Single shot Mosin rifle. Mosin sniper rifle, properties and design, history of creation

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How the Mosin rifle was created - the most famous Russian weapon of the First World War

The S.I. Mosin rifle - the Russian “three-line” - became one of the most recognizable and famous symbols not only of the First World War, but in general of all the victories and defeats of Russian weapons in the first half of the 20th century, from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 . and ending with the bloody epic of the Great Patriotic War.

In terms of its characteristics, even at the time of adoption, it was by no means particularly outstanding in comparison with its analogues. Its fame and long life - modifications of the "three-line" are in service in different countries and are still in demand among weapon lovers - were ensured by its amazing simplicity and reliability.

“Magazine” versus “single-charger”

Energetic research to create a multi-shot rifle operating on the “magazine principle” of feeding a cartridge was launched in the second half of the 19th century in all leading European countries. Civil War 1861-1865 in the USA, in whose battles Spencer and Henry repeating rifles were widely used, convincingly proved that the future lies not in single-shot, but in repeating infantry weapons.

As a reaction to these events, in 1882, by decision of the Minister of War P.S. Vannovsky, a “Special Commission for testing repeating rifles” was created. The Commission was headed by a prominent domestic gunsmith, Major General N.I. Chagin, and its members included professional gunsmiths, such as Alexander von der Hoven, a major specialist in the field of small arms and the author of many scientific works. From July 1883, artillery officer Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, who then held the post of head of the tool workshop of the Tula Arms Plant, also began to participate in the work of the commission.

Commission N.I. Chagina, fortunately, did not become another “paper project”. In less than seven years of its work, specialists and designers have studied and tested over 150 magazine systems for military-style shotguns. Among them were gun systems of famous foreign designers - Hotchkiss, Remington, Winchester, Fruhwirth, Gra-Kropachek, Lee, Larsen, Mannlicher, Mauser and others. At the same time, various systems of Russian gunsmiths were studied, as well as the internal and attached magazines they proposed.

It is important to note that, although the Russian weapons school was far from leading in Europe, nevertheless, among its representatives there were many bright nuggets of inventors. All of them were either professional gunsmiths (Kvashnevsky, Malkov, Varaksin, Ignatovich, Sergeev) or officers (Veltishchev, Tenner, Witz, Lutkovsky, Tsymbalyuk, Mosin and others). Within the framework of the Commission N.I. Chagin, they all had the opportunity to offer, test, and discuss their products in open discussions. The commission worked openly, seriously and very conscientiously.

Sergey Mosin. Photo from ITAR-TASS dossier

Despite the fact that the entire arms world relied on repeating rifles, in Russian army circles there were many traditionalists who seriously believed that even by the end of the 19th century the bullet was “still the same fool”, and the bayonet was still “well done” " Among them there were sometimes very authoritative figures.

Famous military theorist and teacher General M.I. Dragomirov was not only a convinced skeptic of repeating rifles, but also of firearms in general. “All improvements in firearms,” wrote General Dragomirov, “only lead to the fact that the bullet becomes somewhat less stupid, but it has never been and never will be a good guy.” In his article “Army Notes” M.I. Dragomirov called shooting from magazine rifles “stupid chatter” and fundamentally defended the thesis that single-shot rifles are better for the Russian soldier, since they are lighter than “magazines” and are much simpler in design. General Dragomirov was, alas, not alone in his negative perception of magazine weapons.

Practical work to re-equip the Russian army with a repeating repeating rifle became a reality only after the French “arms revolution”. In 1886, France was the first in Europe to adopt an 8-mm Lebel rifle with an under-barrel magazine and a new cartridge with smokeless powder and a jacket bullet. Following France, a wave of rearmament with rifles of the same type swept across Europe. Immediately after the French, Germany began to rearm (Mauser rifle, 1888), then Austria-Hungary (Mannlicher, 1889) and other countries: Great Britain (Lee-Metford, 1889), USA (Krag-Jurgenson, 1889). ), Switzerland (Schmidt-Rubin, 1889).

