Mosin-Nagant Model 1891 & all variants

What this entry covers

ATF lists "Russian (U.S.S.R.), Model 1891, Mosin-Nagant rifles, cal.’s 7.62 x 54R and .22, all models and all variations, mfd. after 1898" and adds, in parentheses, "M1891/30, M1910, M1938, and M1944"¹. The entry describes the whole Model 1891 family rather than one pattern, and its only date wording is "mfd. after 1898", so a rifle made in 1898 or earlier is outside its words¹. The entry also names .22; the references consulted for this note do not describe a .22 Mosin-Nagant, so the note does not try to identify one¹.

Post-war carbines of the same pattern made elsewhere have their own Section II entries, each with its own wording: the Hungarian Model 48⁶, the Polish M44 type carbines⁷ and the Rumanian Mosin Nagant 1944 type carbines⁸. Whether a rifle made outside Russia, such as a Finnish rifle or a First World War contract rifle, fits an entry headed "Russian (U.S.S.R.)" depends on the ATF wording above¹.

Identifying it

• The arsenal mark and date are usually stamped on the underside of the receiver tang; receivers made until about 1893 or 1894 carry no tang marks⁴.
• A Cyrillic letter after the date abbreviates the Russian word for year⁴.
• Soviet M91/30 rifles were made at Tula and Izhevsk; hexagonal receivers gave way to round ones in 1935 at Izhevsk and 1936 at Tula^2,3.
• The M38 carbine, which takes no bayonet, was made mainly at Izhevsk from 1939 to 1945, with small Tula runs in 1940 and 1944^2,3.
• The M44 carbine has an attached side-folding bayonet; it followed a 1943 trial batch and was made until 1948^2,3.

The date stamp is what a collector compares with the entry's "mfd. after 1898" condition^1,4.

Common confusions

• Many rifles dated before 1930 were updated to M91/30 form and are called ex-Dragoons by U.S. collectors^2,4.
• Rifles were reworked repeatedly; refurbished parts were often renumbered (force matched), with ground or struck-through original numbers⁴.
• A number on the receiver was usually added by the importer, along with Latin-letter versions of Cyrillic serial prefixes⁴.
• Cut-down carbines include the M91/59 and the Czechoslovak conversions known in the U.S. as M91/38s².
• Finland built its own models (M24, M27, M28, M28/30, M39) on Mosin actions, and Finnish-used rifles often carry an [SA] mark².
• Model 1891 rifles were also made under contract by Châtellerault in France and by New England Westinghouse and Remington in the United States; Westinghouse rifles are all dated 1915^2,3.

History

The rifle was adopted in 1891 and combined Sergei Mosin's design with the magazine feed of the Belgian Léon Nagant^2,5. Imperial production was spread across the Tula, Izhevsk and Sestroretsk arsenals, and output trailed demand⁵. Model 1891 production ended in the mid-1920s, and the M91/30 followed in 1930; primary M91/30 production ended in 1944².

Further reading

• A Brief Overview of the Mosin Nagant Rifle² is a compact guide to the Russian, Soviet and Finnish models and their recognition points.
• Mosin Nagant Rifle Years of Production³ tabulates start and end years by model and arsenal, and names its sources.
• Mosin Nagant FAQs⁴ explains tang marks, importer serials and refurbishment numbering.
• The NRA National Firearms Museum's catalogue entry⁵ gives a short account of the rifle's adoption.