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PL Marked M1891
 The Finns were masters at recycling tired battle rifles. As a matter of fact, with some Finn models, by the time they got done, all the only original parts left were the barrel bands, butt-plate and receiver. Even at that,
the receiver was often reworked with modifications made to the trigger and feed assembly. The uninitiated might think that such a desecration is worthless but that would be the exact opposite from the truth. The reason being that after all the modifications, the Finns produced a highly accurate and reliable rifle. The Model 1891 had always been a part of the Finnish Mosin Nagant
inventory. They were maintained in active service through the Continuation War. As a result, they were modified in many ways from minor changes to the sights to replacing the stocks and barrels. These rifles enjoy a wide range of desirability among collectors today. One of the more desirable is the Westinghouse M1891. The thought that it began it's life in the United States,
traveled to Imperial Russia and wound up used by the Finns against the Soviets, is fascinating. Add to that the fact
 that the rifle might carry a rare stamp issued for only two months in 1942, and you have a gem. I'm talking of course about the
PUOLUSTOSLAITOS marking - PL for short. PUOLUSTOSLAITOS stands for Defense Department. The stamp was used to take the place of the familiar SA stamp but was discontinued after only 2 months use. The rifle used for this "close up" is a 1915 Westinghouse with the early barrel marking. I found this rifle in the rack of a well
known milsurp dealer in the Southern Tier of Western NY. I must have walked past it several times before I took a closer look. Needless to say, it followed me home. Note the Imperial Eagle on this particular rifle. It obviously wasn't under Soviet control as most of their rifles had the Imperial markings removed. This rifle seems to have retained it's original wood but the
Finns still finger joined the stock. The wood appears to be walnut on the rear and fore stock as well as on the hand guard. The grain of the wood is well defined with the signature black lines of walnut. This next picture is the bottom view of the finger joints. The rounded joints are said
to be done during wartime as opposed to square finger joints. I don't think I've ever seen a M91 with square joints but then again, I haven't paid attention.
 The M91 used a distinctive type of barrel band that was much heavier than those used on more modern Mosin Nagants. One thing to be aware of when
disassembling one of these, the screws turn clockwise to loosen and counter clockwise to tighten-completely the opposite as you might think. I have heard story after story of the screws being stripped on these from being turned the wrong way. Note also that there is a metal pin inserted directly in front of the barrel band. Often times these are lost during disassembly. I have seen
some creative replacements. Every thing from wood dowels to brass finishing screws. Of course these field expedient repairs completely nuked the value of the rifle as far as I am concerned. 
The front barrel band works the same way when being removed-completely the opposite from what you would think. Clockwise to loosen, counter-clockwise to tighten.
 Among the modifications made to the original Model 1891 rifle by the Finns was a replacement front sight. The blade is somewhat taller than the original.
 They also modified the rear sight by crossing out the arshin graduations on the left side and stamping meter graduations on the right side.
 The Finns also utilized different sling swivel arrangements. Some as crude as a hole drilled through the stock were the wire swivels were to be used with a rope all the way up to different iterations of wire swivels and the use of the slots and dog collars. This rifle has
a nice set of wire front and rear swivels.
 Front swivels with correct sling
Rear swivel with sling This particular rifle is not only unique for it's PL marking but it's also a fantastic shooter. It is more than capable of producing 2" groups at 100 yds. All in all, I feel pretty fortunate to own this gem.
1942 Dated M38
The M38 Carbine was the second attempt to modernize the Soviet basic infantry rifle. The first modernization program was the introduction of the 91/30 standard infantry rifle. When the Soviets turned to the needs
of the mounted troops, engineers and artillery soldiers, they soon realized that a replacement was also needed for the out-dated M1907 Carbine which did not meet modern standards or share common components with the 91/30. It was decided to designed a new carbine based on the 91/30 and the Soviet Defense Ministry adopted the M38 and placed it into production in 1939.
Initial production began at Ishevsk and a small number of rifles were believed to have been produced at Tula in 1940 and '41 although that point is not too clear as the research is sketchy at best. There were 2 gunstock variations in the standard M38 with an early stock and a later variant that had a longer ( approx. 2" ) setback and a hand guard with a corresponding 2"
step in the rear. The early stock had only about a 1" setback and corresponding setback on the hand guard. Later in the Second World War, the Soviets began substituting the interchangeable M44 stock for the M38 stock to lower costs and eliminate production redundancy. The M38 was produced from 1939 to early 1945 primarily at Ishevsk with a significant number (albeit far
less than Ishevsk) being produced at Tula in 1944. The Tula examples are considered valuable by collectors because of their small numbers. There have been reports of 1942 dated Tula examples, but production figures for both factories do not show official production for Tula in that year.
When I ran across the Aztec website, their ad for the '42 dated M38's caught my eye. I had been trying to fill a hole in collection with one of these for a long time but could never locate one that was affordable. As a matter of fact, I could only locate a few
in the hands of private collectors and their price to part with one was three times the asking price from Aztec. I knew the Aztec rifles were talked about on the web for being heavily varnished and dabbed with black paint, but decided that could be rectified later. It didn't take me long to order one of these. John at Aztec was very helpful in describing this particular
rifle and answered all of my questions. I sent my FFL and the rifle shipped promptly and arrived in record time, well packed. I was not disappointed with what I received.
The stock appeared to be in VG condition with the expected heavy coat of varnish and the metal did indeed have dabs of black paint covering spots were surface rust had been removed.
The rifle is all matching with the bolt and possibly butt plate being force-matched during refurb but the numbers were nicely stamped and not the hideous electro-pencil of the late 50's.