Not wanting to remain, as before the Crimean War, on the sidelines of the rearmament process, Russia was forced to sharply intensify research and design work to create a domestic repeating rifle.

Gunsmith Mendeleev

The invention of smokeless gunpowder in 1884 by the Frenchman Paul Viel opened a new era in the improvement of weapons, and not only handguns. Smokeless powder more than tripled the energy of a shot compared to traditional black powder. Accordingly, the cartridges with it became lighter, the shot became more flat, the shooter’s position was not indicated by a huge cloud of smoke from the rifle, smokeless powder was less afraid of moisture and was more durable during storage.

At the end of the 80s of the 19th century, smokeless gunpowder was already produced in Russia in industrial quantities. An important role in the creation of the industrial cycle for the production of smokeless gunpowder was played by the work of the great Russian scientist D.I. Mendeleev. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​replacing thermal drying of the primary mass of gunpowder with chemical drying with alcohol, which immediately made the production of smokeless gunpowder easier and safer by several orders of magnitude.

The creation of a new repeating rifle chambered for smokeless powder would probably have been greatly accelerated if not for the rash decision of the Russian Minister of War P.S. Vannovsky about the preliminary (before the release of a repeating rifle) production of a single-shot rifle of a reduced caliber.

Russian Minister of War Pyotr Vannovsky. Photo: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images / Fotobank.ru

This decision, which delayed the adoption of the Mosin rifle for at least two years, was, without a doubt, the result of the powerful influence of “single-shot guns” in Russian military science. Their undisputed intellectual leader, General Dragomirov, never tired of saying and writing that his ideal small arms weapon is a small-caliber rifle - “about eight millimeters, chambered for a cartridge with pressed gunpowder and a bullet in a steel jacket, but always single-shot.”

Archaic reliability

The popular name for the Mosin rifle - “three-ruler” - comes from the old system of measuring the caliber of a rifle barrel in “lines”. The Russian “line” is a pre-revolutionary technical measure of length equal to one tenth of an inch, or 2.54 mm. Three “lines” gave, respectively, a rifle caliber that is understandable to modern people - 7.62 mm.

The “three-line” cartridge was created on the basis of the 7.62 mm cartridge of Colonel N.F. Rogovtsev, modeled on the then new 8-mm Austrian cartridge M1888, but unlike the latter, equipped with smokeless powder and having a lead bullet in a cupronickel silver shell. The innovative cupronickel cartridge cap was more durable than the old-style copper cap, did not rust and did not wear out the barrel as much as a steel one.

The Russian 7.62R cartridge turned out to be very technologically advanced in production and stable in terms of ballistic characteristics. In terms of energy, it was slightly inferior to the recognized Western cartridge “grands”: the English 7.71 mm Lee-Enfield cartridge, the American 30-06 Springfield or the German 7.92 Mauser cartridge. At the same time, already at the time of adoption, the Russian 7.62R cartridge had an irremovable feature that gradually made this ammunition more and more archaic - a protruding rim, roughly speaking, a protruding edge on the bottom of the cartridge case.

In cartridges that have a sleeve with a rim, the ammunition is supported in the chamber by the welt of the rim into the stump (end) of the barrel. In more technologically advanced cartridges with an annular groove (i.e. without a rim, instead there is a groove at the bottom of the cartridge case), for example, in 7.92 mm Mauser cartridges, this stop is carried out by rolling the cartridge case into the chamber slope (conventionally, the cartridge case is held guides that rest against the recess on the sleeve).

Cartridge for a three-line rifle of the 1891 model (Mosin rifle) with a rim (welt) - Russian 7.62 mm R. Photo: Vladimir Pesnya / RIA Novosti

The latter design in terms of production - both in the manufacture of the cartridge and in the manufacture of the rifle - is significantly more complicated, because requires increased precision in the manufacture of the sleeve slope and the corresponding section of the chamber. In the continuous production of weapons and ammunition in the conditions of the Russian production culture, it turned out to be impossible, according to the then military experts, to achieve an acceptable coincidence of the corresponding parameters of the cartridge case and the rifle chamber.

