hey guys thanks for tuning in to another
video on Forgotten weapons comm I'm Ian
McCallum and today we are taking a look
at a very rare and rather unusual most
Nagant carbine now this is what's
commonly referred to as a 1907
saint-petersburg cavalry school carbine
and what's interesting about is there's
very little actually known about them
there are a couple major written
references on most ngons that include
either no information on this or mostly
just speculation about what it can't
possibly be so what we do know about
these is they were manufactured from
1891 pattern rifles they cannot be 1907
carbines because their Barrel is
actually about an inch longer than a
carbine barrel so they can't be cut down
or they are cut down rifles they cannot
be lengthened carbines they were
manufactured from rifles made between
1893 and 1920 which is quite a long
period of time this particular one is
made from an 1896 Cossack rifle which is
pretty cool and interesting and what
distinguishes these from any other most
ngons
is that they have side mounted sling
swivels a bar in the front and a swivel
in the back they have turned down bolt
handles which were standard most ngons
bolts bent not new production bolts they
have 1907 carbine pattern rear sights
and then they have they're set up for a
goal kovitch folding bayonet which is a
really really scarce ban that
unfortunately we don't have one with
this particular rifle but the bayonet
actually mounted on the front because if
removable bayonet sat on the front and
then you could fold it backwards and it
actually has a little metal scabbard
back here so that when you're carrying
this on horseback
the bayonet point doesn't bounce around
and potentially come loose and stab you
yourself while you're carrying it the
mystery surrounding these rifles comes
from the fact that there is nothing in
Russian archives to describe what they
are or when they were made or anything
about them really however we know for a
fact that they were made in Russia
because they're made specifically to fit
this goal kovitch bayonet
which was definitely made in st.
Petersburg so let's take a closer look
at some of these specific features and
markings on this and we'll try and delve
into what they are or what they can't be
so as I said this particular example is
made on in 1896 a chef's cossack rifle
base which is pretty cool to see those
are pretty unusual guns in themselves
now most of these including this one
have had the Imperial markings defaced
and this among the other things suggests
that these were being manufactured into
probably the mid if not the late 1920s
if we look at the rear sight this is a
second model of 1907 carbine rear sight
and we know that because it is actually
marked out 220 and that in this case
would be 2,000 meters we also have some
four six and eight hundred meter
markings on the side there these rear
sights for the 1907 carbines were made
in two different patterns the first
pattern is in arsons or our [ __ ] and
that goes out to 1900 the second pattern
was converted to meters and it goes out
to 2,000 so that also tells us that
these were potentially later production
guns because they weren't just early
carbine rear sights the bolt is a
standard most Nagant rifle bolt that has
been bent down so it's bent but it's
very short the serial number has been
recent and matches the serial number of
the rifle now this is an interesting
element here because this this the font
of this stamping is not the same as the
original Imperial rifle markings this
almost looks like well it's either a
Soviet pattern or it almost looks like
say the Romanian numbering patterns they
also Reis tamped the magazine well in
that same font and also the buttstock
the rear sling swivel the hole in the
stock was filled and this actual turning
swivel
put on instead that's very unusual for
Russia at this time period they really
didn't use this sort of thing and yet
here it is there's one very small stamp
in the wood and that is the CRA which
again is is vaguely similar to a
Romanian stamp there's some speculation
that these guns were Romanian retrofits
but what's unusual about it is they were
designed for a very much Russian bayonet
and none of them have ever showed up in
Romania as far as we know these all came
out of the Soviet Union they were
imported or exported by a German company
called Franconia in 1992 and we can see
evidence of that here on the barrel as
well that is a German proof mark when
the guns came into Germany and that 9kg
dates that as a 1992 proof markup in
place of a front sling swivel there is a
bar here on a newly manufactured front
band it's kind of an unusual band there
are two different patterns of those
bands that are used on these carbines
and interestingly that band does have a
hole in it for a cleaning rod and you
can see that the stocks have a slot for
a cleaning rod because they are cut down
rifle stocks however if you were to
actually put on the band net it would
interfere with the cleaning rod so none
of these 1907 cavalry school carbines
st. Petersburg carbines have ever been
found with cleaning rods some of the
parts are set up for cleaning rods but
not the gun them the rifle itself you
know this is a standard most mcgann
bayonet and the barrel diameter has been
turned down don't see the step right
there it's been turned down so that it
will fit the standard Bana this one gets
really tight if we try to put it on
however the standard bayonet does not
fit the sheath back here I can slide
that end in but up here
in order to make that fit you have to
put a lot of pressure on bayonet and
bend it over of course if you fired the
gun with a bayonet stowed like that
you'd have a significant point of impact
change to the right as the bayonet tries
to pull the barrel off to this side so
this was clearly not designed to take
the standard bayonet the bulk of its
bayonet fits it perfectly unfortunately
as I mentioned those are extremely rare
the last one that came up in the United
States sold for something ludicrous like
$4,000 there's a little more detail on
that scabbard that has been added to the
back of rifle so who exactly made these
it's hard to say
they were clearly retrofitted over an
extended period of time
they were clearly made to use a st.
Petersburg manufacturer Banat and so
that's where the primary speculation
about our primary assumption about
Russian manufacturing use comes from
they would have been potentially that
would have been made by the st.
Petersburg cavalry school over an
extended period of time and for cavalry
training there are clearly cavalry
purposed guns with the side mounted
sling swivels and the sheath for the
bayonet they're clearly not finished
there is no information in Finnish
archives about a rifle of this pattern
and the Finns were pretty good about
maintaining records on that sort of
thing the Finns only captured something
like a hundred and eighty-three of the
1907 carbines anyway so it's not like
they had a lot of the rear sights lying
around to make use of so hopefully
eventually we'll find some documentation
that explains exactly where these come
from but for now all we have to go on
are the surviving examples of the guns
themselves so there you have the 1907
so-called st. Petersburg cavalry carbine
which it may or may not be but we know
it's something and it's certainly an
interesting gun I hope you guys enjoyed
taking a look at this very rare pattern
the most Ngong if you did please do
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you guys thanks for watching