Well, it does appear that the barrel has been shortened at the breech enough to re-chamber for .30-40. Can't imagine why - except that during the cold war 7.62x54R was sometimes hard to obtain in the U.S.A. (Remington stopped producing the cartridge in the late 1950's.)

The pictured rifle, a Mosin 91/30, features the added wire sling "swivel" characteristic of Spanish civil war provenance. Spain was one of the few sources exporting this model to the U.S. market during the cold war. For more info on the "SCW Mosin", see   (You need to Login