Mosin Nagant M91/30 Type II, Ishevsk Arsenal 1933
Bolt action, 7.62X54R, 5 round capacity
Data
|
Make: Mosin Nagant |
Model: M91/30 Type II |
|
Arsenal: Ishevsk |
Serial #: 1336577 |
|
Caliber: 7.62X54R |
Date of Manufacturer: 1933 |
|
Action: Bolt Action |
Capacity: 5 rounds |
|
Barrel Length: 28.75"* |
Overall Length: 48.5"* |
|
Other Numbers: All Matching |
Import Mark?: TGI Knox TN |
| Weight: 9.5 lb. |
Information
This one was a little hard extract the spent shell.
Close Up Views
Visible Numbers and Markings
Stock Cartouches
History
Mosin-Nagant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mosin-Nagant (Russian: Винтовка Мосина) is a bolt-action, five-round,
magazine fed, military rifle that was used by the armed forces of Imperial
Russia and later the Soviet Union and various Eastern bloc nations. Also known
as the Three-Line Rifle (Russian: Трёхлинейная винтовка), it was the first to
use the 7.62×54R cartridge. It was in service in various forms from 1891 until
the 1960s in many Eastern European nations, when it was finally replaced in its
final function as a sniper rifle by the SVD (Russian: Снайперская винтовка
Драгунова — "Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova"). The Mosin-Nagant can still be
found in use as a service rifle in many modern militaries and armed conflicts
due to its ruggedness and vast supplies produced during World War II.
History
Initial design and service
During the Russo-Turkish War, Russian troops armed with mostly Berdan
single-shot rifles engaged Turks with Winchester repeating rifles resulting in
highly disproportionate casualties. This emphasised to commanders a need to
modernize the Imperial army. The Russian Main Artillery Administration undertook
the task of producing a magazine-fed, multiround 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 young 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). When trials concluded in 1891 all units to test the
rifles indicated a preference for Nagant's design and the Commission voted 14 to
10 to approve it. However more influential officers pushed for the domestic
design, resulting in a compromise: Mosin's rifle was used with a Nagant-designed
feed mechanism. Thus the 3-line rifle, Model 1891 (its official designation at
the time) came into being.
Production began in 1892 at the ordnance factories of Tula Arsenal, Izhevsk
Arsenal, and Sestroryetsk Arsenal. Due to the limited capacities of these
facilities and the newly formed Franco-Russian Alliance, an order of 500,000
weapons was placed with the French arms factory, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes
de Châtellerault.
By the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, approximately 3.8 million rifles
had been delivered to the army. Initial reaction by units equiped with the rifle
were mixed, but this was likely due to poor maintenance by undertrained
infantrymen used to Berdans.
Between adoption of the final design in 1891 and 1910, several variants (see
Variants) and modifications to existing rifles were made.
World War I
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. Some of
these rifles were not delivered before the outbreak of the October Revolution
and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which ended
hostilities between the Central Powers and Russia. The rifles in Great Britain
armed the US and British expeditionary forces sent to North Russia in 1918 and
1919. The rifles still in the US ended up being primarily used as training
firearms for the US Army. Some were used to equip US National Guard, SATC and
ROTC units. Designated "U.S. Rifle, 7.62mm, Model of 1916", these are among the
most obscure U.S. service arms. In 1917, 50,000 of these rifles were sent via
Vladivostok to equip the Czechoslovak Legions in Siberia to aid in their attempt
to secure passage to France.
Large numbers of Mosin-Nagants were captured by German and Austro-Hungarian
forces and saw service with both militaries' rear-echelon forces and the German
navy. Many of these weapons were sold to Finland in the 1920s.
Civil War, modernization, and wars with Finland
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, their allies, and Whites. In 1924, following the victory of the Red
Army, a committee was established to modernize the rifle that had by then been
in service for over three decades. This effort led to the development of the
Model 1891/1930 rifle based on the design of the original dragoon version.
Finland, a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until 1917, had long used the
Mosin-Nagant in its military. It was used in the short civil war there and
adopted as the service rifle of the new republic's military (see Variants). As a
result, the rifle was used on both sides of the Winter War and the Continuation
War during World War II.
In addition, the rifle was distributed as aid to anti-Franco forces in the
Spanish Civil War.
World War II
When the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941 the Mosin-Nagant was
the standard issue weapon to Soviet troops. As a result, millions of the rifles
were produced and used in World War II as the largest army in history mobilized.
The Mosin-Nagant was adapted 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, like the Battle of Stalingrad, which made heroes of snipers like Vasily
Grigoryevich Zaitsev and Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The sniper rifles were very much
respected for being very rugged, reliable, accurate, and easy to maintain.
By the end of the war, approximately 17.4 million M91/30 rifles had been
produced.
