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SA Placement on Tikka 91/30s

2K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  Jim 
#1 ·
Probably one of those who knows/doesn't matter sort of things, but sitting here tonight I got to thinking. When (or why) did the Finns start putting the SA on top of the barrel rather than the side? My 43 round has it on top, and so do several pictures I have seen of 1944 dated examples.

A quick search through the forum pulled up this old post :http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?252661-Tikka-Refurb

Despite being less than 500 guns away from mine, the SA is on the side. I guess my question is, is the switch over somewhere between these two, or will a larger sample size show some up top and some on the side regardless of date or serial?
 

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#4 · (Edited)
Tim, I was specifically wondering about Tikka 91/30s. The 7.62 Mosin site has pictures of "1943" and "1944" variations, but obviously it isn't as simple as an end of year change. It also can't be a wartime/postwar break, with mine and other capture-refurbs marked up top.

I remember reading the barrels were serialed before testing, owing to large blocks of missing serial numbers. When did the Finns mark the SA? At the same time as serialization, or after proofing? If so, could mine be a 1943 barrel assembled in 1944?

Hopefully someone has a picture of a 1943 dated example with a serial higher than mine.
 
#6 ·
This is a good post with some thought-provoking questions!
 
#9 ·
Perhaps I am, but the other thing I find interesting is that it appears that on the "side stamp" Tikkas the "Tikka T" is higher up on the barrel, versus the top stamp, it is much closer to the serial number. (As to make room for the SA?) Even if the SA stampers were haphazard, would the barrel roll mark be inconsistent as well? And consistently inconsistent?
 
#24 ·
I too have lost sleep on occasions pondering this very quandary. I had suppositioned that one of the factory workers may have injured his right hand on a mill or press and was subsequently transferred to the hand stamping process. This would give the appearance of a left handed stamp. Just a thought, not necessarily a theory.
 
#10 ·
My 44 round receiver is stamped in the top of the receiver just like the photos above. I have an m-91 that is stamped on the side several times,as if the gentleman who stamped it was new at the depot. The first two seem not solid and angled, the third,as if he got the hang of how hard to strike the punch and how to place it....Larry
 
#12 ·
my Tikka m91/30, 1944, serial 7333X, hex. receiver has a top [SA] stamp...


...ahhhh...the plot thickens...
 
#13 ·
So far, all the 1944s I have seen are top stamped. Mdmosin, upthread said his 44 lacked any SA. So far, all 1943 except mine I have seen are side stamped.

I took a look through all the pictures in the Tikka survey thread, and all that I was able to see conformed to 1943 side vs 44 top.

The survey thread shows 3 1943s with serials higher than mine, a break of 470, and then the lowest 1944.

If anyone here has 1943 Tikkas 53747, 53771, or 53884, I would really like to see a picture of your barrel markings!
 
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