[Snakebite]

Just got home with my new 91/30. Thats TWO Mosins in four days!Thank goodness for tax refunds. Its like Uncle Sam is giving me money to buy guns. What a deal! Its dated 1931 and has the octagon receiver and the wood is in great shape with no big gouges or nicks. They could all be sanded out with no problem but I may leave it as it is because the wood has a nice dark aged look to it. I have a couple of questions that maybe you guys could answer. On the receiver next to the hammer and sickle mark there is what looks like a square with a line in the center of the square. It is from the Izhevsk factory. My M44 doesnt have this. Could this be some sort of a refurbish mark? Also on the handguard just behind the front band is an aluminum band that has the serial number stamped on it. I think the band could easily be removed but it doesnt look too bad. It makes it real easy to identify the gun if it was standing up. I was wondering if the gun was issued to a certain person or maybe a guard or police? The serial numbers on the bolt dont match but none of the ones I looked at today had matching numbers. I like the look of the octagon receiver better than the round ones too. The rifling is excellent and the gun has no rust at all. Cant wait till the weekend. My shoulder will be ready for more punishment from the M44!

 

[Calvin]

The square is a refurbish mark. The reciever was originally a M91. The round receivers were made to simplify production. It is possible that your receiver was a hold-back for reserve use, and was mase into a 91/30. Due to the shortages of war, the Russians rebarreled old M91's to the new 91/30. Also, they rebarreled them because of the ammo change. The old arshin sights on the 91 were calibrated for the old 200-grain round nose. The new load was the 165 grain spitzer, and as such, had a higher impact point at 100 meters.
As far as the aluminum band goes, it was used for inventory in the arsenals during rebuilds. They're pretty uncommon, as they usually removed the tags brfore putting them in circulation, or storage. Let us knowhow it works. Congrats!!

 

[holyokster]

Calvin is right, it's an arsenal refinish marking. 1930 was when the model 91/30 was first issued, however there were supplies of the "hex" receivers that had been made prior and were placed on the shorter barrels of the 91/30. This continued until the supply of "hex" receivers were exhausted. Nice find.