Only due to the technological backwardness of Russian arms factories did the archaic, although very reliable cartridge with a rim (welt) receive, now forever, its characteristic name - Russian 7.62 mm R.

The decision to adopt the welt cartridge into service, of course, could not be in vain. The main part of all the difficulties overcome by S.I. Mosin, when creating the “three-ruler”, had to eliminate the problem of the cartridge’s welt “biting” other cartridges in the magazine and parts of the rifle’s bolt group. Achieving trouble-free loading, Mosin developed a special mechanism for the rifle’s feeding device - a “cut-off reflector” - a simple but very important element of the rifle’s design. The function of the “cut-off-reflector” is that the upper cartridge of a filled magazine remains separated (cut off) from other cartridges in the magazine when the bolt moves, and therefore is fed into the rifle chamber without interference. All other cartridges are located under the “cut-off-reflector” ridge, which is released only with appropriate, strictly fixed positions of the bolt.

Competition with Leon Nagant

In 1889 S.I. Mosin submitted his three-line (7.62 mm) infantry rifle, created on the basis of his previous, single-shot model, to the War Ministry competition. Some design ideas for this rifle were apparently borrowed from the Austrian rifle of the Mannlicher system, tested in the same year, with batch loading of an in-line (one above the other) middle-positioned magazine.

A little later, Mosin’s product was presented at the same competition with a Nagant system rifle, which was actively lobbied by the Belgian businessman Leon Nagant in the Russian military department with his characteristic enchanting energy. In October 1889, he personally brought to the newly established “Commission for the Development of Small-Caliber Guns” an 8 mm caliber rifle (3.15 lines) and 500 rounds of ammunition for it. Thus began a rather intense competition between Russian and Belgian designers.

The Belgian Leon had very good connections on all levels of the Russian military department. Subsequently, he was able to successfully introduce into service with the Russian army a very controversial model of his revolver, from the point of view of ensuring the rate of fire, the famous “Nagant”.

In competition with the Mosin rifle, Leon Nagant's initial lobbying positions were somewhat weaker: just the day before, Belgium refused to produce the Nagant system rifle, which at the competition lost in all respects to the German Mauser rifle. Both rifles underwent shooting and operational tests in the Izmailovsky, Pavlovsky, 147th Samara regiments and in the first guards battalion.

It is curious that the soldiers and officers of the military units who conducted the tests unanimously spoke in favor of the Nagant rifle. Later, the Russian military department explained their clearly unpatriotic decision by the fact that the Mosin competition rifles were manufactured at the Tula Arms Plant, allegedly in a hurry, which, they say, could not but affect the overall quality.

During the voting in the “Commission for the Development of Small-Caliber Rifles,” the majority also spoke in favor of adopting the Belgian Nagant rifle for service with the Russian army. 14 people voted for the Nagant rifle, including the most authoritative experts Chagin, Roediger and von der Hoven. Only 10 experts spoke in favor of the Mosin rifle.

The future of the Mosin “three-line” was decided thanks to the tough position of the inspector of weapons and cartridge factories V.N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and professor of the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy V.L. Chebysheva. Their decisive argument, which was also supported by Chagin and Roediger, was that the Mosin rifle was significantly simpler and cheaper to manufacture.

Inspector General of weapons and cartridge factories Vasily Nikolaevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Photo: Library of Congress

In addition, the production of the Mosin rifle was technologically based on machines that were already producing the Berdan rifle, which was in Russian service, which made it possible to establish the production of the Russian rifle much faster than the Nagant rifle. V.L. Chebyshev, whose authority among rifle specialists of that time was indisputable, specifically emphasized in his report that operational tests showed the absolute advantage of the Mosin rifle. During the entire testing period of the Mosin rifle, 217 delays were recorded, while the Nagan system rifle had 557 failures during the same number of firings.

