£900 for a Mossie M44 ???

[James84]

Last year I was looking for a M44 (I posted in here about it) as I was finding the same thing. What was out there was either shout-out or seemed too expensive, especially when everyone was saying they paid around £100 for theirs not that long ago.

I had a search alert on Gunstar and one popped up for £295, a Polish 1950's, much like that one, and it was mint. The chap had it from 'new' when he got it out the storage packaging 20 years ago.

What he didn't mention was that the £295 also included 300 rounds of ammunition and at the £57 per 100 I saw for the copper-washed surplus at the shooting show, I could argue that the rifle was only around £150! Turns out I was the 1st of 6 people to message him saying they would take it on the same day. Sounds like the reasonably priced rifles go almost instantly... but they do pop up.

[snayperskaya]

*If it was a 1953 Romanian M44 with matching numbers it would be worth near that price as they are very rare, but that is from a collectors standpoint rather than someone that wants an M44 purely to shoot...

I knew the one I was given to be Romanian. I went to check the date of manufacture and discovered ... 1953!
All the serial numbers match too. It's in really good nick. Even has the correct cleaning rod with it.

Looks like I may have lucked out then.

If it is all stamped-matching you do indeed have a rare bird, the Romanian M44's were only produced from '53-'55 and the production figure for '53 was only 3000 rifles which is very low indeed when compared to the numbers produced by Russia, Poland and China.

[Dark Skies]

*If it was a 1953 Romanian M44 with matching numbers it would be worth near that price as they are very rare, but that is from a collectors standpoint rather than someone that wants an M44 purely to shoot...

I knew the one I was given to be Romanian. I went to check the date of manufacture and discovered ... 1953!
All the serial numbers match too. It's in really good nick. Even has the correct cleaning rod with it.

Looks like I may have lucked out then.

If it is all stamped-matching you do indeed have a rare bird, the Romanian M44's were only produced from '53-'55 and the production figure for '53 was only 3000 rifles which is very low indeed when compared to the numbers produced by Russia, Poland and China.

[snayperskaya]

Lucky bugger!

[Dark Skies]

Lucky bugger!

Lucky too, it seems, that I sweated and unpinned the bayonet lug off rather than grinding it for the faux M38 look.
I replaced the bayonet lug / sight base with a milled off one. Always make sure you can go back. :)

Simple reason for that - storage room in my cabinet and tired of the lug (sans bayonet) continually snagging on my slip.

[dave_303]

Always wanted to round off my collection with a nice M91/30 rifle as I already have a M44 and a sniper (believe the rifle is a sniper, the scope is a modernish Ukrainian job). Always waited, wish I hadn't now, then again, the appeal for garbage rods is waning, especially as ammo is no longer cheap and rapidly encroaching on PRVI prices

[snayperskaya]

Always wanted to round off my collection with a nice M91/30 rifle as I already have a M44 and a sniper (believe the rifle is a sniper, the scope is a modernish Ukrainian job). Always waited, wish I hadn't now, then again, the appeal for garbage rods is waning, especially as ammo is no longer cheap and rapidly encroaching on PRVI prices

Any pics of the sniper?

Not all Mosins are "garbage rods" and not all garbage rods are Mosins! Many shoot very well especially with handloads.

[snayperskaya]

This has got to be one of the worst abominations I've set eyes on!

How to take a perfectly good historic rifle and absolutely destroy any collectable value it has.

https://www.guntrader.uk/guns/rifles/mo ... 8103528001

[breacher]

This has got to be one of the worst abominations I've set eyes on!

How to take a perfectly good historic rifle and absolutely destroy any collectable value it has.

https://www.guntrader.uk/guns/rifles/mo ... 8103528001

What was he trying to achieve with those modifications