Dragoons

[willyj73]

I haven't posted some of these in a while. First is one of my earliest Mosin rifles. Saw it on an auction site, and then it disappeared. Contacted the auction company, and they were kind enough to arrange contact between the estate and me. Not sure why they removed it, but was able to purchase it from the person handling the estate sale. It's a 1916 dragoon. Non matching in a stock with no cross bolt. 2nd pattern hand guard and a cleaning rod with an odd head. All parts are pre 1928 marked Izhevsk. No import markings. Butt plate has a wood screw and rear sight has old, white paint. I just left both as is.
Seller stated, after the sale, the owner brought the rifle back from a WWII Navy veteran who fought against Japan. Maybe the guy was full of it, IDK. Anyway, here are some pics.

[willyj73]

2nd one I picked up from a Facebook group a few years ago. 1905 Izhevsk used by Finland. SA marked barrel. Renumbered rear sight base. Stock is a Soviet era Izhevsk stock (based on inspector stamp--I cannot recall what the stamp is, nor can I make it out in the photos). Has a neat repair on the fore end. Must have been a pre1968 import as there are no import markings on it.

[willyj73]

Last one is my most recent purchase. 1928 Tula dragoon. It's original, all matching. No import markings and a duffle cut on fore end. Somehow, this one got missed by a lot of folks (thank God). It's pretty rare to find one that is original all matching, and these usually carry a pretty hefty price tag. Rifle had some rust when I received it. I cleaned it off as best I could without damaging the original finish.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice rifles. You see that a lot with estate guns, Grandpa, Uncle, Brother, whoever was in WW2 and we think he must have brought this home from the war. Like Grandpa couldn't possibly have bought a firearm again after 1945. Likely that dragoon came in with the Spanish hoard in the 50's, not all of them had the made in ussr marking.

[Vity]

These are really nice rifles. I tried to find one but usually they are overpriced or condition is not good/wrong(trashed, mismatched, stock from m91/30 etc)

[Junk Yard Dog]

The dragoon rifles we see are almost all from Spain or Finland as the Soviets upgraded the ones they had after WW2 into 91/30's The Spanish rifles like I suspect yours is are former Soviet military aid to the Spanish Republicans during Spain's civil war in the late 30's. The Republican side lost, Franko's Nationalists captured the rifles and later sold them on the surplus market mostly to USA importers in the 1950's and early 60's. Some of these rifles saw heavy rough use, but that doesn't mean they aren't real pieces of history or that they won't shoot well. Well used or better they are all expensive now.

[willyj73]

These are really nice rifles. I tried to find one but usually they are overpriced or condition is not good/wrong(trashed, mismatched, stock from m91/30 etc)

Most of the ones you find are going to be Finnish marked dragoons. And, most will have a Finnish matching bolt with the other parts being a mix of parts. It's rare to find the first (which is mismatched, but has early style stock and hand guard) or the third (which is original matching). I spend a lot of time looking through auctions and occasionally stumble on a deal; else, I would never have bought the first or third at market price. If you only want original matching rifles, you have to be prepared to pay for them (or, spend a lot of your time trying to catch a deal that other collectors have missed).

[Vity]

There are three of them for sale now, from six hundred to almost a thousand. All of them mismatched, All of them was made after 1920. The cheapest one has m91/30 stock.

[Greedo1977]

Some very nice Dragoon rifles there!
I really like the one without the early non-crossbolt stock and handguard. Took me a long time to find one with an early type 2 handguard.

[willyj73]

Some very nice Dragoon rifles there!
I really like the one without the early non-crossbolt stock and handguard. Took me a long time to find one with an early type 2 handguard.

Thanks. That was one of my earliest Mosin acquisitions. I think it was missing the rear band. I know it had wire wrapped around the area where the rear band is--perhaps that is what caused some of the scratches in that area. I still don't know what to make of that rifle. It's very odd to see a stock that old that isn't beaten up. Usually, the finish is really dark. This appears to have original finish.

[ffuries]

Nice, I get envious when I see people posting their Dragoon rifles, and here you go posting three.....Rub it in!....LOL!

Don't have a Dragoon in my collection yet. One, an original not an updated one, did show up for sale locally at a gun shop, for around $200.00 a few years ago.

The kid (Mid 20s) looking at it, put it on layaway and was talking to a buddy on the phone asking him how hard it would be and how much he'd charge him to drill and tap it for a scope etc. Thought he was joking, but he said it was going to be his deer gun.

Offered to buy from him at a profit, turned me down as he was set on getting it and modifying it. I shudder to think what they did to the Ole Gal.....