91/38 history

[steelbuttplate]

Where and when did the 91/38s come to the US, who were the retailers? Is there one in a closet near you?

[tjtM38]

Where and when did the 91/38s come to the US, who were the retailers? Is there one in a closet near you?

I don't know the complete import history of these, except to say that most of the Russian surplus started coming here in the early 1990's. That's when you could get 'em dirt cheap. The only one I have is a 1944r Izhevsk in a correct M38 stock that I bought for $175 in 2010 at a gun show and I thought I paid too much for it then. I just saw one at a local gun shop, a 1942r Izhevsk in a M44 stock and the dealer wanted $439 for it. The M38s (as well as all Mosin Nagants) are getting hard to find. By the way, I don't stuff mine in a closet, I have it in my Mosin crate locked up and I take really good care of it.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Where? North, South, East, West. When? Sometime in the last 30 years. Who sold them? Everybody in the milsurp trade. Closets? No, I hide valuable things in less obvious places.

[steelbuttplate]

Where? North, South, East, West. When? Sometime in the last 30 years. Who sold them? Everybody in the milsurp trade. Closets? No, I hide valuable things in less obvious places.

Yes, thats what I was asking. They don't show up on Classics out of stock pages. Did SOG have them? Everybody had them?

[Junk Yard Dog]

From what I remember the earliest ones were sold as "M38" carbines because back then nobody knew what they were or cared as they were selling for well under a hundred bucks. What we know about these rifle now is from a later period of collecting starting after 200-2005 There are many of these forgotten on gun room walls, inside safes, above fireplaces who's owners aren't Mosin specific, or maybe not even milsurp specific collectors, and who have no clue what they are. To them they are just another "Russian" rifle they got cheap years ago. Classic was around 20 years ago because I was buying from them out of the pages of shotgun news well before I was online, they were under different ownership then, and that was before they pissed me off with that chrome milsurp shit and some customer relations bullshit about a damaged order. I don't recall seeing anything other than M38's on their site, some unfortunately hard chrome plated. I don't recall them on Aim either, but both of these outfits could have been selling 91/38's in the mix, and probably were.

[steelbuttplate]

From what I remember the earliest ones were sold as "M38" carbines because back then nobody knew what they were or cared as they were selling for well under a hundred bucks. What we know about these rifle now is from a later period of collecting starting after 200-2005 There are many of these forgotten on gun room walls, inside safes, above fireplaces who's owners aren't Mosin specific, or maybe not even milsurp specific collectors, and who have no clue what they are. To them they are just another "Russian" rifle they got cheap years ago. Classic was around 20 years ago because I was buying from them out of the pages of shotgun news well before I was online, they were under different ownership then, and that was before they pissed me off with that chrome milsurp shit and some customer relations bullshit about a damaged order. I don't recall seeing anything other than M38's on their site, some unfortunately hard chrome plated. I don't recall them on Aim either, but both of these outfits could have been selling 91/38's in the mix, and probably were.

That makes sense, some people still call them M-38's. I had to get mine out and look, it is import marked M-38 Russia, CAI

[NLMosin]

Dug mine out of the vault...
Looks like 91/38 marked to me...

9138CAI.jpg

[steelbuttplate]

Dug mine out of the vault...
Looks like 91/38 marked to me...
9138CAI.jpg

I'll have to get mine out again, with a magnifying glass this time. Maybe the 91 was very light like yours.

[steelbuttplate]

Nope, this one says M38.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Only the later imports will say 91/38, took awhile for the information to reach them and they saw an opportunity to make more money selling yet another variation of Mosin. My 91/59 is M38 marked also, I have at least one Mosin that is marked Mauser.

[qz2026]

I have never seen 91/38's advertised for sale at the big online retailers like SOG, AIM, Classic or CAI. Every one I have was purchased either at auction or via private sellers. About 1/2 of the ones I own came from Century (ST ALB VT) with one coming from their GEORGIA VT facility. The others were not import marked. I've seen them stamped M-38, M91/38 and M-44. Me thinks that Century was a little confused for a time and not only with these variants. Even have an M-44 stamped CHINA from Century. I wasn't in the game in the 90's but I suspect that a few 91/38's were sold by the big retailers as M-38's. I believe I picked one up at auction that was advertised as an M-38. One as a Russian carbine also. One of the guns dragged out of the closet I suspect.