[pgaplayerless]

was watching this one. Seems like it went for quite the premium unless somebody is planning on re-homing the stock.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=397662997

 

[Spaxspore]

also the BS the seller was saying that m91s of this period (1901) didn't come with handguards. I sent him a polite message with source material.. no response .. no surprise.

Variations :

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM91R.htm

3	no	yes	short	magazine and front band	conf. 2	original	none	none	February 2, 1894	C, T, I, S
Added handguard which necessitated a change in the barrel bands​

 

[pgaplayerless]

also the BS the seller was saying that m91s of this period (1901) didn't come with handguards. I sent him a polite message with source material.. no response .. no surprise.

Variations :

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM91R.htm

3	no	yes	short	magazine and front band	conf. 2	original	none	none	February 2, 1894	C, T, I, S
Added handguard which necessitated a change in the barrel bands​

Heh i message him as well, he named off a page in Lapin's book...

 

[mosinbuckeye]

Someone must have really wanted the finger guard? I can't tell from the photos if the barrel bands have the indents for the handguard but being the rifle is non-matching my guess is that they do and that it had a handguard at one point. The description while mentioning that rifles pre-1910 didn't have a handguard (is that true?) fails to mention that it also wouldn't have that rear sight nor a recoil bolt, so clearly the rifle went through the upgrades prior to its employ by Finland, or at the very least the stock did. Can someone make out the maker of the stock from underneath the German marking?

So, what I see is a Sestroyetsk M91 missing a handguard with the somewhat rare finger rest and a German stamped stock. Is that worth $1000? Not to me. I paid less than half that for an original one with only a mismatched bolt and all original parts. So the finger rest is worth $500?

EDIT: I agree with above, seller BS, but pretty obvious to a Mosin collector or just a quick perusal of 7.62x54r.net

 

[Spaxspore]

for the money it went for - for an incomplete rifle (no handguard); a wiser investment is purchasing one of those like new Westinghouses that never left the states.

 

[Stopsign32v]

I liked it but felt $700 was top dollar for me. I'd rather have a K98 at that price.

 

[knuckle dragger]

It's that time of year when people have tax return money burning a hole in their pocket. If I had a really nice rifle to sell, March/April and Christmas are generally the best for sellers to get big money from the casual collectors.

 

[50bmg]

not rated winning bidder??? makes me wonder!!

 

[JPS]

Hello Gents,

The rifle lacks the proper magazine for the finger spur stock, which is obviously the results of a rebuild whether by the Finns or earlier before they acquired the rifle. The proper magazine is squared off in the back to fit flush against the front of the finger spur.

Still, finger spurs are few and far between! The buyer certainly had his own reasons for paying what he did. I'm sure that it had nothing to do with whether or not the rebuilt rifle has a hand-guard.

Warmest regards,

JPS

 

[martin08]

The finger rest is a fairly valuable thing, if you are a serious Mosin Nagant collector and into obtaining early features. They are less common than.... well.... just about any other Mosin Nagant feature.

Google - "Mosin Nagant finger rest", and about the only ones you'll find pictured, outside of reference sites, is the one I picked up last year, and JPS's above.

And then, it's no fun to have a finger rest, unless you also have the square-backed trigger guard to go with it.

 

[pgaplayerless]

I liked it but felt $700 was top dollar for me. I'd rather have a K98 at that price.

i dont see your name in the bidding history

 

[pgaplayerless]

The finger rest is a fairly valuable thing, if you are a serious Mosin Nagant collector and into obtaining early features. They are less common than.... well.... just about any other Mosin Nagant feature.

Google - "Mosin Nagant finger rest", and about the only ones you'll find pictured, outside of reference sites, is the one I picked up last year, and JPS's above.

And then, it's no fun to have a finger rest, unless you also have the square-backed trigger guard to go with it.

ooooooh so that's what those flat end magazine assemblies are for! Years back I picked one up in "pile of parts" I paid $15 for at garage sale. I figured it was reject part since it wouldn't fit my 1943 Izhevsk M91/30 and I had to round out the end to make it fit.

 

[Stopsign32v]

i dont see your name in the bidding history

I usually don't bid with 7 days to go, I don't see the point. By the time I would have bid, it was clear the price was more than I was willing to pay for it.

 

[brcampbe]

Price went so high because of the finger rest and the stock cartouche. They are both hard to find parts.

 

[Lancebear]

It's that time of year when people have tax return money burning a hole in their pocket. If I had a really nice rifle to sell, March/April and Christmas are generally the best for sellers to get big money from the casual collectors.

Dragger you are right, over the years at the local show finally figured it out. Best time to sell is tax return season, even to a dealer. I'm hopin' to drag home a few grand from our next show. Your observation is right on from what I have learned. Another thing, mid-summer seems to be the worst time for a collector to sell, unless ya' have somethin' special, which will sell well all year long. Experience pays off.

Lancebear

 

[JAK~47]

Wow! Too rich for me. I have a 1901 Stestoryetsk at that too. But it did time in the balkans.

 

[sparky236]

There were very few pictures - could have even been a Balkan stock put on a Finn here in the US. Stock would be 1893 at latest though...

 

[jeep]

Good parts donor rifle ,worth about $400 in parts,gunbroker rip off.

 

[JPS]

There were very few pictures - could have even been a Balkan stock put on a Finn here in the US. Stock would be 1893 at latest though...

Hello sparky,

Were I to hazard a guess, it's far more likely that the rifle was rebuilt by the Russians prior to or during WWI, or by the Germans during WWI, then acquired by Finland in one of their many post WWI purchases of surplus rifles. Even if the original rifle was assembled as late as 1894, do the math. The original rifle had seen 20 years of service before WWI started.

The rifle may have been rebuilt during inspection for the 1908 upgrades. The stock has been fitted with sling slots, so we know that at some point it was inspected at a Russian depot or arsenal for official alterations. Depending on when the upgrades were applied, the rifle may have seen 14 to 18 or more years of service when it received the upgrades.

The rifle may have already been as is when recovered by the Germans from the field, inspected and issued to rear echelon units. Or, the Germans may have rebuilt two damaged rifles to salvage one serviceable rifle, in which case they may have matched this barreled action with this stock. Like many other M91 rifles that passed through Finland, they may have simply marked the rear sight base, stamped the acceptance mark and issued as acquired.

In my opinion, the least likely scenario would be to have matched that combination as a rebuild here in the U.S. I see no advantage to placing a 1901 dated barreled receiver in a finger spur stock? The person who bought it most likely has a Chatellerault or early Russian barreled receiver that he hopes to restore, but I have a hard time believing that the owner who sold the rifle had rebuilt it here in the U.S. after it was imported. It simply makes to sense?

Just my $ .02 worth based on the rifle, the date of the stock and the price paid by the new owner.

Warmest regards,

JPS

 

[JPS]

Good parts donor rifle ,worth about $400 in parts,gunbroker rip off.

Hello jeep,

How could this possibly be a "gunbroker rip off" ????? The seller posted few photos, but all it required was the presence of the finger spur in one photo, the Deutches Reich cartouche in the next and the early pattern barrel band in a third photo. Where does your $400 estimate come from? If an advanced collector has looked for years to fill an empty slot in his collection, i.e. the finger spur stock, to some well heeled collectors $1500 would have been acceptable. In 30+ years of collecting WWI rifles, I've come across ONE M91 with a finger spur stock for sale. I own that rifle as seen in my post above. So how much of your $400 estimate are you applying to the stock??? $100? $200??.....$300??? IMHO you have some studying to do.

Respectfully submitted,

JPS