American/Russian/Finn NEW M91 - Showcase/Contest Submission

[hudson29]

Back on March 22, 1994 I was browsing the used gun rack at the old Turner's store in Stanton, CA. They often had interesting historic long guns and this day had a very beat up New England Westinghouse M91. The thing looked awful, had a dark bore and to make things worse, they wanted the then princely sum of $99.99 for it. I could have bought three Enfield No 4s for that price. Just the same, something about this old Mosin Nagant spoke to me. I didn't know much about them, there was little published and Al Gore had yet to invent the internet so there were no forums like this one to study up. I'm not sure why, but I got out the plastic millionaire card and paid $107.74 to take it home with me that day.

I got it home and read such literature as I could find about this old rifle, ran an oily patch over it and stored it away in a padded rifle case. I never even shot it.

In 2012 I chanced to be in a Turner's again and saw that the refurbed 91/30s were for sale. I popped for a smart looking 42 and while waiting the now mandated 10 day "instant" check got to thinking about the old 91 stashed away someplace. I couldn't really remember much about it beyond a vague thought that it had been American made. Now there are books available and I ordered the Collector's Guide and dug this old treasure out of deep storage.

Looking at this New England Westinghouse with the book in hand was a rewarding trip through history. This rifle had traveled to Russia to serve the Czar and been involved in who knows what. Possibly, the Great war, the Russian revolution and then somehow came to the Finns. There are a number of trademark Finnish features including the SA stamping, the finger mortice join between the original American black walnut stock and a replacement arctic birch forestock, the front and modified rear sight and the sling swivels. I could not find any capture marks by the Germans or Austrians, but possibly they were worn off or went when the forestock was replaced. Possibly the Finns bought or captured this M91 directly.

This NEW has lots of replacement parts on it, both Russian and Finnish. Only the bolt was force matched.

Here are some pictures of a very beat up rifle that looks like it saw a lot of service.















Here are the importer's marks - CAI
























The year on the barrel is very indistinct. Some days I think I can read the 1915, other days I think I'm imagining it . . .





Here is the Finnish ARMY SA stamp


















Somebody used some sort of filler to repair the stock.

[desdem12]

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Three_Dogs]

You got my vote, Very Nice.

[SA1911a1]

Very nice rifle and photographs. Not a half bad story to go with them either!

+1

[Junk Yard Dog]

[dou44]

i love those NEW's

[hudson29]

I'm still pretty green with these rifles and would appreciate hearing about anything you see in the pictures that I might have missed or got wrong.

[Knuckledragger]

Very nice!! I really like to two-tone stock. I have a Tikka M91 that's similar and love it!
I can only comment to one part of your description-and it's total speculation as I've only been collecting Mosins for four years and Finns for two. Meaning take this with a grain of salt and do your own research

Here it goes: I've never seen the Finns use a font that includes a, "closed loop" #2. Look at the bolt serial number and I think you'll see what I mean by closed loop. SO...to me, this means the Russians restamped the NEW serial on a replacement bolt at refurb and the Finns left it alone. Again, just an observation from just above a n00b collector.

It's a fanastic rifle and I'd personally love to own it!! Congrats!

[hudson29]

I expected to see a D indicating the rifle could use either Russian or Finnish ammo. Why would it not be stamped?

[hudson29]

Very nice!! I really like to two-tone stock. I have a Tikka M91 that's similar and love it!
I can only comment to one part of your description-and it's total speculation as I've only been collecting Mosins for four years and Finns for two. Meaning take this with a grain of salt and do your own research

Here it goes: I've never seen the Finns use a font that includes a, "closed loop" #2. Look at the bolt serial number and I think you'll see what I mean by closed loop. SO...to me, this means the Russians restamped the NEW serial on a replacement bolt at refurb and the Finns left it alone. Again, just an observation from just above a n00b collector.

It's a fanastic rifle and I'd personally love to own it!! Congrats!

Yes, I noticed that too and speculated much the same. The Collector's Guide mentioned that the first NEW rifles to arrive in Russia were stripped of their bolts and fitted with Russian bolts. There was a concern that the spring was not right, a claim that was viewed by the author with some skepticism. Could this rifle be one of those?

[redspoon]

Wow what a nice old M91 the stories it could tell. I love it.
+1 on the vote.

Hey the old Land Rover aint bad either
Also very nice picture taking.

[Rongo]

Looks like the votes are in... Put that one up!

[hudson29]

Wow what a nice old M91 the stories it could tell. I love it.
+1 on the vote.

Hey the old Land Rover aint bad either
Also very nice picture taking.

The Land Rover is one of the last of the IIAs. It has a few Series III parts such as the rear dif housing. I never cared for the plastic dash on the Series IIIs.

[Rongo]

Now on the Showcase & submitted into the contest.

[Homer2]

Great NEW. It was built at the East Springfield Westinghouse plant as per the 'E' on the receiver tang. According to "Allied Rifle Contracts in America" by Mercaldo, the NEWs were assembled at three plants. East Springfield, Meridian, and the Chicopee Falls Hill factory. Looks like NEW logo #8 from:

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinNEW.htm

[Junk Yard Dog]

Those of you allowed to vote in this contest are going to have a hell of a time picking from so many fine selections, there better not be a tie because I don't know how the hell I would be able to choose

[hudson29]

Great NEW. It was built at the East Springfield Westinghouse plant as per the 'E' on the receiver tang. According to "Allied Rifle Contracts in America" by Mercaldo, the NEWs were assembled at three plants. East Springfield, Meridian, and the Chicopee Falls Hill factory. Looks like NEW logo #8 from:

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinNEW.htm

Thanks for this, that is a great link. I had no idea there were so many different logos and stamping style combinations or three different plants.

It does looks like no 8 but I still think I can see the 1915r stamped lightly below COMPANY. Can you see anything in the pictures? They are easier to view than looking at the rifle itself . . .

[hudson29]

Great NEW. It was built at the East Springfield Westinghouse plant as per the 'E' on the receiver tang. According to "Allied Rifle Contracts in America" by Mercaldo, the NEWs were assembled at three plants. East Springfield, Meridian, and the Chicopee Falls Hill factory. Looks like NEW logo #8 from:

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinNEW.htm

When I get to looking more closely at both the rifle and the pictures of the rifle, I have to think that we have another type of barrel marking from any of those depicted on the http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinNEW.htm webpage. Look at the pictures below. It is pretty clear that the year 1915r IS there but I see no sign of the No. below the year. That would make the markings on this rifle an intermediate step between 7 & 8. The last sentance of the explanatory text above the pictures would seem to sum up the situation:

"It seems that when collecting New England Westinghouse M91s the trick is not to find different logos, but rather to find two that are alike."

Here are some larger pics:

[hudson29]

I notice the pictures in the original post were clipped on the right side. I made the pics 1000 pixels wide according to the directions but the forum software did not read the directions. In any case, if you want to see the rest of the picture, drag it to your desktop and open it in whatever you use to view pictures. I'm on a Mac but have to think a Windows box would work the same way.