The Soviet
91/30 PU – Sniper Rifle
of the Red Star
Words
and
pictures by Mick Toal
For many military
longarms collectors, a sniper
rifle is the ultimate
acquisition. However, such
rarity and precision comes at
a cost, and, should a sniper
rifle ever be found on the
market, the price generally
precludes any impulse buys.
But don’t despair, there are
still a few sniping weapons
with very colourful histories
out there for an accessible
price, and, whatsmore, they
are also great fun and cheap
to shoot – the Soviet 91/30
PU. Perhaps best known the
world over as the non-speaking
star of that Hollywood
interpretation of the Battle
of Stalingrad – Enemy at
the Gates – the 91/30 PU
was made in greater numbers
than any other sniper rifle in
history. But that’s not to say
they are common, or
uninteresting – entering
service with Russia late in
1942, the 91/30 PU remained in
Soviet service until at least
the early 1970s, the rifles
took part in all the pivotal
Cold War conflicts of the
latter half of the last
century - including the Middle
East, Korea and Vietnam – and
they were manufactured
post-war by Poland, Hungary
and Czechoslovakia. Although
originally designed to help
repel the hated German invader
from Mother Russia’s soil in
the darkest days of World War
II, these weapons were later
wielded by enemies of the
Aussie Digger and US ground
forces, who encountered and
captured more than a few
examples in Korea and during
the Vietnam conflict.
FIRST
A BIT OF HISTORY
The longest
continuously serving military
rifle in history, the
Mosin-Nagant was adopted by
Imperial Russia in 1891 as the
M1891, better known in the
West as the Model 91. It takes
its name from the designers of
the combined major components
– Russian Army Captain
Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, and
Belgian weapons designer Leon
Nagant, who developed the
magazine and feeding system.
From this original “cavalry
stopper” long arm chambered in
the 7.62x54 Russian cartridge
– which more resembles a pike
when its cruciform bayonet is
attached – grew a family of
basic but effective rifles and
carbines manufactured by
several nations (including
France, Finland and the United
States) which are still in
limited mainstream service
throughout the world today.
The 91/30PU sniper
rifle is an adaptation of the
91/30 rifle, which, as the
nomenclature suggests, is a
1930 upgrade of the Model 91.
Although the functional and
robust bolt and magazine
remained essentially
unchanged, the 91/30 was
fitted with an upper hand
guard, reinforced sling slots
replaced the original swivels,
and the rear sight was
re-calibrated from Arshins
(basically an infantryman’s
pace measuring 0.71 metres
(0.78 yards) to metres, with a
maximum range of 2000 metres.
The barrel length was reduced
from 790mm (31.6 inches) to
717.5mm (28.7 inches),
reducing the overall length of
the rifle from 1284mm (51.37
inches) to1213mm (48.5
inches), the original
unprotected blade foresight
was replaced with a
windage-adjustable hooded post
and the barrel bands –
originally tightened into
position by integral screws -
were replaced by simple metal
bands held in place by spring
fasteners in the
stock.Manufactured at the Tula
and Iszevsk arsenals, the
first 91/30 rifles had
hexagonal receivers with “low
walls” - a scallop cut out of
the left side in the interests
of saving weight.
Later in the decade
round receivers started to
appear, and during World War
II production was further
simplified with the
introduction of the plain
“high wall”, without the cut
out, on which all PU sniper
rifles are based.
BORN
IN BATTLE
Unlike the other
belligerents, Soviet Russia
had a well established sniper
rifle manufacturing and
training program in place when
Germany forced its entry into
World War II with the launch
of Operation Barbarossa
invasion in 1941.Based on the
low wall 91/30 rifle with a
hexagonal and round receivers,
there were at least three
sniper rifles using different
chamber and bolt body scope
mounts. Ironically, the
Soviets received the bulk of
their sniping expertise from
military exchanges with the
fledgling Nazi regime in the
1930s, and the PE and PEM
4-power scopes mounted on the
first 91/30 sniper rifles was
a direct copy of a design by
the famed German optical
manufacturer Zeiss. However,
as fine as these earlier
Soviet sniper rifles were – to
the point they were prized
items often pressed into
service when captured by the
German invaders, who often had
to rely on civilian target and
hunting rifles pressed into
service as sniping weapons –
Russia could not produce them
in the quantities demanded by
a massively expanded military,
fighting with its backs to the
wall against a professional
and determined enemy.
Thus in 1942 work
began on a sniper rifle that
could be mass produced.
