From my Collection: 1942 Finnish Mosin Nagant Rifle

I picked up this rare piece last month, and thought that some here might be interested. Enjoy!

A Short History of the Mosin Nagant:

Design and Variations:
Spurred by severe failures in the Russo-Ottoman War, the Russians set about to find a new rifle for their military. Three designs were submitted in 1889, notably one design by Sergei Mosin and one by Leon Nagant. After a dispute between the two inventors (Nagant claimed that Mosin stole features of his design and didn't receive credit), a slightly refined version of Mosin's rifle using some features from Nagant's design was adopted for service in 1891 and became known as the Mosin Nagant M91. In Russia this rifle was known simply as the Mosin, but (partially due to Leon Nagant's PR campaign) the western press coined the name "Mosin Nagant". The latter has stuck.

In the 1930s, the rifle was modified into the M91/30. This rifle featured a 3.5" shorter barrel, a simple tangent sight in place of the ladder sight used on the M91, and a sight hood. In 1936, the M91/30 design was further simplified -- since 1891, all models had a hexagonal receiver. To simplify production, the receiver was changed to a round receiver.

Many variations of the rifle were produced, including the M38 and M44 carbines (these really kick!) and several sniper versions (a la "Enemy of the Gates").

Combat Use:
The rifle first saw service against the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese war. Poorly trained troops led to negative initial reactions. By the start of WWI, several million M91s were in service. Struggling to meet demand, Russia ordered over 3 million M91s from Remington and Westinghouse in the United States. The rifle proved to be popular on the front lines, with large numbers of captured M91s being captured by both the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. During the Russian Revolution, the M91 was the standard rifle of both sides. The rifle also saw extensive use in the Finnish Civil War. By 1939, the M91/30 was the standard combat arm of the Red Army and it saw extensive use in WWII. Attempts to replace or supplement it (notably with the SVT-40) failed due to both the complexity and cost of the alternatives. Production ceased in after the war, but the rifle spread extensively around the world. Every Eastern Bloc nation fielded the M91/30 at one point, in addition to the USSR's Africa allies/proxies and Southeast Asia. The Mosin Nagant is still used by several armies to this day in various forms.

Finnish Mosin Nagants:
Finnish Mosin Nagants are fascinating rifles. They are of much higher quality than the Soviet Mosin Nagants, and tend to be very accurate and in good condition. Finland never built their own receivers, instead relying on either captured or purchased rifles (usually the former), and modifying them to suit their purposes. The first Finnish Mosin Nagants were simply captured M91s. Over time, Finland expanded its arsenal to create many unique variants. The 1920s saw the introduction of the M/24, M/27 and M/28. These were essentially brand-new rifles (built on old Mosin Nagant receivers) with heavy-weight barrels, improved triggers, modified sights and modified stocks. There is a massive amount of history in these rifles, as they fought through two harsh wars (and possibly a revolution) for two different countries. Since essentially every Finnish Mosin Nagant was built using captured Soviet parts, that means that essentially every receiver saw combat and was captured in battle.

There are simply too many other variants to list here, but for those interested, I highly recommend the following site: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinVariations.htm

My Rifle:

My rifle is a 1942 dated "B-Barrel" Mosin-Nagant M91 built on a round receiver that was captured from the Soviets during the Winter War. I stripped the rifle down, and noticed that it contained parts from every Soviet arsenal, produced between the early 1900s (1908?) to the late 1930s. Lots of information, I know. I'll explain:

• 'B Barrel': Finland ordered several thousand barrel blanks from Liege, Belgium in 1942. These were stamped with a 'B' to indicate their country of origin. They were shipped to Finland that year, and assembled after. B-barreled rifles are sought-after pieces for collectors. A lot of these B-barrels were assembled onto M39 rifles instead of the M91s -- the M91s are more valuable. They saw little if any combat use in the Continuation War, so all tend to be in excellent condition. Due to both the high quality barrel and the Finn's insistence on highly-accurate rifles, they are known to be the best shooters out of all 37 million + Mosin Nagants produced.
• Round Receiver: If you recall, the Soviets switched to the round receiver design in 1936. This is very significant. At this point no arsenals produced the M91 -- all were making the M91/30. Essentially all Finnish M91s had the older hexagonal receiver. So, in addition to the rare B-barrel, this is a M91 made with newer M91/30 parts -- a unique combination. This adds to the rarity. According to another collector, there are "less than 10 known" B-Barrel, Round Receiver M91s.

