FIRST YEAR ISSUES of MOSIN NAGANT M44s



I thought I'd post my "been there, done that" collection of first year M44s having completed it recently by acquiring a 1953 Romanian M44. These are all first year of issue Mosin Nagants of Model 1944. With the exception of the Russian M44 issue, all are post-WWII Cold War issues.

Production of the carbine was started in 1943 for prototypes and trials, and continued under license in the satellite Soviet states and China well into the 50's. The Model 1944 features a folding bayonet that replaced the detachable type on older models. The bayonet was a cruciform spiked affair with a point shaped like a screw driver. It was extended by pulling down on the guard and rotating it up and letting it seat on the muzzle. To collapse it, one simply pulled it up and rotated it back into it's stored position on the right side of the weapon.

Russian M44 1943 - the Russian is all stamped matching on a laminated stock. Only 50,000 of these were produced in 1943 for prototypes and trials. These were produced from 1943 - 1948 at the arsenals of Ishevsk and Tula (Tula M44's considered rare). War year models feature a bayonet mount with one ear and post-war has two. Many war year production M44's had laminated stocks.

Polish M44 1951 - the Polish is of course unissued and all stamped matching with correct stock (OW in diamond). This particular carbine has a serial number with the prefix C, the number itself is between 20000 and 50000. A 1951 one is a pretty rare bird, just 23 of 669 Polish carbines in Karl-Heinz's datasheet were built in 1951. Polish examples of this rifle were captured in Granada during the invasion by U.S. Troops.

Hungarian M44 1952 - the Hungarian matches only in receiver and floor plate but is in a correct stock (B in circle and 02).

Romanian M44 1953 - the Romanian is mismatched but in a correct Romanian stock (C in diamond), Romanian marked cleaning rod and is CP prefixed. According to Karl-Heinz Wrobel, auther of Drei Linien Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant or Three Line The Weapon Mosin-Nagant there are only two prefixes used by Romania in 1953 and the other one is also used in 1954. Therefore CP would be the prefix first used in Romanian M44 production. No serial numbers of more than three digits are known in these two prefixes so it's assumed that the total 1953 production is under 2,000 rifles. Mine is CP875 and therefore the 875th Romanian M44 produced and also the high known number for the CP series.

Chinese T53 1953 - the Chinese is, well, old. But at $35 I couldn't go wrong. Complete mismatch. Has the old production logo of Factory 296 and a Chinese character after the serial number. This character shi and means trials or something to that effect. It's found on 1953 and the very earliest 1954 T53s. It signifies the initial production run for field testing. As late as the Viet Nam War, the Type 53 (Chinese) was standard issue to the Viet Cong.

Statistics
Length: 1020mm
Weight (unloaded): 3850 kg.
Barrel: 517mm, 4 groove, right-hand twist
Magazine: 5 round integral box
Rate of Fire: Bolt-action, 10 - 12 rounds per minute
Caliber: 7.62x54Rmm vintovochnyi patron obr 1891g
Muzzle Velocity: 820 mps



First Year Mosin Nagant M44s