Although in
widespread use by the Soviets
during the early days of
Operation Barabarossa,
production of the 91/30 sniper
rifles had been halted in
favour of the manufacture of
the self-loading SVT 40
“Tokarev” sniper rifles
mounting a lighter, and far
simpler, 3.5-power “PU”
telescopic sight. However, the
self loading rifles had
accuracy problems that were
never resolved, and in 1942
the Soviets turned their
attention to developing what
would ultimately become the
most widely manufactured and
longest serving sniper rifle
in history – the 91/30 PU,
which mounted a simplified
variant of the telescopic
sight developed for the SVT
40.
The first examples of
the 91/30 PU were churned out
from the production lines in
Tula and Iszevsk late in 1942,
and the weapons remained the
frontline sniper rifles for
the now-defunct Eastern
Communist Bloc until they were
superseded by the infamous
self-loading SVD Dragunov -
which is chambered for the
same calibre, and remains in
service - in 1962.
THE
91/30 PU SNIPER RIFLE
Without exception,
all 91/30 PU sniper rifles are
based on “high wall” round
receivers. The bulk were based
on actions manufactured
in1942-1944, with a very few
were made from 1945-1947, and
some as late as 1958. Poland
and East Germany refurbished
Russian-made examples until at
least the late 1960s, and
Hungary manufactured its own
version of the 91/30 PU –
known as the M/52 – from at
least 1952-1954. The Czechs
also produced a sniper rifle
similar to the 91/30 PU
concept – the VZ54/57 –
which had a different stock,
scope mount and a
Czech-designed 2.5 power
telescopic sight. Compared
with the PUs, these rifles are
extremely rare. As with all
Communist Bloc weaponry of the
Cold War era, 91/30 PU sniper
rifles were delivered in
substantial numbers as
military aid to bolster
Communist causes in the Middle
East, Vietnam, Cuba,
Afghanistan and Korea. 91/30
PU sniper rifles were captured
from Chinese and North Korean
troops during the Korean War,
and Hungarian-manufactured
examples in particular were
encountered in Vietnam.
Due to the secretive
nature of the Soviets during
the Cold War era, the
subsequent manufacture, and
re-manufacture of the weapons
by numerous satellite states,
and the chaotic state of the
former USSR since the Iron
Curtain finally came down,
definitive manufacturing
figures for 91/30 PU sniper
rifles are hard to come by.
According to German author and
respected Mosin Nagant rifle
authority Karl-Heinz Wrobel,
the Iszevsk arsenal produced
53,195 91/30 PU sniper rifles
in 1942, and a total of
275,250 when manufacture ended
in 1958, when 100 PU rifles
were made. A small batch of 50
was apparently manufactured in
1948, and one 1947 example is
known to exist, which is in
Wrobel’s collection. Numbers
made at Tula, which only
manufactured PU rifles in 1943
and 1944, are not known,
although rifles from this
arsenal are without a doubt
much rarer than Iszevsk
examples. Hungary only
apparently manufactured 91/30
rifles from 1951-54, and the
author has only encountered
M/52 sniper variants dated
from 1952 onwards, with the
highest serial number recorded
being 7700, which could be a
reliable indicator of the
number of the weapons
produced.
RECOGNIZING
A
PU SNIPER RIFLE
As with the war-time
manufacture of the weapons of
any nation, there is a
noticeable difference in the
finish of 91/30s from the
World War II era, although
later war examples of the
91/30 PUs are generally built
to more exacting standards
than their standard issue
counterparts. Some years back
quite a few PU scopes and
mounts were sold in Australia
and the US, and standard 91/30
rifles fitted with these
optical sights and a modified
bent handle may be
encountered, along with a host
of counterfeits manufactured
in past decades. Due to the
huge variations in the
manufacture and refurbishment
processes of the genuine
rifles, some fakes are hard to
pick, but many are obvious.
It is not unknown for
91/30 PU rifles to be fitted
with post war-manufactured
scopes and mounts – some dated
in the late 1960s – during
arsenal refurbishment.
Some recognition
rules of thumb for
authentication are a finer,
almost polished, finish on the
receiver, a crisper and
lighter trigger pull, and wear
of the scope and mount which
matches the rest of the
weapon. Many of the
Russian-manufactured PU sniper
rifles have a number with at
least seven digits stamped
into the left side of the
chamber just above the wood
line. The significance of this
number is obscure – some
collectors suggest it’s the
rifle’s original scope number,
others a manufacturing batch
number – but examples of
former 91/30 sniper rifles
which have been converted back
to standard rifles invariably
have this number ground off or
crossed out by the arsenal
during remanufacture. Like the
original serial number, this
number is hard to fake, as it
often has Cyrillic letters.
