No WWII Small Arms Collection Can Be Complete Without The Mosin Nagent Model 1891 Rifle

 

 

For Americans, the M1 Garand is the rifle that represents WWII. It is an iconic Army and Marine weapon that says U.S. firepower, like the B-17 Flying Fortress does for the USAAF.  But for those who came from east of the Odor River, the Mosin Nagent and its various models was the standard small arm rifle. By the end of WWII over 34 million men and women served in the Soviet military, many of whom were armed with the Mosin Nagent.

Arguably one of the most widely produced firearms ever (with the possible exception of the much later AK-47), some 37,000,000 were made between 1891 and 1965. The rifle has an interesting history in that it incorporated two designs and features from two different designers including Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, a captain in the Imperial Russian Army, and Belgian gun designer Leon Nagant. Each submitted rifles for a testing, and while Mosin’s rifle was selected, the modified version featured key details of the Nagant design including the fixed box magazine and the magazine spring. This rifle entered service officially as the Model 1891, and production began in 1892. The Mosin Nagan was also known as the Three-Line Rifle, in reference to its 7.62 mm caliber. It is the first gun designed to fire the 7.62x54mmR cartridge.

Interestingly, not only did it feature design aspects from a Belgian maker, but the first 500,000 rifles were produced by the French arms factory, Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de Châtellerault. The rifle had its baptism of fire during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), and by this time some 3.8 million rifles were in service. The results were mixed, but gun historians say a larger part of this is that the infantrymen were not properly trained with this rifle.

 Millions more were made during the First World War, and in another unique twist, the Russian demand far outpaced the supply, so much so that 1.5 million rifles were ordered by the Russian government and produced by Remington Arms in the United States. An additional 1.8 were further produced by New England Westinghouse. Many of these rifles didn’t make it to Russia before the Revolution and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and thus were never delivered to the Russian government. Some were supplied to American and British expeditionary forces sent to Russia in 1918 and 1919, but many were later used by U.S. National Guard and ROTC units. These rifles, as expected, are widely sought after by collectors.

 

During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland declared independence from the Russian Empire. The armories left behind became property of the new Finish Republic. The Finns rebuilt the Model 1891 with new barrels, sights and stocks to create the Finnish m/39. The upgrades turned the rifle into one of the most accurate and dependable bolt-action firearm of the time. Small, highly mobile units were able to bamboozle Soviet forces with this weapon during Stalin’s invasion of Finland, known as the Winter War.

 With the establishment of the Soviet Union, production of the Mosin Nagant increased and the gun underwent a few changes. The basic M1891/30 saw the barrel shortened by about 3.5inches to the length of the “Dragoon variation.” This would be the standard issue weapon of Soviet troops when the nation was invaded by the Germans in 1941. Millions of rifles were produced during the war, and it remained the main small arm of the largest mobilized army in history with some 17.4 million being produced from 1941 to 1945. Numerous variations were produced notably a sniper version, and a carbine version that was introduced in 1944.

After WWII, the Mosin Nagent saw service in the Soviet Satellite states and China built a variant of the M1944 Carbine known as the Type 53. But where this firearm truly shines in on the battle fields of what we Americans call the Eastern Front. To be fair, history should probably rename it the Western Front, for it was the Soviets who did the major fighting against Nazi Germany. So if you collect WWII war relics, don’t forget to include something from the nation that did the heavy lifting against Hitler’s insanity.