1924 Tula 5-Line Р.С.Ф.С.Р M1891

[Swandriver]

Ladies and Gentlemen - I offer for your consideration into the Mosin-Nagant Showcase this 1924 Tula 5-Line Р.С.Ф.С.Р M1891 Three-Line Rifle.

I found this M1891 at a gunshow in Mobile, AL early Nov 2014. [Story and comments on earlier post -(http://www.russian-mosin-nagant-forum.c ... =5&t=23304)]. The guy was more of an estate sale buyer than a gun collector. He said he'd had the rifle for some time and didn’t know anything about.

Initial breakdown and inspection:

Missing parts were the upper handguard, recoil bolt, rear barrel band, cleaning rod and bayonet. There were no accessories. 

The stock appears to be original based on a slight impression of the tang date mark on the tang wood. The magazine/trigger guard is post 1928 Tula with an unmarked magazine floorplate latch. The floorplate, magazine springs, and followers are all post 1928 Tula. The bolt action was an interesting mixture of parts from New England Westinghouse, Remington, Chatellerault, Sestroryetsk, and both pre and post 1928 Izhesvk. The front barrel band is Type 2, Tula pre 1928. The buttplate has no identifiable arsenal marks and extended about 1/8 inch below the buttstock. The escutcheon are all period and may be original to the stock.

The receiver and barrel are 1924 Tula. The Arsenal stamp on the receiver is "Foremost Tula Ordnance Factory RSFSR" 1924r. The receiver and barrel have very few inspection and acceptance marks and absolutely no referb marks. It does not have an import mark. The rear sights are Konovalov and marked in Russian arshin graduations.

The action, chamber, and barrel were very clean, just a little gun oil and dust. No trace of cosmoline anywhere.

I cleaned the rifle, checked the bolt with my Mosin Nagant tool gauge and took it to the range. Initial ammo was 5 rounds of Czech low recoil 46gr after which I checked the empty cases and did not find any evidence of pressure problems. I then fired 5 rounds of 148gr FMJ milsurp. Even with the Arshini sight, it grouped very well.

My thoughts and questions. 

The stock has two carvings on its left side. Under the action is J.A.Z. and on the butt stock is EVADIDO or EVIDABO. According to Wikipedia, the Russian alphabet, new or old, did not contain a “J” or “Z”. The “V” was eliminated in 1918 and the “D” is the handwritten uppercase of Д. In a Google and Bing translation of Spanish, Evadido translates as escapee. Would a Soviet soldier carve this?
How did it get to Mobile, AL without a refurb or import mark?
A missing hand guard is common for M1891s, so to were riffles without cleaning rods. It shot very well without the rear barrel band. So, keeping a rifle in this condition as a shooter would just require cleaning.
The interesting part was the trigger guard/magazine and all its parts are post 1928 Tula. It has become easy for a non-collector, but shooter, to find those parts on the web if the originals broke or wore out. It appears from the condition of the rifle that it was used and kept clean.
If the guy in Mobile did get the rifle at an estate sale, it is apparent that no one connected with the owner had an interest in the weapon.
Proposed history based on what we know. Bring back prior to WWII (how?), someone liked the M1891, shot it until it kept losing pieces, replaced the trigger guard/magazine, kept shooting - the rifle simply outlasted him.

Current State - It is all together.
Pre-1928 Tula M1891 bayonet from a sword dealer the United Kingdom
M1891 upper hand guard on Ebay auction
Pre-1928 Tula rear barrel band of Ebay from a guy in Finland
Pre-1928 Izhevsk cleaning rod from Liberty Tree Collectors
Pre-1928 Tula recoil bolt from BuyMilSurps

This rifle will seek for itself.

1924 5-line Tula with second pattern RSFSR arsenal mark (1920-1924), M1891 Configuration Ten. Made by the Tula Weapon Factory at Tula, RSFSR from 1921 thru early 1924. The translated arsenal mark says "RSFSR, Initial Tula Weapon Factory", (sometimes Premier or Foremost Tula Weapon Factory”) followed by the date. This was the first Soviet government known as the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.

