Is there any way to find out who had my rifle?

[Boi1901]

I was wondering who my 1938 tula mosin belonged to.

[ffuries]

Nope, there were no records of who got what rifle. That and they exchanged hands on a regular basis. Soldier gets killed, rifle is picked up by another soldier to use, or an armorer issues it to another fresh soldier.

Just know that based on the manufacture date, it was "Most Likely" used in combat.

[Junk Yard Dog]

It belonged to me, it vanished, and now I want it back. No, not with the Mosins, or other imported rifles. Sometimes it's possible to ID US rifles to a particular unit, or even person thanks to the continuing work of Springfield research services at the national armory. No such information exists for the USSR that we know of, or would have access to.

[Boi1901]

What about Finnish captures?

[Jallukola]

What about Finnish captures?

Not captures, but with Finnish Civil Guard rifles there is a chance that the information of the rifle is preserved in Finnish archives. Forum member Mangrove runs a provenance research at http://mosin.fi/.

Some examples of his work: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29647

Probably the most comprehensive research I have seen. An M/28 and the history of it's owner, posted to Gunboards Mosin forum: https://www.gunboards.com/threads/a-fin ... ry.965306/

[Boi1901]

Thanks for the info, Jallukola.

[bogozzo]

Very interesting. Coins, stamps, lesser Persian rugs and art pieces would all be collectibles we'd never really expect to know the provenance of. Because our Mosins have a date, an arsenal (manufacturer) and serial number we might hope for some insight where its been. I do find the speculation as to where a piece has been, what its done, who's held it and what its journey to me has been to be one of the attractions of collecting these pieces. "Were you in Stalingrad, did you make it home from the Winter War, did you do great or lesser things etc." are questions we'll never be able to answer.

[Mangrove]

What about Finnish captures?

Not captures, but with Finnish Civil Guard rifles there is a chance that the information of the rifle is preserved in Finnish archives.

I have started to create indices of non-Civil Guard firearms for research, e.g.:

The History of an Individual Finnish Defence Forces M/91 Rifle
The History of an Individual Finnish Defence Forces SVT-38 and SVT-40
The History of an Individual Lahti L-39 and L-39/44
The History of an Individual Finnish Defence Forces Maxim Machine Gun

These take a long time to compile because Finnish Defence Forces did not keep centralised records of individual firearms like the Civil Guard.

[etprescottazusa91]

I was wondering who my 1938 tula mosin belonged to.

The only rifles out there that come with that info are the Swiss K31 rifles. Most of these it turns out have the name and address on a tag that was placed under the buttplate. Many of these tags were never removed. I ended up with Eugene Schmidts rifle from Wikon.

[Darryl]

As close as you are going to get is ..... Soviet Union (Russia).

Finn owned and K31 Swiss are the few exceptions. Unless you have some sort of "papers" that came with it.

Darryl

[tomaustin]

in previous discussions on this general topic, it was noted that not all Russian soldiers received rifles..some were issued ammo and were to get their rifles from the casualties in the battle..not an uncommon occurrence in a theater operation.....

[Tula44]

It would be cool to know the soldiers who used the rifles we now have in our collections. Many rifles were probably used by several different soldiers before the war came to an end. It would be nearly impossible to have documented each rifle and which soldier was in possession of it.

[Willchef]

What about Finnish captures?

Not captures, but with Finnish Civil Guard rifles there is a chance that the information of the rifle is preserved in Finnish archives. Forum member Mangrove runs a provenance research at http://mosin.fi/.

Some examples of his work: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29647

Probably the most comprehensive research I have seen. An M/28 and the history of it's owner, posted to Gunboards Mosin forum: https://www.gunboards.com/threads/a-fin ... ry.965306/

Thank you for sharing the info and link! Reading the story on gunboards has inspired me to reach out to mosin.fi to see what information they may have on my civil guard m39 (509785). I will share if I am able to learn anything interesting.