What makes a mosin nagant rare

If more usage is apparent and the gun has scuffs, dents or scratches, the value will lower with each imperfection. Same goes with the metal parts, the more scratches and faded bluing finish that becomes present on the gun from handling and usage can greatly diminish its value.

The takeaway is that as the condition of the firearm worsens, the less it will be worth when re-sold. Another factor that contributes to a re-sale value are accessories that come with the gun. However, the lugs lock in the horizontal position, whereas the Mauser locks vertically. The Mosin bolt assembly is multi-piece instead of unitary, like the Mauser, and uses interchangeable bolt-heads like the Lee-Enfield. Unlike the Mauser, which uses a so-called "controlled feed" bolt head, the Nagant has a recessed head for the cartridge base, what modern technology calls a "push feed".

While modern push-feeds use a plunger ejector in the bolt face the Mosin uses a blade ejector in the receiver, similar to the Mauser. Also, the extractor is spring-loaded-unlike the fixed Mauser. The bolt is removed by simply pulling it fully to the rear of the receiver and squeezing the trigger from there.

Like the Mauseer, the bolt lift arc on the Mosin Nagant is 91 degrees, versus 60 degrees on the Lee-Enfield. Furthermore, the handle is attached to a protrusion on the bolt, which houses the firing pin and serves a similar function to Mauser's "third" or "safety" lug. Some details were borrowed from Nagant's design. One such detail is the attachment of the magazine spring to the magazine base plate.

In Mosin's original design the spring was not attached to the base plate and, according to the Commission, could be lost during cleaning. Another detail is the form of the clip that could hold five cartridges to be loaded simultaneously into the magazine. The other is the form of the "interrupter", a detail in the feeding mechanism preventing stoppages due to feeding two cartridges at the same time. The initial rifle proposed by Nagant lacked an interrupter, leading to numerous failures to feed.

This detail, as well as the new configuration of the feed mechanism, was introduced in the rifle, borrowing from Mosin's rifle. Although the form of the interrupter was slightly changed, this alteration was subsequently borrowed back by the Commission for the Model Mosin Nagant. During the modernization of the form of the interrupter was further changed as the part had turned out to be one of the least reliable parts of the action.

Only the clip loading cartridges and the attachment of the magazine spring to the magazine base plate in subsequent models were designed by Nagant.

Considering the rifle could be easily loaded without using a clip, one cartridge after another, the magazine spring attached to the magazine base plate is the only contribution of Nagant to all rifles after Taking into consideration that Nagant was one of the few producers not engaged by competitive governments and generally eager to cooperate and share experience and technologies, the Commission paid him a sum of , Russian roubles, equal to the premium that Mosin received as the winner.

The rifle did not receive the name of its real inventor Mosin in order not to provoke further debates with Nagant. This turned out to be a wise decision, as in Nagant's revolver was adopted by the Russian army as the main side weapon.

However for the same reason and because of Nagant's attempts to use the situation for publicity, the "Mosin-Nagant" name appeared in the western literature the rifle was never called this in Russia. The name is a misnomer from the legal point of view taking into consideration the legal provisions of Russian law at that time, i.

Moreover, from the technical point of view the rifle that can be called "Mosin-Nagant" or "Nagant-Mosin" is the design proposed by Mosin, as further amended by Mosin with some details being borrowed from Nagant's design. An order for , rifles was placed with the French arms factory Manufacture National d'Armes de Chatellerault. By the time of the Russo-Japanese in , approximately 3. Initial reactions by units equipped with the rifle were mixed, but any adverse reports were likely due to poor maintenance of the Mosins by infantrymen more familiar with the Berdan and who were not properly trained on the Mosin—Nagant.

Between the adoption of the final design in and the year , several variants and modifications to the existing rifles were made. It's a 2nd pattern hand guard. The first pattern wrapped around the rear sight and had arshin graduation markings on it. This stock isn't original to the rifle as the stocks would have had a cross bolt by There are no import markings on the rifle. Second is a Izhevsk M91 that was overstruck with a date.

