939r Mosin

[tramsr]

So I came across this weird Mosin 91/30, and picked it up for the sheer wierdness. Every Mosin I've ever seen is stamped with the a four digit date and the letter "r" indicating the year of manufacture. This one is stamped just "939r". At first I thought maybe it was just a light strike for the 1, or it had been ground down, but I've had this thing under a magnifying glass, and there are no signs of a light strike or any grinding on it. I know they made millions of these, and I'm sure some mistakes slipped thru- just wondering if anyone else has ever come across this, or has any insight.

[mosinnagantm9130]

I've seen a few with that mistake but I wouldn't call it common.

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Looks to me like the barrel was not centered when the stamp came down, and the "1" just missed the target.

How's it shoot?

Josh

[tramsr]

Hello,

Looks to me like the barrel was not centered when the stamp came down, and the "1" just missed the target.

How's it shoot?

Josh

Haven't had it to the range yet. Discovered a crack in the bolt assembly guide, so I'll need to replace it first. Not being centered would make sense. Thanks

[Mosin1944]

The lower case r is actually the Russian letter Ge (G), it's short for the Go-Goda, Russian for model year. It's a 1939 made in Izhevsk.

The gun's original serial # is a good example of why they had to give them new #s for import, the serial # in English would be Zh R 3 2 1

[billybob_jcv]

You can see the "r" has a very heavy strike, and they get lighter as you go toward the missing "1". I would say that indicates the rifle was misaligned.

But - hey, what do you want - Stalin was pounding on the door and yelling for more guns!!