“I cannot agree with the conclusion of the majority of experts,” Professor Chebyshev specially emphasized at the end of his report, “that both tested systems are equally good, this is obvious, if only because the Mosin system has enormous advantages over the Nagan system.”

As a result of several stages of discussion, the Commission adopted the S.I. rifle. Mosin. However, given that members of the Kabakov and Rogovtsev Commission also took part in its design, and some elements of the system were proposed by L. Nagan, it was decided to call the rifle “Russian three-line rifle of the 1891 model.”

Tsar Alexander III, who for some reason is called the nationalist tsar, having read the final report of the Commission, crossed out the word “Russian” from the name of the rifle. Such a wonderful product by S.I. Mosin, contrary to all international weapons traditions, received a completely faceless - without national and design indicators - serial name: “three-line rifle of the 1891 model.”

No upgrade required

The famous book by Vladimir and Valentin Mavrodin “Russian Rifle” claims that the Mosin rifle of the 1891 model was “the best of all foreign similar models of small arms.” It is unlikely that this such a categorical assessment is objective - the English Lee-Metford rifle or the famous German Mauser of the 1888 model were in no way inferior to the Russian “three-line”, and in a number of important positions they were superior to it. However, what the Russian rifle was undoubtedly good at was its unique simplicity and reliability, maintainability and undemanding manufacturing technology.

The simplicity of the “mosinki” design is probably a kind of weapon absolute. Suffice it to say that the rifle bolt - the most complex part of any gun - consists of only seven parts, and disassembly and assembly of the bolt can be done without any tools. This incredible simplicity ensured a very long production of the rifle without any significant modernization - there was simply nothing to modernize in the Mosinka. A very important advantage of the rifle is the presence of a detachable bolt action, which, if broken, could be replaced with any other - all parts of the “mosinka”, regardless of the manufacturer, are interchangeable.

In 1891, simultaneously with the infantry modification of the rifle, dragoon and Cossack three-line rifles were adopted.

The infantry rifle weighed 3.99 kg without a bayonet when the magazine was empty, and after adopting a barrel lining that protected the shooter’s fingers from burns and a long ramrod, its weight increased to 4.2 kg without a bayonet. Of the infantry rifles of the European powers, the Mosin rifle was the longest - 1306 mm.

The Dragoon type of rifle was seven centimeters shorter (the barrel became 73 cm instead of 80 cm). This had almost no effect on the weight of the rifle - it decreased by only 300 g. The Cossack rifle differed from the dragoon rifle only in the absence of a bayonet, and for a horseman it was inconvenient - heavy and poorly balanced.

Model 1891 three-line rifle. Photo: Imperial War Museums

With the beginning of the First World War, the Cossacks began to rearm on their own with the captured cavalry Mauser, which, although it was also quite heavy, was at least significantly better balanced.

The Mosinka magazine held five cartridges. The muzzle velocity of the standard factory cartridge was 620 m/s. In the specialized literature there is an indication that a Mosin rifle bullet pierced 16-35 one-inch boards at 50 steps. If the first number (16 boards) can still be somehow believed, then the second is clearly inspired by “jingoistic” inspiration. This same “inspiration” also includes the indicator of rifle combat that is often found in the literature, such as the longest sighting range, which is defined as 1900 meters.

The problem is that at the “target range” of 1900 meters you can only aim at a railway car, and then, probably, if it is facing the shooter. The full-length figure of a man is completely covered by the front sight of a rifle when aiming at 300 meters. At 600 meters, aiming at a person with an open sight is the same as aiming at him without a sight at all - at random, along the barrel. Even when using a four-fold optical sight, the practical firing range of a “mosinki” (i.e., the distance at which you can actually aim and actually hit) is unlikely to exceed 800, maximum 900 meters. However, all infantry rifles in Europe, produced in the same generation as the Mosinka, give approximately the same practical result.