All PU type sniper
rifles are fitted with a
two-piece “self centering”
scope mount. The base mount is
attached to the left of the
bolt body with two screws, and
set into a perpendicular
position with two hefty
locating pins drilled into the
left side of the receiver at
either end of the base mount.
Once the mounting screws are
tightened, they were each
concentrically drilled, and
held in place by a locking
screw. At the front of the
mount is a ball socket and at
the rear is a locking screw
with knurled grip, and captive
elevation adjustment screws,
the lower one of which was
often punched into place after
zeroing by an armourer. Slid
in from the rear, the scope is
secured in the one-piece
detachable mount’s split rings
by three screws – two in the
rear band, and one in the
front. On the inner face of
the detachable mount, which
mates up against the base
mount, are two small ramps,
which are ground down by the
armourer during factory
zeroing to adjust the windage
(this is important, as the
post of the PU scope wanders
about within the field of view
during adjustment with the
scope’s range and windage
dials). To fit the detachable
mount to the base the main
screw and upper elevation
adjustment screw are loosened,
and they are tightened to
secure the mount into its
factory zeroed position.
Soldiers were forbidden from
detaching the scopes from the
rifle, which remained the sole
domain of the armourer.
Many Russian rifles
and their optical sight
components have been re-built
during their many years of
service, and this is generally
indicated by a box with one or
two diagonal crosses on the
timber – which is generally
roughly finished with
hand-brushed shellac - and
many of the metal components.
It is common to encounter
Russian PU rifles with what is
apparently a rifle serial
number, scope number, or both,
hand engraved into the
detachable scope mount, but it
is also not unknown for that
component to be unmarked,
apart from a non-descript
manufacturer’s stamp. These
markings were probably applied
according to the policy of the
unit the rifle was issued to,
and is not an indicator of any
particular rifle or scope
component manufacturer. It is
not uncommon for components
from different arsenals to be
used in the manufacture, and
re-building, of Russian PU
rifles.
THE
ISZEVSK 91/30 PU
By far the most
commonly encountered 91/30 PU
sniper rifles were
manufactured at Izsevsk, and
they are readily recognized by
the arsenal’s hammer and
sickle within a wreath on top
of the chamber, and a number
with at least seven digits and
Cyrillic characters stamped
into the left side of the
chamber. Iszevsk manufactured
components - right down
to the barrel bands and butt
plate - have a triangle with a
fletched arrow inside stamped
into them.
THE TULA 91/30
PU
Tula-manufactured
rifles are readily recognized
by the distinctive
five-pointed Soviet star
containing a fletched arrow
stamped into the chamber. Like
the Iszevsk PUs, they
often have a number stamped
into the left side of the
chamber, but all types of
Tula 91/30 sniper rifles
generally have Cyrillic
letters resembling “C” and an
upside-down “U” – a marking
which represents “Snayperskya
Provernaya”, which translates
as “tested for use as a
sniper”.
THE
HUNGARIAN M/52
Hungarian M/52 sniper
rifles are the rarest examples
of the PU family, and, since
standard Hungarian 91/30
rifles are even rarer than
their scoped cousins, the
author is not aware of any
counterfeit examples. They are
readily recognized by their
higher standard of
manufacture, a deeper
blue/black finish of all
metal, and a profusion of “02”
(apparently the Eastern Bloc
designation for Hungarian
manufactured weaponry) stamps
on just about every component
of the weapon - right down to
the shaft of the cleaning rod.
Unlike their Russian cousins,
the author has found no
evidence of any number being
stamped on the left side of
the chamber, likewise the
scope mount components – which
also display finer attention
to detail during manufacture -
are generally unmarked, save
for customary “02” stamps.
The marking on the
rifle’s chamber are
utilitarian – an 02 above the
year of manufacture and then
the serial number, which is
generally two letters followed
by four digits. To date the
author has only encountered
M/52 rifles with BC prefixes.
Stocks of M/52 rifles
inspected by the author in
Australia have the customary
02 marking on the right side
of the butt and are coated in
a durable dark brown finish.
There is also evidence of
“blonder’ – almost yellow –
timber on unissued rifles in
collections in the United
States. Like the Russian
rifles, the Hungarian stocks
have a brass-reinforced “dog
collar” sling mount slots.
M/52 rifles can be fitted with
an all leather sling, or
webbing varieties in varying
colours – again the 02 marking
readily denotes their origin.
