I thought it was about time that I showed you guys the rifle that made me start thinking seriously about joining one or more of the various mosin forums. This rifle is the first and so far only M91 that I have any experience with and it was one heck of an introduction to the original model. This old warhorse has many tales to tell. From the moment I first saw it on the table at a local gunshow, it was calling to me with tales of victory and defeat, stalemate, good and bad times, distant countries, peasants and free men, bright clear days and the worst of storms, and it wanted to find more stories to tell to those who will care for it long after I am dust. This old rifle still has much life in it and a very strong voice for those with the ears to listen. If this rifle had a song that conveys how it feels to me, it would have to be one of the two versions of Undefeated by Two Steps from Hell. (you can look it up on Youtube, if you're interested in hearing it.)
Now that I got that out of my system
, this M91 is the only one I have ever seen in person that still has an Imperial Russian barrel, other than the ones in our local National World War I museum and Memorial. (I have some cool personal links to that as well, but that is for another thread.) I thought it was just a fairly ordinary (for an M91) Austrian capture that ended up in Finland and I was perfectly happy with that, so happy that I didn't even care if the barrel was rusted out. I didn't have to work hard to convince dad to get it and I am glad that we did get it.It looked like an 1895 Tula that had been upgraded and counterbored by the Finns and looks to have seen quite a bit of use over the many years. I could not for the life of me figure out what was up with this strange line through the barrel shank markings and these funny scratches on the sides of the receiver until we got it home and took it apart for our usual inspection of everything. Imagine my surprise when I found a tang date of 1914r and an Izhevsk bow very clearly stamped on the tang. I am still trying to figure out reasons why the Finns would do this, but if they saw fit to rebuild an old 1895 Tula that looked like it had already seen some pretty good action, it must have been worth it in some way and that along with what looks like a fairly late replacement handguard gave me something to hope for regarding the bore. I found my hope was not misplaced when we finally got to the range with some light ball ammunition, as we had already tried it with standard heavy ball and it did not favor that load at all. At our relatively short range it shoots almost as good as our 1893 Amberg Gew. 88/05, which I consider to be one of our most accurate rifles and we have brand new rifles that do not shoot that good.
Now for some of the details that I have managed to decipher from its tales.
It clearly saw service in the Great War as witnessed by the Austrian WWF mark on the reciever and what I think is a replaced rear sight base marked in schritten. The barrel itself looks like it was salvaged from the bottom of the ocean, although I know this is not the case. There is no visible import mark anywhere on it and the pitting looks like it spent a good amount of time without receiving a handguard. There may be a small W or M stamped in front of the rear sight base that I don't have a good picture of. This rifle at some point received a two-piece Finnish-made stock and got various upgrades and replacement parts. It still amazes me that the 1895 barrel has not only survived, but is in fine shooting shape internally. I guess the Finns don't hang on long to rifles that don't shoot straight. I still have many questions about why this and why that, so I am very open to opinions and observations that can result from more eyes looking at it. Thanks for reading my little rant!
That rifle sure has been around and seen some interesting things. Great example of how the Finns really would put any usable parts back into service. Looks like the butt plate may have a civil guard marking on it as well. Very cool rifle, thanks for sharing that one! 
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