Increased world-wide use
In the years after World War II, the Soviet Union ceased production of all
Mosin-Nagants and withdrew them from service in favour 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 foreign military aid from the Soviet Union
used Mosin-Nagants at various times. Middle Eastern countries under the sphere
of Soviet influence—Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Palestinian guerilla factions—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. Its 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 common on modern
battlefields. They are being used by forces in the Iraq War and the current war
in Afghanistan. They have also been used by Chechen rebels in Chechnya alongside
other modern Russian firearms in the ongoing war there.
Variants
Russia/USSR
Model 1891 Infantry Rifle (Russian: пехотная винтовка образца 1891-гo года) — the primary weapon of Russian and Red Army infantry from 1891 to 1930. Between 1891 and 1910 the following modifications were made to the design of the rifle:
Changed sights.
Inclusion of a reinforcing bolt through the finger groove (due to the adoption of a 147-grain pointed ('spitzer') round).
Elimination of the steel finger rest behind the trigger guard.
New barrel bands.
Installation of slot-type sling mounts to replace the more traditional swivels.
Dragoon Rifle (Russian: драгунская) — intended for use by Dragoons (mounted infantry). 2.5 inches (64 mm) shorter and 0.9 pound (0.4 kg) lighter than the M1891.
Cossack Rifle (Russian: казачья) — introduced for Cossack horsemen, it is almost identical to the Dragoon rifle but is sighted for use without a bayonet.
Model 1907 Carbine — at 11.37 inches (289 mm) shorter and 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) lighter than the M1891, this model was excellent for cavalry, engineers, signalers, and artillerymen. It was stocked nearly to the front sight and therefore did not take a bayonet. It was produced until at least 1917 in small numbers.
Model 1891/30 (Russian: винтовка образца
1891/30-го года, винтовка Мосина) – the most prolific version of Mosin-Nagant.
It was produced for standard issue to all Soviet infantry from 1930 to 1945. It
was commonly used as a sniper rifle in World War II. Early sniper versions had a
4x PE or PEM scope, a Soviet-made copy of a Zeiss design, while later rifles
used smaller, simpler, and easier-to-produce 3.5x PU scopes. Because the scope
was mounted above the chamber, the bolt handle was replaced with a longer,
turned version on sniper rifles. Its design was based on the Dragoon rifle with
the following modifications:
Flat rear sights and restamping of sights in metres, instead of arshinii.
A cylindrical receiver, replacing the octagonal (commonly called "hex") one.
A hooded post front sight, replacing the blade on previous weapons.
Barrel was shortened 5 mm.
Model 1938 Carbine — a rifle based on the M1891/30 design that was in service from 1938-1945, though examples produced in 1945 are quite rare. Essentially a M1891/30 with a shortened barrel and shortened stock, this carbine did not accept a bayonet.
Model 1944 Carbine — this carbine was
introduced into service in late 1943 and remained in production until 1948. Its
specifications are very similar to the M1938, with the major exception of having
a permanently affixed, folding quadrangular-bladed bayonet. These were in use
not only by the USSR, but also its various satellite nations.
Model 1891/59 Carbine — existing M1891/30 rifles that were cut down to carbine
length. Little is known about them. Some collectors are generally suspicious of
this so called "91/59", and feel it may have been produced for commercial sale
by arms importers in the United States and Canada.[citation needed] There is
growing evidence that the 91/59 carbine was made in the Soviet Union for reserve
military forces and for militia forces during the 1950s.
Finland
M24
M27
M28
M28/30
M35
M39
M56
M28/57
M85
Czechoslovakia
VZ91/38 Carbine
VZ54 Sniper Rifle — based on the M1891/30,
although it has the appearance of a modern sporting firearm.
China
Type 53 — copy of Soviet M1944 carbine. Made
with "chu wood" stocks.
Hungary
M/52
Romania
M/44 carbine
Civilian use
With the fall of the Iron Curtain, a large quantity of Mosin-Nagant's have found
their way onto markets outside of Russia as antiques, collectibles, and plinking
and hunting rifles. Due to the large surplus created by the Soviet small arms
industry during World War II, these rifles (mostly M1891/30 rifles and M1944
carbines) can be acquired today for as little as $75 for a standard model.
Sniper models are much more expensive when they can be found; they are highly
sought after by collectors, especially in the West. Forged or replica sniper
rifles are often found for sale and care must be taken to avoid scams and
mistakes.
Other web sites with
information about the Mosin-Nagant
The Pre-1899 Antique Guns FAQ by James Wesley Rawles
Global Security page on the Mosin-Nagant
Korean War website - Mosin-Nagant M-1891/1930 sniper rifle
Korean War website - Mosin-Nagant M-1944 carbine