Abroad, the S.I. Mosin rifle is known as the “Mosin” rifle system, or as the “Mosin-Nagant” - in memory of the borrowing of some elements of the Nagant system into the design of the Russian “three-line”. By resolution of November 25, 1891, the Artillery Committee of Russia awarded Colonel S.I. Mosin the prestigious Grand Mikhailov Prize, awarded once every five years.

The adoption of the Mosin infantry rifle required significant costs to organize a full production cycle, including powder, cartridge and weapons components. The War Ministry requested 156.5 million rubles for these purposes. At the report of the Minister of War, Tsar Alexander III imposed an uncharacteristic resolution for him: “The amount is terrifying, but there is nothing to be done, we must get started.” The Russian army never subsequently regretted this decision of the Tsar the Peacemaker.

The rifle of the Sergei Ivanovich Mosin system or “three-line”, adopted for service back in 1891, became the most popular small arms of the Great Patriotic War. In the USA, this legendary weapon is still called the “Russian rifle.”

Birth of a legend

Why “three-line”? In the Russian Imperial Army, caliber was measured not in millimeters, but in lines. A line is one tenth of an inch, and three lines is 7.62 mm. There were three types of “three-line”: infantry, dragoon and Cossack. They differed in length. In addition, the Cossack rifle did not have a bayonet.

The rifle's middle magazine holds 5 rounds. The first combat use of the “three-line” was the Battle of Andijan during the Pamir Campaigns, when Russian infantry practically mowed down the attacking enemy cavalry with repeating rifles. Then, perhaps the only complaint was noted about the thin bayonets of the rifle, which broke when trying to lift the enemy onto the bayonet in hand-to-hand combat.

In 1910, due to the transition to a pointed bullet, which had slightly different ballistic properties, the sighting device was changed and the early “three-ruler” bullets remain a rarity in museum collections.

Russian rifle

The main production in Imperial Russia was concentrated at the Tula and Izhevsk arms factories, and there are also rifles made in France by Chatellerault. The Sestroretsk arms factory also produced training rifles. With the outbreak of the First World War, mainly the dragoon version was produced. The same trend continued in the USSR, where since 1923 only dragoons were produced.

During the First World War, an order was given to the American companies Westinghouse and Remington to produce 2 million “three-line” cars.

However, in the states, citing various reasons, this order was repeatedly postponed. How many rifles were delivered to Russia during the First World War and the Civil War and to whom they went are very complex questions. The American interventionists in the North of Russia also had “three-line” units during the Civil War.

The “Russian rifle,” as it was called in the USA, produced overseas, differed from the Tula and Izhevsk rifles by having a walnut fore-end instead of a birch one and the absence of a top lining. All “three-line” models produced in the USA were infantry models.

Red Army

Only the dragoon model was left in service in the Red Army, and the rifle itself underwent minor modernization in 1930. Due to the appearance of the namushnik, the bayonet mount was changed, and the sight was changed from steps to meters. Since 1935, the receiver has acquired a rounded shape instead of a faceted one.

The weak point of the rifle is the safety, which requires a fair amount of physical strength, and setting the safety in cold conditions is also problematic. In the second half of the 1930s, rifle production was concentrated in Izhevsk from 1938, as the Tula Arms Plant switched to the production of SVT.

The “Three Line” became the most popular Soviet small arms of the Great Patriotic War. In total, from May 1941 to the end of 1944, more than 11 million rifles and carbines based on the Mosin rifle were produced. Only in 1944, the “three-line” carbine of the 1944 model came to replace the “three-line” in production.

Carbines based on the “three-line”

The Model 1907 carbine was produced in small quantities and was in service with machine gun teams and artillerymen. This weapon did not become widespread in the Russian army. The second version of the carbine was created on the basis of the “three-ruler” already in Soviet times, in 1938. Essentially the same “three-ruler”, but 20 cm shorter.

