The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Unbelievable! People will say anything to make a buck.

Lilkicker wrote:What does the red numbers mean?

Nothing at all, at some point, and because the rebluing would remove any old paint it would have to have been done during the refurb, someone on one of the refurb lines highlighted the serial numbers on some 91/30's. This is not uncommon as I have a Hungarian M44 from Romania that had the same thing done to it, my guess is that they had a commissar who was half blind, and couldn't see the numbers to record them, so had them painted in. It's just highlighter, and can be easily faked, never buy a Mosin because of red numbers alone, or at least don't pay any extra for one as you would an Ex sniper, or MO marked rifle.

Lilkicker wrote:Unbelievable! People will say anything to make a buck.

That's been a running joke around here. Sorry I couldn't help myself. Welcome to the forum btw!

Junk Yard Dog wrote:

Lilkicker wrote:What does the red numbers mean?

Nothing at all, at some point, and because the rebluing would remove any old paint it would have to have been done during the refurb, someone on one of the refurb lines highlighted the serial numbers on some 91/30's. This is not uncommon as I have a Hungarian M44 from Romania that had the same thing done to it, my guess is that they had a commissar who was half blind, and couldn't see the numbers to record them, so had them painted in. It's just highlighter, and can be easily faked, never buy a Mosin because of red numbers alone, or at least don't pay any extra for one as you would an Ex sniper, or MO marked rifle.

I thought the previous owner of the rifle added the red paint. The pawn shop couldn't give me any information at all when I first noticed it. At first, they said they didn't even have a mosin. It was buried that deep. I bought the rifle on condition alone. I offer $100 and he accepted.

You find this sort of thing on milsurps of all sorts, white, yellow, orange, red, whatever they have that shows up the numbers, most likely done for convenience. I have at least one Mauser with faded white paint on the serial, a US M1903 with yellow, several Mosins with red, the commies have a thing for red so of course that is what they would use.

Very nice find. Enjoy it!

Nice rifle! She is a beauty!

Check it out and put on a coat for the cold. It will help with the recoil also!

Beautiful rifle! Really envious of your ability to pick this up in a pawn shop. Really sucks living a Blue Smurf State which doesn't allow firearms sales. As the market has dried up for these rifles right now, the pawn shops will continue to be a good source of supply. We had a foot of snow last night in NW RI, but I will be at the range later today, Comrade. Cold weather good for you!