The stock is a M38 stock with somewhat of a twist as it seems that some of the war year stocks did not have the finger groove for pushing the rear barrel band. The hand guard is typical of Soviet refurbs in that it does not match the
color of the stock. This is normal and accepted by most collectors.
The metal was generously covered with various inspection stampings that I can not
begin to decipher. The Soviet inspectors all seemed to have their own unique codes for what ever was being inspected and I have yet to find a source for interpreting them.
The magazine and trigger guard assembly has been hit with black paint as well as a couple spots on the barrel around the front sight assembly.
I intend to
clean the stock and to thin some of the heavy layer of varnish that
was applied as storage protection. I may not touch up the painted metal, depending on what I find under it.
I spent the last couple of days
cleaning this beast. I thinned
out the thicker layers of varnish
and removed the black paint to
find metal that was nearly perfect.
The stock turned out to be a "been there, done that" stock with lots of old scars and tons of character.
After
correcting the varnish, I rubbed two coats of gun wax on to protect
the finish.
There was black paint on the front sight hood and barrel to each side of it. After removing the paint, I found very good bluing underneath it.
The butt plate and magazine assembly also were covered with black paint. When it was removed there, the bluing was thin but still very good. To me this rifle looks much better restored to its service condition.
All in all I am very happy with the Aztec M38. It is a great example
of a post war rebuild and carries a legacy of its own in that it was obviously issued during 1945 to see service in the closing days of the war. The folks at Aztec were really helpful and accurately described the condition of the rifle, shipped on time and packed the rifle well for shipping. My satisfaction with their customer service led me to a discussion with them about
sponsoring this site. As a result, Aztec did agree to an initial six month deal to see how the relationship would work out for us both. I hope you support this site by supporting Aztec as I am sure you won't be disappointed!
NOTE: Since this article was produced Aztec went
out of business. M91/38 Up Close
 It seems the entire story of the Rifle Nagant has been about building new houses on old foundations. The basic configuration of the Nagant through all the models was built on a receiver that changed very little since it's inception in 1891. It seems all
the refinements centered around barrel length and sight configuration with swivels giving way to slings attached by dog collars inserted through slots in the stock. The M91/38 is no exception. This rifle is another example of letting nothing go to waste.
The Czech military arsenal found a way to give tired old M1891 rifles a new
life by creating this carbine. Patterned after the M38 carbine, it was created by cutting down M91's and adding a new front sight and carbine rear sight. This points to a major difference from another famous recycling job, the M91/59 which retains the old 91/30 rear sight that has been ground down to show carbine range gradients.
 The majority of the 91/38's were fitted with M44 stocks presumably obtain in large numbers from the soviets. The stocks also appear to be better quality than those used on other 3rd. country carbines in that most are reported to have the metal
sleeved sling attachment holes. The proof markings of the M91/38 are those from the M91's that they were made from and generally date to the Czarist government. It's curious that many of these receivers still retain the Imperial eagle.
Often, you
will find a Circle T proof on these receivers (not present on this particular rifle) which is a well known Czech arsenal proof. Note that the rear sight is not a filed down 91/30 sight like the M91/59 but a real carbine sight registering from 100
to 1000 meters.
 The front sights of the 91/38 are unusual in that they do not match those of the M38 or 91/59 but more closely resemble the post war sights on the M44. The
sight base on the 91/38 appears even thicker than that of the M44 giving it a very distinct look.
 The M91/38 is an interesting post war carbine with a cloudy past. Not much is known about them beyond the fact that they were produced as an issue
weapon. I have not found any hard information on when these conversions were done or who they were issued to. There is a feature about these rifles on Tuco's site ( www.mosin-nagant.net) that provides some interesting details about it's history.
Photos courtesy of JimS
Straight Stock M39
 The standard M39 is known for it's pistol grip stock which sets it apart from all the other Finn or Russian Mosin stocks. The straight stock M39 was an early stock configuration
found on M39's produced prior to 1942 and are considered quite rare. Most of these were later converted to the pistol grip type stock.
 A brass reinforcement placed in the tang inlet.
Tin reinforcement between the magazine and pillar inlet. Note
the stamped Sako "S" in the circle.
 Tang stampings.
 Partial
Sako cartouche on the butt stock.
 Barrel markings and view of the rear sight. The plum coloring of the rear sight is not often seen.
 Side view of the rear sight.
 Toe splice on the butt stock.
 Front sight and muzzle.
Pressure proof and SA stamp.
 Receiver and bolt. The M39 is the premiere Finnish remake of the Mosin rifle. It's accuracy was tested at the arsenal before each rifle was issued. To pass muster, the rifle had to be capable of firing a 1.5 inch group at
100 meters. If you haven't added a M39 to your collection yet, I highly recommend that you do so. Their superb construction and amazing accuracy will be sure to impress you! 91/59 Up Close
This rifle was a cut down carbine made from the M1891/30 rifle. It was produced according to some sources as an issue weapon for security police reserves in Russia.
When it was first introduced
on the market here, a major distributor advertised them as being Bulgarian in origin.
 This may have been partly because one of my sources points to their being purchased through a Bulgarian source. There has not been a
reported case of any of these rifles bearing a Bulgarian proof or arsenal mark and all retain unaltered Russian proofs and arsenal stampings.
 There is a personal stamping present on the comb of the stock which is also
found on most Russian rifles that have gone through the rebuild process.
 This particular rifle is an all matching example with an excellent stock and bluing.
 This shows how the original 91/30 sites were ground down to register increments appropriate to a carbine. The 91/59 is quite possibly the last Mosin produced by the Russians and as such deserves a place in any Mosin
collection.
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