There is an opinion that the carbine is a cavalry weapon. But in the Red Army, carbines of the 1938 model were used to arm artillerymen and sappers, and they appeared in the cavalry only during the Great Patriotic War. Until 1941, the Soviet cavalry had the same “three-line” units. During the Great Patriotic War, it turned out that there was no need for an ordinary shooter to fire at a distance of 2 kilometers - this role was performed by heavy machine guns. For street combat and combat in trenches, the “three-line” (even in the 1891/1930 version) is very long.

It was necessary to create a more compact sample without resorting to a radical change in design. And such a model was created - it became the 1944 model carbine. The only difference was the presence of a folding needle bayonet of the Semin system. The bayonet is shorter than that of the “three-line”; bayonet combat became a relative rarity, and there was no longer any need to repel enemy cavalry attacks. The 1944 model carbine was produced until 1949 only at the Izhevsk plant, until it was replaced by the SKS-45 and AK-47.

Sniper version of the “three-line”

Since 1931, a sniper rifle based on the Mosin rifle has been in service with the Red Army. It differed from the standard one in the better quality of the barrel, curved bolt handle and the presence of an optical sight. Therefore, the rifle was loaded not with a clip, but with one cartridge at a time.

The first sights were purchased in Germany, and then the production of our own PU and PE was launched. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, when the main emphasis was on the production of SVT-40, the production of “three-line” snipers decreased significantly, and since 1942 it began to gain momentum again.

The sniper version of the “three-line” has proven itself well in battles from the Khasan events to the Great Patriotic War. Although there have been cases of combat use of the Mosin rifle in recent conflicts. The production of weapons continued until 1945. In the post-war period, due to the lack of a good sniper model (the SVT-40 was considered unsatisfactory as a sniper weapon), the “three-line” was left as a temporary measure until the creation of a new sniper rifle. But the “three-line” was considered temporary for another 18 years, until the Dragunov sniper rifle was adopted for service.

The Mosin rifle, also known as the famous "three-line rifle", was the main weapon of the 1917 revolution, as well as the Great Patriotic War. It is the Mosin rifle of the 1891 model that is rightfully considered one of the most famous examples of Russian weapons. The Tsar's "three-line" took part in the Russian-Japanese war, and then in the First World War.

The Russian “three-line”, created at the end of the 19th century, remained an effective and reliable weapon for a soldier for many decades. It became one of the first domestic models adopted by the army. Today, Mosin rifles can often be seen in museums and private collections. There are not only Russian modifications of the rifle, but also those made abroad. The design and technical characteristics have changed a little, but the principle of the weapon remains the same.

The Mosin rifle was developed during the rise of technology and science, when the advent of smokeless powder made it possible to switch to smaller calibers. And thanks to the development of weapons technology, it became possible to create a replacement for the single-shot system - a magazine-fed system. Naturally, Russia also participated in the process of weapons development.

As a result, the Russian army was presented with two magazine-type rifle systems to choose from - the Belgian Leon Nagant, as well as the domestic one by Captain S.I. Mosin. Tests demonstrated that the Belgian rifle was generally better than the Russian one. But senior management took into account that:

• the Belgian rifle had twice as many misfires;
• the Russian rifle was cheaper and easier to produce.

The generals ultimately compromised: the Mosin rifle was adopted by the Russian army in 1891, but it was equipped with a 5-round Nagant magazine. Along with the rifle, a new three-line cartridge (7.62 mm) was also adopted. The rifle was designated “three-line,” and the soldiers nicknamed the weapon “three-line.” Name three-ruler comes from the caliber of a rifle barrel, which is three lines (an obsolete measure of length equal to one tenth of an inch or 2.54 mm)

This weapon was renamed Mosin only in Soviet times after modernization in 1930. The Russian three-line rifle has always been called “Mosin-Nagan” abroad.

