Mosin-Nagant | |
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Mosin Nagant series of rifles |
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Type | Bolt-action rifle |
Place of origin | Russian Empire Soviet Union |
Service history | |
In service | 1891–present |
Used by | See Users |
Wars | Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian Civil War Chinese Civil War Turkish Independence War World War II Great Patriotic War Korean War Vietnam War Spanish Civil War Winter War Continuation War Second Sino-Japanese War Soviet War in Afghanistan Yugoslav Wars First Chechen War Second Chechen war Iraq War others |
Production history | |
Designer | Captain Sergei Mosin, Léon Nagant |
Designed | 1891 |
Manufacturer | Tula, Izhevsk, Sestroryetsk, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault, Remington, New England Westinghouse, many others |
Produced | 1891–1965 |
Number built | approx 37,000,000 (Russia/Soviet Union) |
Variants | see Variants |
Specifications | |
Weight | 4 kg (8.8 lb) (M91/30) 3.4 kg (7.5 lb) (M38) 4.1 kg (9 lb) (M44) |
Length | 1,287 mm (50.7 in) (M91/30) 1,013 mm (39.9 in) (carbines) |
Barrel length | 730 mm (28.7 in) (M91/30) 514 mm (20.2 in) (carbines) |
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Cartridge | 7.62x54mmR 7.62x53mmR (Finnish variants only) |
Action | bolt-action |
Muzzle velocity | Light ball, ~ 1,100 m/s (3,609 ft/s) rifle ~ 800 m/s (2,625 ft/s) carbine. |
Effective range | 500 m (550 yards), 750+ m (with optics) |
Feed system | 5-round non-detachable magazine, loaded individually or with five-round stripper clips. |
Sights | Rear: ladder, graduated from 100 m to 2,500 m (M91/30) and from 100 m to 1,500 m (M38 and M44); Front: hooded fixed post (drift adjustable) |
The Mosin–Nagant (Russian: Винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: Vintovka Mosina) is a bolt-action, internal magazine fed, military rifle used by the armed forces of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and various other nations.
It gets its name from the Russian Artillery Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Mosin who designed the bolt and receiver, and the Belgian Emile Nagant, who designed the magazine system[1] Also known as the Three-Line Rifle (Трёхлинейная винтовка, Trëhlinejnaâ vintovka), in reference to the 7.62 mm calibre, it was the first to use the 7.62x54mmR cartridge.
As a front-line rifle, the Mosin–Nagant served in various forms from 1891 until the 1960s in many Eastern European nations, when the sniper rifle variant was replaced by the Dragunov sniper rifle (Снайперская винтовка Драгунова, Snajperskaâ vintovka Dragunova), and because of its ruggedness and the vast number produced is still in use in many conflicts.
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During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, Russian troops armed with mostly Berdan single-shot rifles engaged Turks with Winchester repeating rifles resulting in heavy casualties. This emphasized to commanders a need to modernize the Imperial army. The Russian Main Artillery Administration undertook the task of producing a magazine-fed, multi-round weapon in 1882. After failing to adequately modify the Berdan system to meet the requirements, a "Special Commission for the testing of Magazine fed Rifles" was formed to test new designs.
Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, a captain in the Imperial army, submitted his "3-line" calibre (.30 cal, 7.62 mm) rifle in 1889 alongside a 3.5-line design by Léon Nagant (a Belgian) and a 3-line design by captain Zinoviev. When trials concluded in 1891, the units which tested the rifles were split in their decision. The main disadvantages of Nagant's rifle were the following: more complicated mechanism, long and tiresome procedure of disassembling (which required special instruments - it was necessary to unscrew two screws). Mosin's rifle was mainly criticised for lower quality of manufacture and of materials used which resulted in a slightly larger number of stoppages. The Commission voted 14 to 10 to approve Nagant's rifle. However, the head of the commission, General Chagin, insisted on subsequent trials held under the Commission's supervision during which Mosin's rifle showed its advantages, leading to its selection over the Nagant.[2]
The 3-line rifle, Model 1891 (its official designation at the time) was adopted. Some details were borrowed from Nagant's design: the form of the fixed box magazine, the principle that the magazine spring is attached to the magazine base plate (in Mosin's original design, the spring was not attached to the base plate and according to the Commission could therefore be lost during cleaning) and the form of the "interrupter" - a detail in the feeding mechanism preventing stoppages due to feeding two cartridges at the same time.
