import # id ?

[notabiker]

my 1905 M-91 has CAI ST AIR VT on the barrel. no long serial # .is that enough info to tell me how long ago it was imported. i was told by the seller it was more than 20 years ago.
THANKS

[desdem12]

You can narrow it down to when it was imported by when they changed the marks. I am not sure what year that particular one is but CAI has moved since then so if you find out when they moved that may give you an idea. I believe that mark is 80s-early 90s.

[notabiker]

well in our own forum i found some info. i just learned that each year they started the SER # over again. so my 1905 was the 11268 made that year . did tula and Izhevsk use their own numbers . or could you have the same number from each factory ?

[desdem12]

That is a great question. I don't know the answer but i await one. I assume they just numbered from there own factory so there could be the same number from each place. ALA a #1 Tula and a #1 Izhevsk from the same year.

[Junk Yard Dog]

These M91's came in in the late 80's to the mid 90's and back then the small import mark was still OK.

[racerguy00]

Each arsenal used their own serial numbers so you could have the same number from each arsenal. And I believe the dragoons also had their own set of numbers. So I guess you could have an M91 dragoon and an M91 rifle, same arsenal, same year, same serial number.

[finloq]

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

[Hombre]

I have two Enfield rifles that I bought in a Woolworth store in Butte Montana march 1993. They probably had been imported around that time. The importer mark on mine is CAI ST ALB VT. If you look with a magnifying glass I think you will find that you miss read that as CAI ST AIR VT.

[laquak]

Yuck, importer marks defacing our rifles.

[notabiker]

I have two Enfield rifles that I bought in a Woolworth store in Butte Montana march 1993. They probably had been imported around that time. The importer mark on mine is CAI ST ALB VT. If you look with a magnifying glass I think you will find that you miss read that as CAI ST AIR VT.

i think you are right BUT even with a magnifying glass it could go ether way.i think the stamping is week and that makes it look like AIR. thank you for the info

[Junk Yard Dog]

I just posted a video of the 1927 Izhevsk ex dragoon, in it I show this import mark, it's the old Century mark.

[Hombre]

JYD, your video shows the CAI address as Georgia Vermont. My 1980 Gun Digest shows their address to be in St. Albans Vermont.

When you have nothing else to do, you could go through your big stack of old Gun Digest publications and find the CAI address history.

[Junk Yard Dog]

They were ruined when the shed roof went during the winter from hell ( winter before last) I lost probably 20 years worth of them along with some of my old Dixie catalogs. I had to toss out crates worth of ruined books, among other things.

[Hombre]

Sic transit gloria mundi

[Junk Yard Dog]

Yes indeed, but at least the car wasn't harmed, I had built a cage of 6x6 lumber around it in case a tree came down, it easily held up the roof bits and snow weight, but once it all started melting water was everywhere.

[bunkysdad]

I have a 1944 Izhevsk 91/30, the one I got from Pat Burns, covered in grease throughout, and no import mark to be found.