All information I give about this rifle is from the following books and web sites:

1. The Mosin-Nagant Rifle, 6th Edition (For collectors only), Terence W. Lapin
2. MOSIN-NAGANT RIFLES, CARBINES & SNIPER RIFLES MANUAL; MODELS OF 1891 - 1910- 1891/30 - 1938 - 1940 - ORDI 7-101 CHAPTER 2, MAY 1954, by U.S. Ordnance (Author)
3. The Soviet Mosin-Nagant Manual,by Terence W. Lapin (Author)
4. The Official Soviet Mosin-Nagant Sniper Rifle Manual, by Maj. James Gebhardt (Translator)
5. Drei Linien Mosin-Nagant. Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant / Drei Linien - Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant Band II, Karl H Wrobel

6. and many Mosin Nagant Web Sites, Specifically 7.62x54R.net and mosinnagant.net sites, amongst many others.

[Swandriver]

Additional images.

[Sgt lamb]

any made in USSR stamp> ther name and initals seem spanish

[racerguy00]

I agree, seems like a possible Spanish Civil War rifle.

[Lee-online]

No Finn traits, no import mark.

This very much looks like a SCW m91.

[Swandriver]

I immediately thought of that, but there is nothing at all indicating it is SCW. I reviewed “The Spanish Civil War Mosin Nagant” web and nothing mentioned or shown there appears on the stock or receiver/barrel.

[Lee-online]

I immediately thought of that, but there is nothing at all indicating it is SCW. I reviewed “The Spanish Civil War Mosin Nagant” web and nothing mentioned or shown there appears on the stock or receiver/barrel.

Sometime its not what you find, its what you don't find.

[bunkysdad]

Yeah, like the letters that don't appear to be Finnish and the lack of import marking. Nice rifle to be sure.

[Sgt lamb]

is there a "balkan" wedge under the rear sight base ? i have an 23 tula thats stamped Made in USSR and shows some other SCW traits but has a wedge on the sight base one of the thoughts is on that one is in the 50s- 60s interarmco or one of the other importers ran short of actual SCW guns and imported some from the balkans with dodgy paperwork to allow importation of soviet origin weapons

[Swandriver]

Here are images of the Konovalov rear sight. There is no Balkan wedge. The other images age of the mark on the stock above EVADIDO, and a mark on the nose cap.

[racerguy00]

In had a similar A on an m91 nosecap but never found out what it signified.

[neal45]

I agree with Lee-online and bunkysdad about what you don't find; it seems to be more like a SCW Mosin than anything else.

[davesstuff1]

[Rongo]

I still like this one & agree it is very likely a SCW rifle. And I still like how you acquired it; A great story.

[Swandriver]

Knowing there is always another look - I took another look based on the comments that sometimes it is what you don't see.

What do I not see on this rifle? I do not see a sling….not uncommon. What kind of sling would it have had? If it stayed in Russia it would have used the dog collar setup. But if it went to Spain it may have or should have had wire hangers.

I removed the escutcheons and re-examined both them and the sling slots. Smooth leather or canvas straps would have not had any special effect on the escutcheon or wooden slots whereas wire hangers may have left some marks or gashes.

This is what I found. (All four escutcheons had similar rubbings) Comments please.

[racerguy00]

Not all Spanish mosins used wire hangers. There are quite a few photos of mosins in Spain using dog collar sling set-ups.

[redeuce]

My Spanish is a little rusty, but I don't think EVADIDO is a persons name. Evere means evade in Spanish or Portuguese, or something. I think that trench art means "EVADED" or escaped, or something like that. Interesting.

[Miller Tyme]

Nice rifle, very late production M91's are not common and this one has hints of SCW M91 on it.

[davesstuff1]

[zeebill]

The M27 I just got has a Westinghouse E with arrow on the top of the tang and on the bottom a big A is stamped. Going through perhaps a dozen Balkan rifles in the last 2 months I noted they were about half and half in having the Balkan wedge. I also note the screw is missing from the spring plate near the sight, with all the other stuff missing on this rifle when you got it there might have been a wedge there at one time and whoever pirated stuff from this rifle could have removed it when they took the screw away. Many rifles we can give an educated guess to as being SCW have no signs of wire hangers ever being there and keep in mind with those hangers making very little contact with the stock they would leave little evidence of ever having been there. Many things about this rifle will be a real reach to ID or classify with so many things being missing when you got it there is precious little there no means something solid to go on. Bill