The initial rifle proposed did not contain an interrupter at all, which caused numerous failures to feed. This detail as well as the new configuration of the feed mechanism was introduced in the rifle during the trial and was borrowed from Mosin's rifle (although the form of the interrupter was slightly changed - this changed form was subsequently borrowed back by the Commission for the Model 1891 Mosin Nagant). During the modernisation of 1930 the form of the interrupter was further changed as the part had turned out to be one of the least reliable parts of the action. Thereafter, only the magazine of the Model 91/30 Mosin Nagant rifle and subsequent models was designed by Nagant.
Production of the Model 1891 began in 1892 at the ordnance factories of Tula Arsenal, Izhevsk Arsenal, and Sestroryetsk Arsenal. An order for 500,000 rifles was placed with the French arms factory, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault.[3]
By the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, approximately 3.8 million rifles had been delivered to the Russian army. Initial reactions by units equipped with the rifle were mixed, but any adverse reports were likely due to poor maintenance of the Mosins by infantrymen more familiar with the Berdan who were not properly trained on the Mosin Nagant.
Between the adoption of the final design in 1891 and the year 1910, several variants and modifications to the existing rifles were made.
With the start of World War I, production was restricted to the M1891 dragoon and infantry models for the sake of simplicity. Due to the desperate shortage of arms and the shortcomings of a still-developing domestic industry, the Russian government ordered 1.5 million M1891 infantry rifles from Remington Arms and another 1.8 million from New England Westinghouse in the United States.[3] Some of these rifles were not delivered before the outbreak of the 1917 October Revolution and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended hostilities between the Central Powers and Russia. Mosin–Nagant rifles in Great Britain were used to arm American and British expeditionary forces sent to North Russia in 1918 and 1919. The rifles still in the United States were primarily used for the training of U.S. Army troops. Some were used to equip U.S. National Guard, SATC, and ROTC units. Designated "U.S. Rifle, 7.62mm, Model of 1916", these are among the rarest of American service arms. In 1917, 50,000 rifles were sent via Vladivostok to the Czechoslovak Legions in Siberia to aid in their attempt to secure passage to France.
Many of the New England Westinghouse and Remington Mosin Nagants were sold to private citizens in the United States before World War II through the office of the director of Civilian Marksmanship, the predecessor to the federal government's current Civilian Marksmanship Program.
Large numbers of Mosin–Nagants were captured by German and Austro-Hungarian forces and saw service with the rear-echelon forces of both armies, and also with the German navy. Many of these weapons were sold to Finland in the 1920s.
During the Russian Civil War infantry and dragoon versions were still in production, though in dramatically reduced numbers. The rifle was widely used by Bolsheviks and their enemies, the Whites. In 1924, following the victory of the Red Army, a committee was established to modernize the rifle, which had by then been in service for over three decades. This effort led to the development of the Model 91/30 rifle, which was based on the design of the original dragoon version. The barrel length was shortened by 3½ inches. The sight measurements were converted from Arshins to meters; and the front sight blade was replaced by a hooded post front sight less susceptible to being knocked out of alignment. There were also minor modifications to the bolt, but not enough to prevent interchangeability with the earlier Model 1891 and the so-called "Cossack dragoon" rifles.
Finland, a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until 1917, had long used the Mosin–Nagant in its military. The rifle was used in the short civil war there and adopted as the service rifle of the new republic's army. Finland produced several variants of the Mosin–Nagant, all of them manufactured using the receivers of Russian-made or (later) Soviet-made rifles. Finland also utilized a number of captured M91 and M91/30 rifles with minimal modifications. As a result, the rifle was used on both sides of the Winter War and the Continuation War during World War II. Finnish Mosin–Nagants were produced by SAKO, Tikkakoski, and VKT, with some using barrels imported from Switzerland and Belgium. In assembling M39 rifles, Finnish armorers re-used hexagonal receivers that dated back as far as 1895. Finnish rifles are characterized by Russian, French or American-made receivers stamped with a boxed SA, as well as many other parts produced in those countries and barrels produced in Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Germany. The Finns also manufactured two-piece stocks for their Mosin–Nagant rifles.[4]
In addition, the rifle was distributed as aid to anti-Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War.[5]
When the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941 the Mosin–Nagant was the standard issue weapon of Soviet troops. As a result, millions of the rifles were produced and used in World War II by the largest mobilized army in history.
