This Finnish M91 is chambered in 7.62x54R, serial 464xx, and is Finn matching, the magazine base and butt plate being unnumbered as they left the works. The barrel is dated 1942 and carries the B stamp of a Belgian made barrel together with the D stamp, which marks a chamber throat reamed for the Finnish D166 cartridge and lets the rifle handle Finnish and Russian ammunition alike. Beneath it is a hexagonal receiver of pre-1898 manufacture. The rifle retains almost all of its blued finish, and the stock is in near excellent condition with only minimal scuffs and dings. The bore is mirror bright with sharp rifling and the rifle is mechanically excellent. It is complete with its cleaning rod and sling swivels. A faint G is stamped on the top of the receiver; it is noted here as it is found, without a reading attached to it. The rifle is offered as it is shown.
The M91 is the original Mosin-Nagant, adopted by Imperial Russia in 1891 and built in enormous numbers at Tula, Izhevsk and Sestroretsk, and under contract abroad. Finland came into a great many of them at independence, left behind in the depots of a departing empire, and spent the following decades making them better rather than replacing them. A Finnish M91 is a Russian rifle rebuilt to Finnish standards: new barrels bought in from abroad or made at home, new sights, reworked stocks, and chambers opened to take the heavier Finnish D166 cartridge. The barrels came from a succession of suppliers as the country could get them, SIG in Switzerland, Belgian makers, and later Tikkakoski, VKT and SAKO at home, which is why a Finnish M91 so often pairs a nineteenth century receiver with a barrel made half a lifetime later. That combination is the whole character of the rifle, and this one shows it plainly: an action made before the turn of the century, carrying a barrel dated to the middle of the Continuation War.
Specifications
Model: Finnish M91 Mosin-Nagant
Caliber: 7.62x54R
Serial: 464xx
Receiver: Hexagonal, pre-1898 manufacture
Barrel: Dated 1942, B stamped for a Belgian barrel, D stamped for the Finnish D166 cartridge
Capacity: 5 rounds
Matching: Finn matching, magazine base and butt plate unnumbered
Markings: Faint G stamped on the receiver top
Finish: Retains almost all of its blued finish
Stock: Near excellent, minimal scuffs and dings
Bore: Mirror with sharp rifling
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Included: Cleaning rod, sling swivels