On the 7.62x54r site I posted, you will find a 'rarity chart'. A VKT B-barrel M91 Mosin Nagant rates as a 7 out of 10. A round receiver M91 rates as a 9 out of 10. I have no idea what happens when you combine these two -- my rifle fits into both categories!

Side View. Note the distinctive two-piece Finnish 'splice' stock coated with pine tar. Its in near-mint condition, with only a few nicks and dents. It seems to be developing some nice 'tiger striping' in the stock.


The other side.


With the bolt open.


The barrel stamps. 'SA' is for 'Suomen Armeija' (literally 'Finnish Army'), 'B' for is 'Belgium' and 'VKT' for is 'Valtion Kivaaritehdas' Arsenal (where the rifles were assembled). The serial numbers match on every part. Several parts had the numbers neatly ground out and re-stamped -- this is common for Finnish rifles since the parts may have come from a dozen different captured Mosin Nagants.



The rear sight. If you remember, the M91/30 removed the ladder sight. Since this is an M91, it retains it. Interestingly, the tangent sight is stamped with the old Russian 'Arshin' units of measurements (1 arshin = 28 inches) that was abandoned in 1924 in favor of the metric system. These were crossed out (one 'line' through each), and the metric equivalent is stamped below it.


The bolt. This is unique as well. There are 4 components to a Mosin Nagant bolt. On this one, each part is from a different arsenal and different eras ranging from the 1910s to the late 1930s!


Final Comments:

This is my first Finnish Mosin Nagant. I picked it up at a gun show because I always wanted a 'Finn'. The seller did not know what he had (I think he even had a labelled as a Finnish M91/30), and I got it at a very reasonable price. I haven't had this at the range yet, but I have high expectations for it.

Due to the seemingly endless batches of imported M91/30s in both the US and Canada, a lot of collectors pay little attention to all Mosin Nagants. I think this is a mistake. Right now, Mosin Nagants are very affordable. There are specific combinations of markings that are rare and valuable -- and these are often glanced over by sellers. With a bit of research you can find some very interesting examples that are actually worth two or three times more than your purchase price. One day these will be valuable -- now is the time to get them! For beginning collectors, the Mosin-Nagant is a cheap way to start in the hobby while still having very 'researchable' and interesting rifles. For the established collectors, the Mosin Nagant is a good way to 'pad' what you already have for the price of dinner at a nice restaurant! The recent influx has also seemingly deflated the Finnish Mosin Nagant market -- now is the time to buy.


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Note: Since this is a rare rifle, I added the watermarks to discourage anyone from 'stealing' these pictures to use on their own website.

 

Thanks very much for this interesting post! One slight correction though: "SA"-stamp is for "Suomen Armeija", literally the Finnish Army. "Suomen" is a genetive case and "Suomi" the nominative. "Armi" is only one of the first names for girls in Finnish...

When I did my 11 months of the national service in the Finnish Army back in 1982-83 we shot the Finnish Mosin-Nagant "Pystykorva", "Suomi"-submachine gun and even the "Maxim"-machine gun. In those days those guns were still kept in the storages for just in case. The "Pystykorva" was clearly more accurate than the then standard issue Finnish Assault Rifle 7,62 RK 62 (picture below) - which of course shouldn't have been any suprise, keeping in mind the different designs. The "Maxim" had a formidable effect and accuracy, but of course it was far too heavy and cumbersome.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. That's the last time I try to master the Finnish language!

 

No worries, keep up trying! It was close enough...

A piece of trivia: miss Armi Kuusela became Miss Universe in 1952.

 

A tasty rifle! Please update us when you shoot it.