The Mosin–Nagant was adopted as a sniper rifle in 1932 and was issued to Soviet snipers. It served quite prominently in the brutal urban battles on the Eastern Front, such as the Battle of Stalingrad, which made heroes of snipers like Vasili Zaitsev and Ivan Sidorenko. The sniper rifles were very much respected for being very rugged, reliable, accurate, and easy to maintain. Finland also employed the Mosin–Nagant as a sniper rifle, with similar success. For example, Simo Häyhä is credited with killing 505 Soviet soldiers using his M28 Mosin–Nagant.[6]
In 1936, the 91/30 was again modified, this time to speed production. The receiver was changed from its octagonal shape (colloquially referred to as a "hex receiver" for reasons that are not clear) to an easier to make round receiver. When war with Germany broke out, the need to produce Mosin Nagants in vast quantities led to a falling-off in finish of the rifles. The wartime Mosins are easily identified by the presence of tool marks and rough finishing that never would have passed the inspectors in peacetime. However, the basic functionality of the Mosins was unimpaired.
By the end of the war, approximately 17.4 million M91/30 rifles had been produced.
The gun is referenced in Hirsh Glick's "Zog Nit Keyn Mol", the well-known song of the WWII Jewish partisans, which includes the words "This song a people sang amid collapsing walls / With Nagants in the hand" (Yiddish: מיט נאַגאַנעס אין די הענט, mit naganes in di hent).
In the years after World War II, the Soviet Union ceased production of all Mosin–Nagants and withdrew them from service in favor of the SKS series carbines and eventually the AK series rifles. Despite its growing obsolescence, the Mosin–Nagant saw continued service throughout the Eastern bloc and the rest of the world for many decades to come. Mosin–Nagant rifles and carbines saw service on many fronts of the Cold War, from Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and along the Iron Curtain in Europe. They were kept not only as reserve stockpiles, but front-line infantry weapons as well.
Virtually every country that received military aid from the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe during the Cold War used Mosin–Nagants at various times. Middle Eastern countries within the sphere of Soviet influence—Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestinian fighters—have received them in addition to other more modern arms. Mosin–Nagants have also seen action in the hands of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union's occupation of the country during the 1970s and the 1980s. Their use in Afghanistan continued on well into the 1990s and the early 21st century by Northern Alliance forces.
Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mosin–Nagants are still commonly found on modern battlefields around the world. They are being used by insurgent forces in the Iraq War and the current war in Afghanistan. Separatists have also used the rifles alongside more modern Russian firearms in the Second war in Chechnya.[7]
After Estonian war of Independece Estonia had around 120 000 M/1891s in stock, later Kaitseliit, the Estonian nationa guard, received some Finnish M28/30 -rifles, also few modernised Estonian variants were made;
During the interwar period, the rifles which had been taken over by the US military were sold to private citizens in the United States by the Director of Civilian Marksmanship, the predecessor agency to the current Civilian Marksmanship Program. They were sold for the sum of $7.00 each. If unaltered to chamber the US standard.30-06 Springfield rimless cartridge, these rifles are prized by collectors because they do not have the import marks required by law to be stamped or engraved on military surplus firearms brought into the United States from other countries.
Mosin–Nagants have been exported from Finland since the 1960s as its military modernized and decommissioned the rifles. Most of these ended up in the hands of private collectors in the West.
In Russia the Mosin Nagant action has been used to produce a limited number of commercial rifles, the most famous are the Vostok brand target rifles exported in Europe in the 1960s and 70's chambered in the standard 7.62x54mmR round and in 6.5x54mmR, a necked down version of the original cartridge designed for long range target shooting.
A number of the Model 1891s produced by New England Westinghouse and Remington were sold to private citizens in the United States by the U.S. government through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship program between the two World Wars. Rifles from this program are valuable collectibles. Many of these American-made Mosin–Nagants were rechambered by wholesalers to the ubiquitous American .30-06 Springfield cartridge; these were crudely altered, and are considered dangerous to fire, with severe injury or death a distinct possibility. Despite this, the .30-06 conversions are considered desirable to some collectors for their relative rarity.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain, a large quantity of Mosin–Nagants have found their way onto markets outside of Russia as collectibles and hunting rifles. Due to the large surplus created by the Soviet small arms industry during World War II and the tendency of the former Soviet Union to retain and store large quantities of old but well-preserved surplus (long after other nations militaries divested themselves of similar vintage materials), these rifles (mostly M1891/30 rifles and M1944 carbines) are inexpensive compared to similar surplus arms, and possibly the cheapest firearm of the day, often found at under $US100. There is serious collector interest in the Mosin–Nagant family of rifles, and they are popular with target shooters and hunters.
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