I first encountered this most unusual M44 carbine over a decade ago while attending a gun show with a friend. It caught our eye in that it was different than the other M44s on the table, and at well under $100 it came home with my friend. We knew next to nothing about Mosin Nagants at that time, and rather foolishly, after a quick clean up and patches through the bore attempted to fire the rifle. When we were unsuccessful, the rifle went into his closet and I forgot about it.
Fast forward to last year, and I reconnected with my friend after his move away from the area. The topic turned to firearms, and the 'wall hanger' came up. The only thing that I remembered was it's black butt stock, and my friend had never researched it. He said he would like to sell it, and after a vague description of a "hex" M44, I bought the carbine. We arranged for me to get it when one of us visited the other, and later on he sent me a few fuzzy photos that really got me excited. When he recently visited and I was able to hold the carbine all these years later, I believe my excitement was justified.
The carbine started life as a New England Westinghouse M91 infantry rifle, and at some point in it's military history ended up in Romania. Whether the conversion was done there or earlier somewhere else isn't know, but Romania seems most likely. Since the bore is heavily worn and the rifle is put together with with many repaired and demilled parts, the rifle may have been converted specifically to be used as a non-firing trainer.
Training rifles in Romania have the butt stocks painted black with the word 'EXERCITIU' stenciled there. On this carbine, the word has apparently been worn off with use. The receiver is marked 'Ex.', which is also consistent with these training rifles.
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The barrel shank and receiver have been scrubbed, which is common on 'balkan' import mosin rifles. The original serial number has been ground off and a new one applied. The only matching number is the force-matched butt plate. There is no import mark except the importer-applied serial number on the receiver.
The rifle has been rendered unable to fire by having the firing pin clipped. In addition, the extractor is broken, and the rear of the bolt connector is bent. This is also consistent with worn out or damaged parts being utilized on these trainers.
The stock appears to be a Polish M44 stock which has had cracks repaired at the endcap and tang/wrist area. The wrist crack was severe and was repaired with a cross-bolt.
The receiver appears to be the original NEW receiver. There is only one barrel index mark, and the receiver is undated on the tang. There is an arrow 'M' NEW subcontractor's mark on the underside of the barrel shank.
There are shims between the magazine housing and stock which are identical to those on several examples of balkan M91 rifles that I own.
Other interesting parts used in assembling this carbine are an early single-ear bayonet mount, Izhevsk marked barrel bands and sight components, and an early style end-cap. The front sight also probably saw use on a previous rifle, it has an indexing line on both sides showing that it was spun around and re-marked.
All-in-all, I feel that this carbine may be the most unusual and unique that I may ever run across. Thanks for looking.
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