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Replacement stocks on Russian and Soviet Mosins from Finland are well known, but other countries also produced new stocks for Mosins that were acquired through purchases, military aid, or capture.  One of these countries is Romania, two of whose unique and interesting stocks are pictured here.

First is a 1916 Izhevsk Dragoon.  The eagles on the barrel and the receiver have been defaced, but the balance of the original markings are intact.  An additional mark is the "circle B" which is thought to indicate Bulgaria.   It's possible that this rifle came through Bulgaria, but the mark is relatively common and there is some doubt that it is Bulgarian in every case.

Unlike the relatively more common Finnish marked Dragoons and M91s, the rear sight graduations are intact, indicating arshins which is a Russian measurement of approximately 28 inches or .71 meter.  The handguard is of the "second pattern Dragoon" type which wraps partially around the front of the rear sight with a copper reinforcing strip under the rear.  The material appears to be beech and match the stock, but it is not certain if the handguard is of Romanian or Russian production.

The grain of the beech stock is striking and much more pronounced than the Russian birch stocks.  There is a Romanian "CR1 in a box" mark on the left side of the butt.

A telltale sign of a Romanian stock is the fingergrooves which have distinct rounded ends and are offset front to rear from each other.

The fit of the buttplate and receiver tang are well done by Mosin standards.  The buttplate has been renumbered to match the barrel.

Another unique feature of Romanian stocks is the fore end splice with it's distinctive zigzag pattern, which is covered more extensively below.  This stock has a solid Dragoon type band at the rear which will not fit all the way to the stock shoulder because the fore end is slightly larger than normal.  A later split band will fit, but the rifle was acquired with this band and left in it's original state.  The front sight is a blade type as typical of Dragoons.

1915 Izhevsk M91

The second rifle in a Romanian stock is a 1915 Izhevsk M91.  The barrel marks are remarkably similar to the Dragoon above with both eagles being defaced and the addition of a "circle B".  Another non-original mark is an "E" suffix to the serial number, the exact meaning of which isn't known.

As above the rear sight retains it's original graduation marks in arshins.

The wood is also beech with the same distinctive finger grooves.

The mismatched Sestroryetsk (arrow on tang) buttplate is well fitted, as is the tang of the receiver.

The fore end has the same type of zigzag splice although it is closer to the sling slot which actually goes through both sections of the stock.  The barrel bands are the second type with the recessed screw, the front being from a Sestroryetsk rifle while the rear is Izhevsk marked on the opposite side.  The handguard matches the stock and appears to be of Romanian manufacture with aluminum rivets holding the end tabs in place.

Romanian Stock Splice

Below are pictures of the stock splice from the 1915 Izhevsk M91 above.  When the rifle was acquired the splice had separated with one fingerjoint being broken.  The barrel and one sling slot escutcheon screw were all that were keeping the parts together.   These pictures demonstrate the intricacies of this splice which is also used on Romanian made M91/30s, the rear sections of which are M44 stocks with the bayonet groove.   The latter pictures show the splice after it was repaired.

Bottom, muzzle to the right	Top, muzzle to the right
Right side	Lower right side
Left side	Upper left side
Bottom, muzzle to the right	Top, muzzle to the right
Right side	Left side