This is a scarce example of an early WWII Russian 50 mm Infantry mortar. This was the standard WWII mortar used during the early days of WWII, which was actually partially copied form the British designed Stokes mortars from WWI. It is a very light weight and highly effective infantry mortar that had a range of approximately 800 meters. There seems to be no provisions for a optical sight; instead, it used a small handle on the left side of the bipod to direct the tube, and evidently, the Russians just used a fire and adjust type of aimed fire. The lightweight stamped steel bipod does have an integral crank elevation mechanism that was used to raise and lower the elevation of the tube, and the bottom of the mortar tube itself does have an adjustable range setting ring, that screws up and down to adjust the distance that the mortar rounds will actually fire. This series only saw limited use during the early days of WWII with many thousands being captured by the Germans after the invasion in 1941, who in turn used them against the Russians. This model was eventually replaced with the improved Model 1941 mortar which fired an 81mm high explosive round that did include an optical sight similar to the U.S. M4 sight as used on our 60 mm mortars. This later model became standard until well after the Korea War. The bipod carries a small stamped nomenclature plate that reads: "O.M.3. No2061/52M-822 1940", and the mortar tube itself is actually numbered "425/b(Russian cyrillic letter)763."

Very good overall with the tube retaining 40% of its blued finish overall with the bipod and baseplate having a mixed gray/brown patina finish overall. A very interesting and seldom seen WWII Russian 50 mm mortar. NOTE: This Destructive Device is a National Firearms Act (NFA), fully transferable Class 3, which is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (BATFE) under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 478.