Meet Anastasia

Anastasia is a New England Westinghouse manufactured Mosin Nagant M1891, dated 1915. (Although I've heard that all Westinghouse M1891s are marked 1915, even those made in 1916 or 1917) During World War I, Remington and Westinghouse manufactured the rifles under contract for Czar Nicholas II. Not all of the rifles were delivered to Russia after the Russian revolution, and many of them were delivered to the US Government and rebarreled to .30-06. Anastasia, however, did make her way to Russia. At some point, the Finns got their hands on her, (probably captured during or before the Winter War) and put the tiger-striped stock on her, crossed out the old sight markings measured in arshins, and stamped SA (Finnish Army) and a few other proof marks on the receiver. The picture really doesn't do the stock justice, it's in perfect shape, hardly a ding anywhere. The rifle's a few inches longer than the M91/30, and noticeably heavier. Shooting this rifle has less felt recoil than shooting another of my Mosins with a slip on recoil pad. Oh, and I bought the rifle for $150 from an otherwise overpriced store. They usually sold ordinary mosins for at least that much.




Anastasia was made in America, shipped to Russia, captured by the Finns, and eventually returned home, named for an emporer's daughter who was rumored to have survived execution, showing up in various places around the world.