Account: Firearms on Nostr: The only Mosin I have is the so-called "M59" cut-down on a 1942 Izhevsk receiver for ...

The only Mosin I have is the so-called "M59" cut-down on a 1942 Izhevsk receiver for a 1891/30. When I bought it, I knew nothing and it was cheap. Back then, M59 had no value, because the military provenance is destroyed on them. However, over time people started looking for them and their price increased, because of the mystery of their origin.

You see, all the M59 are made to a uniform specification, and there were a lot of them, upwards of 200,000. Maybe half a million even. They were clearly produced by a major arms factory. But to this day, nobody knows who made them, and who was the importer in the U.S..

You'd think ATF would know, but here's a thing: M59 are not marked with importer marks, which were required since 1968. Someone shipped half a million guns into the U.S., bypassed all the legal processes, and then distributed them to major retailers (I bought mine in Big 5 Sporting Goods). Isn't it amazing?

Some of M59s have Bulgarian cartouche on their stocks, so there's a suspicion that Arsenal did it (give it to Bulgarians to name an arsenal "Arsenal". It's probably located on the Street street). But there's no proof.

This wasn't that long ago. The people involved into this operation are likely still alive. But they aren't telling.

#guns