Hungarian scopes are identical
to the Russian PU optics
except for the markings – on
all examples seen by the
author, all markings are in
white with the scope number
being a “41” (apparently an
indication of
Hungarian-manufactured optics,
also seen on military issue
binoculars), above a four
digit year of manufacture, and
then a serial. There is also
another four digit number,
indicating the serial of the
rifle the scope was issued
with. Hungarian M/52 rifles
have been encountered with
Russian manufactured scopes or
mounts, but whether these came
together in the various
countries the weapons were
exported to as military aid
during re-build programs, or
the components were fitted to
rifles without optical sights
by civilian collectors can
only be conjecture.
EX PU SNIPER
RIFLES
Perhaps the most
affordable, and common,
examples of a PU sniper rifle
for your collection are the
ones that have been arsenal
re-finished and re-issued as
standard rifles. They are
readily recognized by their
plugged scope mounting holes,
which are often hard to spot
from the outside, but are
obvious from inside the
receiver once the bolt is
drawn back. Another sure
giveaway is a crossed out
number stamped into the left
side of the receiver –
sometimes ground off - and the
“C” and inverted “U” found on
Tula sniper rifles. Some
former snipers will have the
cut out for the scope mount on
the stock repaired, more often
the complete stock was
replaced during re-building.
Whether they were worn out, or
surplus to requirements, the
author has been unable to
determine a reason these
rifles were retired, but bore
condition can vary from
well-worn to almost unfired.
Like other 91/30 PU sniper
rifles, the exact number
converted is not known, but
they are far more readily
encountered than intact
examples. From a batch of 100
91/30 rifles from varying eras
recently imported into
Australia by Lawrance Ordnance
in Sydney four retired PU
sniper rifles – three Iszevsks
and a Tula – were found. One
of these rifles, a 1943
Iszevsk with an excellent bore
and a re-numbered standard
91/30 Tula bolt, is now in the
author’s collection.
THE PU SCOPE
In keeping with
Soviet war time austerity, the
PU scope is basic, but robust
and effective. With a
magnification of 3.5-power and
169mm (6.7 inches) in length
and weighing 270 grams (9.5
ounces), the PU is a simple
design with a European three
post reticule. With the scope
fitted, all 91/30 PU rifles
were issued with an roughly
woven cloth action shroud with
a leather strap which passed
through the trigger guard,
which doubled as a case for
the scope when it was removed
with the detachable mount.
Each rifle also had a set of
leather scope caps, although
examples in East German
service have been encountered
with plastic caps linked with
black elastic cord.
Like
the rifles, there are huge
variations in the optical
sights, with wartime dated
markings varying from the
Soviet hammer and sickle in
a pentagon, through to later
examples with just a serial
number, and new and
refurbished scopes with
multi-coated lens elements.
The windage dial, on the
left of the scope is
calibrated plus and minus to
10, and the elevation dial
is marked out to a (very
optimistic) 1300 metres. As
with many European scopes of
the era, the cross hair does
not remain centred, but
shifts with adjustment. The
PU scope has been adapted
for a variety of heavy
weaponry, including 14.5
anti-aircraft guns and
12.7mm machine guns, and
these can generally be
recognized by extra
increments on the elevation
dial – 91/30 scopes stop at
13, whereas heavy macine gun
scopes often go up to 22 -
although they have an
identical three post
reticule.
There
is a significant difference
is the finish of war-era and
post war mount components –
particularly on the inside
of the detachable scope
mount – and many 50s-60s
manufactured base mounts
have a square fore end, as
opposed to the rounded
corners found on war era
examples.
A PU
FOR YOUR COLLECTION
When it comes to
collecting firearms, items are
often worth what the seller is
prepared to let it go for, and
what the buyer is prepared to
pay for it. Like all sniper
rifles, genuine 91/30PUs are
not cheap – while decent
Russian 91/30s can still be
found in store racks for as
little as US$100, expect to
pay (at least) more than
US$700 for a particularly fine
example of a PU. Although
rarer, Hungarian M/52s don’t
seem to be as desirable to
collectors as unrefurbished
Russian war time examples,
although this could change.
Retired sniper rifles can
bring a higher price, but more
often than not you will
encounter one being sold as a
standard 91/30. But when you
compare the price of the
former communist rifles with
the price of their
contemporaries such as the
British and Canadian No 4 (T)
.303 and the Holy Grail of any
Australian collector, a
Lithgow Mk No 1 MkIII* HT – of
which only 1612 were made – a
PU could be just the starting
point for your collection of
sniper rifles, and a great
conversation piece with a long
and colourful history.
The author
would like to thank Simon
Lawrance of Lawrance
Ordnance, Anthony
Miller and Svetlana
Dachanova of the
Commemorative History
Society in Australia and
Sydney collector Michael
Melliar-Phelps for their
assistance in compiling
this article.
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