Some rifles did have the date struck out with a new date added. The year makes this uncommon. The revolution had taken place, and not many rifles were produced during this time. It's rare to see one dated I have no idea on the background of this.

The rifle does not have imperial markings, and the receiver tang has no date. I assume this may have been built with spare parts during the revolution, or it was placed into service during the revolution. Next is a rare rifle. This was originally a Tula M It's rare to find a dated Tula. It's odd that this rifle has imperial markings after the tsarist rule had ended.

The barrel was shortened and turned down. The rifle looks pretty rough and was probably imported from Romania. Two date Tula M91s. Tula had three different roll markings in Two of those are pictured below. I don't have the other roll mark. It features a large hammer, with script writing. These two have the star mark and the double star. Next is a Polish conversion to 8mm Mauser. I believe these were performed in , but be wrong with the exact years.

The barrels were shortened and turned down to accept the Polish bayonets. Sling attachment methods varied on these rifles. Mine has an M91 rear band that was altered to be able to be used with a sling. The M91 hand guards were shortened on these as well as the M91 stocks. Serial numbers were added to almost all of the parts. Poland produced these at two plants. Mine was produced at Arma Lwow, which, I believe, is now in the Ukraine. Poland apparently needed arms in the s and converted captured M91 rifles until they had a steady production of Mauser rifles.

This rifle is missing the forend, hand guard, and front band assembly. Bolt is not matching to the rifle, but it is the correct bolt for the rifle. I wasn't sure how many words I can post in a single thread, so I'm adding more rifles here. This is what collectors call a transitional rifle. Features a bladed front sight and button bands. These were supplied with a hooded bayonet which protected the front sight.

I don't own a bayonet for the rifle. For some reason, it has a Tula stock. I don't see these too often. I incorrectly said "No import markings", and deleted the comment. I got mixed up. It doesn't have any refurb markings. Import mark is obvious on the receiver. Next is a Finnish captured PU sniper. A nation defined by extremes, it needed a military arm capable enduring both freezing polar winters and sizzling desert summers.

Given its staying power in the face of adversity, the Mosin-Nagant has become among the top rifle choices among preppers. But there are plenty of aftermarket parts and upgrades to help tailor the rifle to your application. Want to keep the rifle true to its original form?

Looking to doll up your Mosin into a modern tack tapper? All you need to do is figure out how you want to configure your rifle. What else compares, mil-surp or otherwise? Furthermore, feeding a Mosin is still chicken feed. The Mosin-Nagant is still a solid, practical and fun investment if gritty, dependable and historic rifles are your thing.

In particular, three major areas stick out to me:. The first iteration of the Mosin-Nagant, the rifle was chambered in 7.

It featured a rear ladder sight, front blade and a full-length stock secured by two barrel bands. Before , the rifle was fitted with an octagonal receiver, after which it boasted a rounded version. These are the oldest Mosin-Nagants on the market, ones with early production numbers, without a handguard, can demand a premium.

Made for Russian mounted troops, the Dragoon is identical to the M91 except outfitted with a This reduced the overall size of the rifle to Dragoons were exclusively made in Russia Ishevsk, Tula as were their kissing cousins the Cossack Rifle. The rifle can be found with both the older octagonal receiver and the newer rounded ones.

They were produced at Izhevsk and Tula and their origin can be determined by their markings: Izhevsk rifles have a triangle with an arrow mark, Tula a star with an arrow mark. Reworked versions of these rifles were the ones shooters got accustomed to procuring for a steal.

Despite its size, it was still a hefty gun, tipping the scales at 7. About 2 million were produced at Tula and Izhevsk and can be found with octagonal and rounded receivers.

Not really a new rifle, just a modification of the standby M In this case, the barrel was shortened to 20 inches and all the long-range graduations were milled off the rear sight.

Many of these conversions were done in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, as well as Russia. Production began in and lasted until with the carbine going through a bit of an evolution.