Remington M91 Japanese Trainer

[MarksmanTim]

Hey guys,

A friend of mine has owned this rifle for a few years and finally decided he wanted to move it along. He knew what it was and we agreed upon what each of us thought was a fair price, seeing how these don't come up too often, there isn't really a benchmark. I'm curious to see what the group thinks it's worth? I'm not into collecting M91's so I haven't decided if I'll keep it or for how long. I got him to sweeten the pot by letting me rummage through his parts bins and pick out the parts in the picture below.

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I lucked out and found a nose cap screw for an early M28. I was in need of one! Now I just have to find the flat plate that goes in front of the cap. The dog collar is green. Finnish? The trigger is 02 marked so I grabbed that too.

The rifle is original matching EVERYTHING. Stock, buttplate, barrel bands, all bolt parts, etc. It's missing the cleaning rod and obviously the magazine was replaced with the plate to make it a single shot. I wiped it down and cleaned the barrel, chamber, and bolt. They were all packed with grease, and the chamber area even had a bunch of organic material in there... dried up grass and dirt mixed in with the grease. I cleaned the bore and WOW. It is mirror shiny with sharp rifling all the way to the muzzle. Zero pitting. It's not quite as nice as the mint Polish M44 I just got, but it's darn close. Besides the magazine modification, the only other sign this was a Japanese trainer are the symbols in a box. I haven't had time yet to figure out what it says, or to compare to other known rifles to see if they have the same marking. Anyone help with that? Also, I'm assuming the rack number was also added by them?

I welcome all comments and thoughts. There are so few of these around, hopefully this can add a useful data point. I'll take more pictures in the daylight tomorrow now that it's wiped down. The outdoor photos below were as I got it. It doesn't look too much different, but there was definitely a lot of dust and grease on this rifle.

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butt stock serial.jpg

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[Spaff]

I think it says something like law and politics university in Kanji on the stock.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Fledge]

I like that stock cartouche. Very cool....

[millman]

[zeebill]

First question I have is about the firing pin is it clipped off? I think I have seen similar stampings on the stock to the one you have but have not idea where. I have been looking at so much Chinese stuff in Kevin's collection I tend to go there but if somebody has done a good job of translation using it as Japanese that Chinese recollection goes out the window. Value I would say on the open market $500+. You never know for sure these days as people seem to take a fancy to things and go far above what I perceive as values. I hope maybe you hang on to it for a few years and take the time to see what comes to the surface on it. Congrats! Bill

[bunkysdad]

Look in the Showcase. One of our highly esteemed collectors here has one too. Lots of info. Very nice pickup Tim.

[MarksmanTim]

Look in the Showcase. One of our highly esteemed collectors here has one too. Lots of info. Very nice pickup Tim.

Thanks.

And yeah, I was PM'ing with Matt before I bought it.

[MarksmanTim]

First question I have is about the firing pin is it clipped off? I think I have seen similar stampings on the stock to the one you have but have not idea where. I have been looking at so much Chinese stuff in Kevin's collection I tend to go there but if somebody has done a good job of translation using it as Japanese that Chinese recollection goes out the window. Value I would say on the open market $500+. You never know for sure these days as people seem to take a fancy to things and go far above what I perceive as values. I hope maybe you hang on to it for a few years and take the time to see what comes to the surface on it. Congrats! Bill

Bill,

I had looked into the rifle before buying it. Since posting this, I have found out that the marking is for the Hosei Preparatory School. The firing pin is operational. On another forum, a member posted that they sold theirs for $750 and saw an auction for another one go to $1,100 a few years ago. From my research and member postings, there are about 35 of these rifles known in the collecting circles.

[MarksmanTim]

I've decided to pass this on to someone that will appreciate the specific history more than I do. I also don't have a thing for M91's so that doesn't help! I know there were a few people interested that sent me messages when I bought it. It's now listed on a popular auction site.