91/30 Carbine Maker ID

[foxfirejem]

A friend showed me his 91/30 carbine and said that there was little to no information as to the maker. All numbers match and are not made to match. The only markings on the receiver are the ones in the image of it. According to him it is referred to as a "Ghost Mosin". There is what appears to be an Izhevsk mark on the top of the butt plate. Any ideas/comments. Thanks.

[JMG]

It is a 91/59 carbine, they look to have over polished the markings to me, will see what others say, but my 91/59 is not as polished but did get polished down.

[foxfirejem]

What is the story of the 91/59 carbine? What country used them in what time frame? Thanks.

[ssg_lord]

What is the story of the 91/59 carbine? What country used them in what time frame? Thanks.

They are post WW2 conversions of M91/30's to carbine length. The exact history of them is unclear. In the past they've been suspected of being Soviet conversions or Bulgarian conversions. Within the last couple years, a stamp on the stocks was identified as a Bulgarian inspection stamp so that seems the most likely origin of the 91/59 carbines but it's still up in the air a bit.

[Junk Yard Dog]

M91/59, these tend to be nice shooters given that the barrel was cut back giving it clean rifling for a new barrel crown, and the 91/30's had thicker barrels than the M38 carbine. Research is always being done that uncovers new bits of information on all the Mosin rifles, a lot has changed in what we thought we knew about then in just the last ten years. Who knows if that will continue in light of current events, but as stated it's highly likely the 59's were not created in Russia itself, but in one of the buffer states. Big clue is that polishing the rough tool marks off the receivers was never a step taken by the Soviet state facilities while refurbishing Mosins. Some of the post June 1941-late 1943 rifles had very rough finishes and lightly struck markings, this rifle was likely from that time, and date stamp on the underside of the receiver tang?

[qz2026]

These are the shank scrubbed versions of the 91/59. Fairly uncommon. No one know what they did this. Could be that the shanks were badly pitted and needed to be sanded down.

[foxfirejem]

Thanks everyone for your input. Hopefully, at some point in the near future, I may be offered an opportunity to purchase this carbine. My friend has sold me several of his better military pieces over the last few years. I can only wait & hope that it will come my way. Thanks again.