My first gun

[Kypt]

Picked this up at the VF Gun Show last month. It's an M44. Shot it last week. Killed my shoulder, but what fun!

[phillyd2]

Congrats. They are fun and painful. Do you know who made it? Russian?

Check out http://www.pafoa.org/forum/rifles-42...html#post21328

[LorDiego01]

Nice rifle. Welcome to the site.

[Kypt]

It is Russian. Date on it is 1944. All the numbers match.

I'm looking for a watermelon to try out the bayonet on.

[PA Rifleman]

Picked this up at the VF Gun Show last month. ...

There are a lot of those in West Chester, you're in good company.

And, they're very habit forming. Here's one of mine. It's an original 91-30 sniper dated 1944. It's a great shooter because it isn't museum-perfect. The blue is almost gone, the wood is worn smooth.

It goes to the range with the other Mosins and usually makes a good accounting of itself.

[Kypt]

There are a lot of those in West Chester, you're in good company.

And, they're very habit forming. Here's one of mine. It's an original 91-30 sniper dated 1944. It's a great shooter because it isn't museum-perfect. The blue is almost gone, the wood is worn smooth.

It goes to the range with the other Mosins and usually makes a good accounting of itself.

Nice! They're much more interesting when it looks like they've been used.

[PA Rifleman]

Nice! They're much more interesting when it looks like they've been used.

And even more so when the *smell* like they've seen service. One of my earliest Russian guns was a 1941 dated SVT-40. It smelled like smoke for years when I owned it, particularly near the buttplate. The odor started getting faint in the 1980s, and by the time I sold it in the late 1990s the odor was nearly undetectable. It had a prominent SA stamp (example), so it was captured by the Finns early in the war and no doubt turned on its former owners.

Here's my current M44. It's 1945 dated with a laminated M44 stock. It appears unfired. I've found the M1938 a little better balanced without the bayonet mechanism. It has a little higher recoil, but not abusive.

It isn't obvious, but the M1938 is also laminated, and the stock is a true M1938 stock. Most of the M1938 laminates have M44 stocks, which has the flute for bayonet clearance. The reason for this is fairly obvious-one stock for both rifles. The earlier M1938 laminate stocks were dimensioned specifically for the M1938 and lack the bayonet clearance, and are less common.

[phillyd2]

Many were put into crates after a arsenal rebuild which is why they are in such great shape. One clue to a rebuild is some parts having etched serial numbers.

I would guess most the russians are from the Izhevsk factory (triangle stamped on the receiver) instead of Tula (star with arrow).