[PrimitiveHunter]

When I see an older, all matching Mosin the first thing I start looking at are the serial number stamps to see if the "font" of the numbers are all the same. I don't know if that's an important issue but I get nervous if all the 2s, 3s, etc don't match. I've seen several rifles where all the number fonts match except the receiver. Is that common? Or maybe the better question is does that mean the other numbers were stamped during rearsenal to match the original receiver? Or maybe even the receiver has been replaced and stamped to match the rifle. I kind of doubt that one but who knows? It may sound like nitpicking but after you've collected a few common examples of these rifles, you start looking for something special (or at least out of the ordinary) like a rifle with all matching, ORIGINAL, parts.
Thanks!

 

[USMCsean]

You will sometimes find "original as the day it left the factory" examples, but those are few and far between. Most commonly seen is the re-arsenaled matching examples. The font on the receiver is going to be the original SN font that was used. If you see a different font on any parts, ie buttplate, bolt or floorplate, then that part is most likely a replacement part. This is especially easy to see if you have the restamped part that has a previous number lined out. You can see the differences in the font type. Others, you can tell they are restamped as the previous number has been ground or peened away.

 

[Handsome Devil]

+1 on restamped parts. I do not have much if any experience with the now common 91/30 imports but from what I see some have been restamped as mentioned, some may not have been.

I have a non recent import, infact I do not recall finding and import marks on this rifle. It is a earlier NEW M91
that is not all original and has some older Russian parts on it. I got excited when I bought it as the butt plate and floor plate matched Sn# the receiver. Upon closer examination the butt plate had been restamped and you could see old numbers had been ground off for the most part. This rifle is not Finn marked at all and not US marked either. Someone a long time ago matched up the number, but they also left the receiver logo alone. So I am not real clear on the history of this one. Point is keep looking for small details, it may or may not help you trace the path the rifle has been on. I see a lot of older M91s often referred to as "Balkan imports" that have matching floor plates and butt plates but mismatched bolts. A lot of these seem to be missing the cleaning rod and have the logo partial ground off. Not sure if they {who ever "they" are} renumbered the parts or if they just kept the parts together when in the shop? Interesting study regardless. Glad I am not the only one who ponders these questions. Cheers, John.

 

[myco4you]

There is a perfect example of a restamped Mosin on the Trader right now.It is advertised as stamped matched,but the parts have been obviously restamped at one point.The style on the receiver is original,but the other parts have been ground over and stamped with a more english type numerical stamp.

Who knows when it was stamped.Maybe at a refurbishment?Maybe an attempt to fake a rifle as being all original?

I have some Mosins that have the original Russian style on all the parts,and I also have some Mosins that are definitely force-matched by grinding and restamping with a different style.

Of course matching,Russian style numbers are more desirable,but they are not as common as to what's been turning up lately.