I just wanted to start about the troop tags. Put a picture on here or the info. Anyone gotten ahold of the previous owner? Need help deciphering the tag? post the replies you got from trying to contact the owner? I dunno about you bet this is one of the reasons I bought my K31(do like the look of the gun though).
Gunz at least you can read yours lol. I'll get a pic up of mine later tonight. Gonna search the internet maybe to see what is on them. Names, addresses? If anyone has any info, that would be good
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Ok, here is my troop tag. It also has a phone number on the back. Or what I would surmise to be one. None of the numbers match the rifle. Its in a 3-2-3 number block. My rifle was made in 1954, so I wonder if there is a chance, someone on the other end will answer?
I got on google and was able to see right where this person lives/lived. Avenue Vinet 18 it appears. Pretty cool. As far as the other numbers, Infantry and unit company is my guess. Lots of good info here: http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearm...rs.html?page=1
I used the information on the link, and looked up some people in the Swiss phone book. I found two that has Jean-Rene names, and was able to contact one of the provided phone numbers via telecommunications. A very nice gentleman answered the phone, whom after I asked in German if he could speak English, informed me in very good English his father was Jean-Rene, and was out. I tried asking about the rifle, but he wasn't for sure when he was in the army. Very interesting. I will have to attempt to contact again at a later time. He also told his father spoke English. So just one step closer I guess. The other number rang, but no answer.
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Last edited by Iron_Colonel; 03-24-2009 at 01:37 PM.
This is the tag from my '52 K31. Just purchased the beauty this afternoon. Looked online for answers, but haven't yet found anything that really helps in identifying the person on the tag. Any Ideas?
I've always wondered about the guns histories. My garand, being built in May '41, must have seen a lot. That's one of the most attractive parts of collecting for me. The second part being the ingenious engineering behind each firearm.
I found one under my butplate,it is hard to read alittle grimey with crud.I would try to clean it but afraid the writeing would come off.Any sujestions as to cleaning and not removeing the writeing?
The swiss issued their rifles to all civilians as a preventative medicine kind of thing. The tag on a rifle that I am going to buy said Vevey which is a city that I worked in for almost a year.
If anyone needs help deciphering tags PM me. You might even convince me into going down and taking pics of the town the the rifle was in.
__________________
"Dark the other side is" - "Shut up and eat your toast Yoda"
I just had an amazing success with contacting the person that is on my troop tag. Everything seems to be legit, and he mentioned that he lived at Av. Vinet 18 "years ago". He has excellent command of the English language. I wish we could have talked longer on the phone. But we exchanged emails, and I hope to continue communicating with this very nice person.
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Here is a reply I got back from a previous owner. It was awesome to get a hold of him, and exchanged email addresses.
Thank you for your (surprising !) phone call and the e-mail you sent to me.
There is no doubt about it: this is my (former) rifle when I was in the Army!
In the meantime, I had completely forgotten the various features of the rifle,
but now I recognize everything about it:
- 230’590 is the number of the rifle. Easy to remember when you have to find
your rifle among all those of the Company parked together!
- 704.40.292 was my ID number (matricule) as a soldier.
The “troop tag” is of my own handwriting, with my home address at that time. I can’t understand why it remained
attached to the rifle after I gave it back to the Army…
- PA means “Protection Aérienne”, II/9 is the unit I was
incorporated in (Company/section)
- the engraving on picture DSCF2481 must have been done when the rifle was imported
to the United State (Georgia?) [[This was one of the pictures I attached to the rifle
in an email of the importer's mark]]
A short flashback (I found the following informations in my military book, which I
rediscovered buried in the bottom of a drawer):
- I received the rifle, brand new, when I started my training in the
Army (which is compulsory in Switzerland), at the age of 20, the 25th July, 1960
-I kept and used it during my “military life” (3 weeks every year according to
the swiss system at that time). I gave it back to the arsenal the 19th
February, 1969. Never heard of it since then.
I decided to call the Arsenal where I gave back my rifle in 1969. Here
is what they told me today:
- this kind of weapon has been kept in the arsenal by the army for about 30 years
- after this delay, the rifles being totally obsolete for the army, the best preserved of
them have been sold to the public in the years 90’ (between 1990-95, up to 1998).
The export were then possible within the respect of legal constraints.
If you type “mousqueton 31” (its name in French) on Google, you find articles
(for instance on Wikipedia in French) on this rifle. But I am sure you have already done it!
That’s all I can tell you about “my” rifle! It’s not very much,
but I hope it will give a little touch of “exoticism” to it.
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
Closest I come to having any troop tags (neither of mine had one) are my grandfather's ID tags when he was in the Swiss army (armorer in the cavalry)...........
That's a really neat piece of history to have. I think that trumps a troop tag on a rifle. I'm sure there are many more troops tags out there than ID tags like that.
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
