut so the barrel floats free of the wood. That stock, and the barrels and sights that went with it, gave the type an accuracy reputation it still holds. What it did not have was a receiver of its own. Finland never manufactured Mosin-Nagant receivers, and had no reason to: the country held large stocks of rifles taken over from the Imperial Russian army when it became independent, and every Finnish Mosin-Nagant was built on a recycled receiver and recycled bolt parts from those earlier guns. That is why this rifle carries a Tsarist eagle on a weapon finished in Finland during the Continuation War, and why a crest left intact means something: it is the visible trace of where the rifle began, two wars and a change of nationality before it reached its final form.
Specifications
Model: Jalkavaenkivaari m/39, M39
Country of service: Finland
Caliber: 7.62x53R
Serial: 363xx
Capacity: 5 rounds
Barrel: Dated 1942, B stamped for a Belgian barrel, D stamped for the Finnish D166 cartridge
Markings: SA Finnish Army property stamp on the barrel
Receiver: Imperial Russian, Tsarist double-headed eagle intact and unsanitized
Stock: Figured arctic birch with tiger stripe, small repaired hairline crack behind the tang
Matching: Finn matching
Bore: Strong
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Included: Original leather sling, cleaning rod
