Only one in the World? Finn P-28 Mosin Nagant

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It seems that in the internet age, we would have seen another by now. But to my knowledge, this gun is in the company of no other. It is the only Finn P-28 that I can find on record.

p28Finn_001.JPG


The Finn P-Series rifles were built in the mid 1920's as a similar platform to the Russian Mosin Nagant Model 1891. Aside from the markings on the barrel, the only major difference is the lined barrel method which was utilized to salvage worn M91 bores. Production is reported to have started in 1925, though no P-25 examples have surfaced. And production was thought to have ceased in 1927, until this 1928 specimen has surfaced.

The serial number of mine, at 16773, places it very near the end of the P-27 production. But there are a handful of later serial numbered P-27 rifles which are found on pullnshoot25's data spreadsheet, as linked below.

https://docs.google.com/a/beeline-o...aEwQBTArdHhtTXFwVnFoUGJwYXJ1NzVNdW5YaGc#gid=0

The overlapping year/serial can also be observed during the P-26 and p-27 transition, so it is not surprising to see the P-28 serial number appearing late in the previous model run. The spreadsheet also shows a few other oddities late in the P-27 run, but detailed information is sparse.

The barrel on this new specimen has indeed been sleeved via the Salerno method, as described on the Gunboards parent site (http://mosinnagant.net/finland/M91inFinland.asp ), and it has the Army Depot Number One (AV1) stamp. It also has the characteristic S-stamp between the model and serial stamps. It was built on a New England Westinghouse receiver, and has a Finn matched bolt. The remainder of parts are from various other arsenals, as typical.

Now, the extremely sad news. This one and only known specimen met the hand of a hacksaw wielding fiend, who shall remain incognito, as I begin to choke up and sob when I utter his name. But we all know him, and he is an unwelcome guest in the collector's home. So, as the crown area of the gun has been violated and the sleeved barrel is difficult to discern at the muzzle end, the lined barrel is quite easily observed at the point where a dovetail groove was attempted near the front of the 22" barrel. Had the perpetrator known the difficulty of cutting a dovetail into a sleeved barrel, he might have left it alone. The attempt at mounting a front sight appeared woefully unsuccessful.

In summary, this is breaking news in the Mosin Nagant realm. Hopefully, some discussion on the dedicated forums might spur some research, and we might find some other Finnish references to the late production P-Series rifles. But meantime, we can observe and wonder.

Now the remaining pics, and as always, thanks for looking.

p28Finn_002.JPG

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p28Finn_001.JPG
 
In all the years I've been collecting you definitely have some of the rarest examples of military rifles I have ever seen and you continue to find gems. I'm sure I can speak for others when I say its very cool to have you here with us. [thumbsup]
 
In all the years I've been collecting you definitely have some of the rarest examples of military rifles I have ever seen and you continue to find gems. I'm sure I can speak for others when I say its very cool to have you here with us. [thumbsup]

What Ray says... I do not know how you find them. :)
 
I made the appropriate notation in my record sheet. What a cool rifle and a total trip. When I read that you had a P-28 I thought you just had an M-28 as it wouldn't be the first time someone made that error but damn, talk about getting snubbed!

Thank you for your contribution. I am going to be getting my photo catalog up and running here in a bit. I am super stoked about all the entries that people are submitting to me, I think I have had about 5-6 this year alone just from random people finding my sheet.

Going to bump my thread over on Gunboards in a bit to see what else I can glean!
 
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