Russian M91/30 Mosin Nagant

Background

The Model 1891/30 Rifle (Vintovka obr. 1891/30) was commissioned in 1924 and work began on modernizing the M1891, using the dragoon model as a basis. The first trial rifles were made in 1927 and by 1930 a new design had been agreed upon, which was standardized on 28 April as the "Rifle Model 1891/30". Production of the M1891/30 began on 10 June 1930 at Tula and Izhevsk. Production ceased at Tula in the spring or summer of 1942 and Izhevsk discontinued production in 1944. Because supplies of M1891 parts (barrels, receivers, stocks, etc.) were in great supply, some M1891/30s were still being made with hexagonal receivers as late as mid-1936.

The story of the M91/30 can't be told without mentioning the trials and tribulations of the arsenals that produced it during W.W.II. The Soviet Union was able to produced a sufficient amount of weapons on a wartime footing to equip it's massive army while in some cases moving that production hundreds of miles and maintaining their output in crude facilities that often times were nothing more than a bombed out tractor factory.

M91/30's were produced using both the older hex receivers as well as the more modern round receivers. Those produced during the height of the war had at least two distinguishing features: extremely rough milling on the receiver and a high receiver wall on the left side of the receiver. Both of these measures were intentional to cut down on the milling process and to expedite the guns to the front line soldier.