Czechoslovkaia
Many Czechs wielded Mosins fighting for both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire during the Great War. Because of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's hatred and mistreatment of Slavs, many POWs ended up forming the backbone of the Russian Czech Legion
This photograph depicts a Czech soldier from the Austro-Hungarian of the 42nd Infantry Regiment
— Lovosice, June 1916
Mosins in the following quantities were brought back to Czechoslovakia by the Czech Legions after WW1
-
46,169 Mosins in the original 7.62×54R caliber
-
12,324 Mosins converted to 8×50R Mannlicher
This photograph depicts the 1st Sokol Battalion of Czechoslovakia, guarding Bratislava during the fighting with the Hungarian Soviet Republic
— Bratislava June 23rd, 1919
After WW1, Czechoslovakia would stamp divisional armory acceptance markings
on the receivers of their Mosins.
S [lion] n = early Czechoslovak acceptance/accountability through
Divisional Armory No. n
1 — Hostivice
2 — Plzeň
3 — Terezín
4 — Josefov
5 — Rudolfov
6 — Brno
7 — Olomouc
8 — Hranice
9 — Leopoldov
10 — Leopoldov
11 — Ružomberok (moved to Košice in January 1922)
12 — Ružomberok
Czech Divisional Armory No. 6 located in Brno
Arms transfer to Finland
Czechoslovakia sold ~8,000 Mosins through Benny Spiro to Finland in 1928. Finland recorded receiving an additional 10,942 Mosins from Czechoslovakia in 1936, practically all with Austrian 8×50R sight conversions
During the Winter War, many of these receivers were used in conjunction with the Salerno P-series barrels to produce new M91 rifles as an emergency stop gap measure.
Finland would also pair many of these receivers with new barrels, like this Finnish M91 with a newly produced barrel by Tikkakoski. It is built on an Antique Russian receiver that was captured by the Austro-Hungarian empire and was likely later used by one of the Czech Legions
