Difference between m38 and m44?

[benEzra]

Being so old are these guns really safe to shoot.

Yes. I have a Finnish M39 (think M38 with a longer barrel and thicker stock), the receiver of which will be 100 years old next year. (It was rebarreled in 1942.) The proof mark on the receiver is the double-headed eagle that was the imperial crest of Czar Nicolas II. I have shot it extensively, and it will do 1 3/8" groups at 100 yards with Wolf 148-gr ammunition.

My rifle was apparently in Finland when the Finns broke away from Russia in 1918. It was rebarreled in 1942 and looks like it saw action in the war.

BTW, I have never seen it, but the movie _Enemy at the Gates_ (about the Russian defense of Stalingrad in WW2) features lots of footage of Mosin-Nagant rifles.

 

[Cosmoline]

My M-39 was made in 1967 with a receiver dating back to 1894, from the French contract! These things were built to last, that's for sure.