Return to Mosin Nagant Virtual Museum

All content copyright © 7.62x54r.net

This 1904 Izhevsk Dragoon has the early flat blade sight leaf which is rare to find now.  It also has the first pattern Dragoon handguard with the sight graduations stamped in the wood which wraps around the rear sight base.  This rifle is owned by Karl-Heinz Wrobel, author of Drei Linien, Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant, who was kind enough to take the pictures and allow them to be used on 7.62x54r.net.  The barrel marks are clear and sharp as is the Proof Commission mark on the receiver.   The bolt serial number matches the barrel and appears to be original.

This type of handguard is a very fragile design and few have survived intact.  The front of the handguard does not have a metal cap like the later M91/30 handguards, but does have a metal reinforcement riveted to the bottom.  The front sight blade is the same as the M91 and later Dragoons.  This rifle also retains the early solid barrel bands.  At this time the sling slots were unique to the Dragoon as the M91 used swivels at the front of the magazine and at the front barrel band.

The sight graduation marks are in arshins, a Russian measurement that is approximately 28 inches, and are on the left side of the handguard only.  The rivets holding a metal reinforcement to the bottom rear of the handguard can be seen on each side.  The simple flat leaf more closely resembles the post-1930 M91/30 leaf, as does the slide, than it does the later curved M91/Dragoon leaf.  The early features of this rifle are seldom seen outside of museums and it would have a prominent place in any Mosin collection.