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Thanks!

love the Springfield 1903. standard issue for Marines through 1942. a nail driver when bedded properly. nice shot with good control in the shadows. good composition and tones. nicely done. regards, Cpl. J.K. York USMC.

No JK, a 1944 pattern Mosin-Nagant, from the round receiver ring and the slight inletting for the folding spike bayonette just on the top forward part of the finger groove. (Earlier ones had hexagonal receivers.) These are some of the most widely produced bolt guns in history, probably more than all of the Mauser Model 1898 variations put together. Some of the ones the Finns reworked and rebarreled were amoung the most tack-driving accurate rifles ever issued as standard infantry weapons. Every bit the equal of a star-gauged '03. Some of the Chinese-made were amoung the crappiest.

 

A little known fact about these was the Westinghouse made a few hundred thousand of them back around 1916 for the Tsar. Lenin and his cronies put an end to that contract and the US Army actually adopted it as US Rifle Model of 1916 for stateside training and to issue to the troops of the Allied Expeditionary forces that went to Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok in 1918. Not bad for a refrigerator company.

Thanks J.K. for the comment. you were close but the rifle is a 1942 Russian nagant rifle. It dose looks like an 03 Springfield in this view.

my bad, my knowledge of vintage firearms is obviously lacking. i have fired this rifle as a friend is a collector, but it's been some time now. Andre, thanks for setting me straight. J.K.

If there are two things in this world I know well, it is old twin lens reflex cameras and old bolt guns. I have a passion for both. Throughout my adult life I have owned, fired and reloaded hundreds of cartriges for seven of these old Mosin-Nagants. I still own three; all of them different Finnish variations. A man could do worse collecting less venerable artifacts of history.

 

By the way, nice photo with good light-handed toning.

I also enjoy collecting and shooting Mosin Nagants. I own a 1915 marked Westinghouse model 1891. The troops that recived thes rifles did not care for them due to the tight tolerances. Because of the cold sibieran winter would stick to bolt, most Westinghouse Mosins foud thes day will have a Russian bolt.

 

The one in the photo is an M-38

It may have started life as a M 38, but somewhere along the line it was reworked into a M 44 configuration and had the stock relieved for the folding spike; not an unusual thing to happen. Your photo doesn't show whether the folder was attached or not. Not seeing the bayo; is it mounted, or was only an M 44 stock hung on an M38 barrel and reciever? It is my personal opinion that the (non-Finnish) Mosins are the only rifles/carbines in the world that shoot better with the bayo attached than without.

 

I too had what looked like a M 38 carbine, but with a rifle's full length rear sight. Did some research and determined it was a standard Soviet M 91/30 cut down to carbine length in Bulgaria during the early '60s. Which all just goes to illustrate that the Mosin-Nagant pattern long arms are some of the most interesting and fascinating series of firearms ever designed. The variations seem endless. Great hobby.

This is an m38 in a m44 stock, most of the arsenal refinished m38s come with m44 stocks. the cut down 91/30 you speak of are called 91/59s i think.

Any how here is a link with a bunch of Mosin Nagant history and info.

 

http://www.7.62x54r.net/

 

I do agree My m44s shoot better than my m38s.