Refurbed 1921 Tula M91 Infantry Rifle 91/30 conversion

[racerguy00]

Thanks to another member here I was able to add another '21 dated mosin to the two I recently posted, a balkan '21 Tula M91 and an Izhevsk '21 date exdragoon. I had thought Tula dragoon production begn in '23 but this rifle didn't look like a converted M91 in the photos I had seen. Once it arrived though I was able to see it was a converted M91 after all.

The muzzle has the sleeved and welded section typical of these conversions, but the rear sight doesnt seem to have been spot welded on like most. The barrel and receiver have several unknown stamps I'd love to have input on. There is a struck-out character in front of the serial number that appears to have been an upside down one. There is no letter N that's a normal prefix on this year of Tula. Stock has interesting patches and and is serial numbered to match the rifle and in a weird font. Other than that it is a typical post-war refurb stock. Rifle is an all matching refurb force-match with no line outs or EP'd numbers. Barrel has normal refurb stamps. Receiver is a matching '21 Tula receiver.

Any thoughts or input on this rifle is welcome and appreciated. And again, thank you to the seller, and a big thank you to him for packing it so well. The USPS crushed the end of the box and ripped it open. The bolt fell out, and the postal workers taped it inside a plastic bag and into the box along with an apology. Also it was delivered when I wasn't home on Saturday when the tracking number still had it arriving on Monday.




























Has anyone seen this font on a stock before?









Hopefully next a 1921 dragoon will show up at a good time for me, and maybe a '21 91/59? (Not holding my breath on either if those )

[jimpierce7]

wow. Very nice!! Great looking rifle and quite the set!!

[Lotema]

Nice collection of '21s! You'll need to keep an eye out for SCW & Finn captures too! The hunt never ends but that's half the fun..

[millman]

You don't see those every day. In fact I have only seen pics of very few. Great score.

[davesstuff1]

[Longcolt44]

Nice, 3 21's, you are in a rut.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Dan4good]

no input on this one guys the uncommon stamps??

[racerguy00]

I cross posted on several forums and so far nothing Dan. On the stock though, the odd closed 2 in the serial number has shown up before. Some guys are checking their rifles now. A friend is an active member of a Russian language gun forum andhas a tidbit of possible related info. A Russian gentleman over there made the simple comment that the front sight sleeves were made to shorten barrels or repair a damaged sight base. But he posted a sight sleeve that he owns that had never been installed on a rifle, and its dimensions look identical to the ones seen on the sleeves on these conversions. He could be a Russian bubba for all we know, but it was on interesting to see the photos.

After a lot of digging so far I have about two dozen of these conversions documented and the pattern continues. All but two are 1915 or later made rifles. Almost all have signs of refurb like rear sight pins in addition to the welds and or refurb stamps etc. About 2/3 are well used issued rifles, the others are crate-picked refurbs and an unknown origin bubba one in there too.

[airbornetrooper]

Racer,

Great find. I still don't have one of these. Yours seems to be one of the more well put together examples.

You now have the high serial for 1921 Tula production. That is the 10th example (converted and non-converted) I've seen from that year. I have one other converted M91 from that year in my database.

Thanks for sharing.

[shoto2758]

nice collection with some interesting marks on the new one.