Mysterious Mosin Nagant markings
Considering the incredible worldwide diffusion of the Mosin Nagant rifles, a lot of them saw extensive usage in multiple conflicts and nations. This means that a single M1891, for example, might have been in service with three or even four different nations. Markings on wood and metal are helping us to trace the story of the gun, understanding in witch kind of historic episode they were involved in. So let’s try to solve the mystery around the following!
A Chatellerault produced M1891 rear sight. The “c in circle” is the French Arsenal marking but the crown with an “r.” (if Cyrillic, meaning would be “g”) is unknown. It is usually marked on Chatellerault parts, so it high likely associated with the French Arsenal production (an inspector mark?) but the meaning is still unknown. Nothing related to the crown on Mosin barrel, that is a known Serbian property marking.
On the same rifle, we can find a two piece Finnish stock, with the rear part probably belonging to an M91/30 or a Dragoon rifle. The stock is numbered in a way i did not observe on other examples. Two numbers are stamped there: likely a “469” above a “122”. The meaning of these numbers is unknown.
Numbers are usually part of the Mosin mysteries
Numbers are usually part of the mysteries around Mosins, in this case the butt plate of a Finnish M28 (picture above) is numbered with an “18”. A lot of Finnish rifles are showing a number in this position. What could be the meaning?
The above Finned M91 Dragoon is reporting a number “80” in the same position on the butt plate.
In this case (above), a German captured M1891 from 1898 has a number “4” on the butt plate and an “M” over the serial number. Again, meaning is unknown but also this rifle has a past in the Finnish Civil Guard, so could be a way to number the rifles inside Units?
Another unidentified number on a butt plate: a number “2” stamped upside down.
Also the upper part of a butt plate can host a Mosin mystery. In the picture above a Tula produced butt plate has a weird unidentified marking: “ALIB.B.I.” The Austro Hungarian and German Imperial Army were sometimes marking the butt plate of captured Mosin Nagant with Units numbers but, in this case, i was not able to find a reference to identify this mark. Also the dot at the end of the serial number is unusual.
