I have only heard rumours, and they usually go like this;
1. The 'X' is put there to represent Mosin Rifles (and as said above, they are seen on russian capture).
2. The 'X' represents that it went through acceptance into the Russian storage or that it showed it was okay to SELL and was actually placed there AFTER its long storage.
I do believe some russian captures ended up as Vopo - I need to look again in Marshall's book, but in the East, I think sometimes they issued some back from storage.
This is a Vopo for sure that I bought and although the 'X' is not on the side or front of the frame (where I have seen them the most), it is an 'X'
|