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| The Pre War years: The M91/30 and M38 | ||||||||
| In 1930 the soviets decided they needed a rifle that was shorter than the M91, yet was longer than a carbine. They turned to the Dragoon rifle, and updated some of its characteristics, although it's length remained the same. They replaced the front and rear sights with more modern sights, the rear sight being graduated to 2000 meters. The Soviets also changed the reciever from a hexagonal (often called octogonal) one to a round one. Any pre-1929-30 rifles with this configuration will be called ex-dragoon rifles. These changes needed several years to take complete effect, and one will commonly find mid-30s 91/30s with Hex receivers. By 1937, with the Spanish Civil War raging, and the threat of a large European War arising from Germany, the Soviets decided they needed a carbine for their armoured and mounted troops. The result was the M38, which looked exactly like the M38, but was 8 1/2 inches shorter than the M91/30. The M38 remained in production until 1945, and was the only model not to be copied in Post-War Eastern Europe. |
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| A 1944 example of the M38 | ||||||||
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