Inventor of the “three-line”

The history of the creation of the “three-line” was not easy. Several designers took part in the creation of the best repeating rifle in the world, but the most significant contribution was made by Sergei Ivanovich Mosin. History was unfair to him, and during his lifetime his rifle did not bear the name of the developer, which greatly upset the designer.

Sergei Mosin was born in the village of Ramon, Voronezh region. He graduated from the military and artillery school, artillery academy. In 1875, Mosin became the head of the tool workshop of the arms factory in Tula. By 1880, he was already developing single-shot rifles and was an expert in gunsmithing. In 1894, Mosin became the head of the Sestroretsk arms factory.

Cartridges for Mosin carbine

The cartridge was created by the Russian designer Veltishchev by analogy with the French cartridge from the Lebel rifle, caliber 8x56 mm R. It used:

1. blunt-pointed jacket bullets;
2. smokeless powder charge;
3. a sleeve with a protruding bottle-shaped rim.

The mechanism of a sleeve with a rim, which is already outdated, was adopted due to the low level of development of Russian industry - the applied tolerances in this case are less strict.

Adoption of the Mosin rifle into service

Weapons of the 1891 model (caliber 7.62)wasacceptedfor service in three versions (in fact, they were distinguished only by the barrel length):

1. Infantry rifle - the longest bayonet and barrel.

2. Dragoon (cavalry) rifle - the barrel length is shorter, and the method of attaching the belt has been changed.

3. Cossack rifle – there was no bayonet and a shorter barrel.

The bayonet for the rifle was adopted from a model that was already slightly outdated by that time - tetrahedral needle-shaped, with a tubular coupling attached to the barrel. The bayonet had a square cross-section with small fullers on the sides; when disassembling the weapon, the tip, sharpened to a plane, could be used as a screwdriver.

The main drawback of the system, which was corrected only in 1938, was that the bayonet had to always be worn in a combat position, attached to the rifle; disassembly was not intended. "Three-line" guns (except for the Cossack one) were aimed with a fixed bayonet. If the bayonet was disassembled and removed, the balance of the weapon was upset - the bullets flew past the target. In addition, over time, the fastenings of the bayonets led to loosening, and shooting accuracy deteriorated.

Early weapons were distinguished by the absence of barrel linings, as well as by a barrel that was open at the top along its entire length. Since 1894, wooden top pads have been used to protect the shooter’s hands from burns. At the time the weapons were put into service, Russian enterprises could not yet begin producing new rifles, so the initial order was placed in France, in the city of Chatellerault.

Only in 1893-94 the rifle went into mass production at the Sestroretsk arms factory near St. Petersburg, and a little later - in Izhevsk and Tula. During the First World War, rifles had to be ordered from the United States to make up for front-line losses.

Technical characteristics of the Mosin rifle

Mosin rifle model 1891/1930. is a bolt action repeating rifle with a twist lock.

Specifications:

• Caliber - 7.62 mm
• Total weight without cartridges with bayonet - 4.5 kg
• The total length without bayonet is 114 cm
• Total length with bayonet is 166 cm
• The shape of the rifling is rectangular
• Number of grooves - 4
• Magazine capacity - 5 rounds
• The weight of the clip including cartridges is 122-132 g.

Shooting can be carried out with standard cartridges with heavy and light bullets, as well as with incendiary, tracer and armor-piercing bullets.

Device

The operation scheme of the Mosin rifle is based on the following design solutions:

1. The barrel is locked onto two lugs by a longitudinally sliding rotary bolt behind the receiver. The stops are located in the front part of the bolt; when locked, they are located in a horizontal plane.
2. The firing pin is cocked, as well as cocked, when the bolt is opened.
3. The shutter mechanism is simple in design. The reloading handle is located in the middle of the bolt.
4. Instead of a fuse, a trigger head (striker) is used, located behind the bolt.
5. The bolt is easily removed from the receiver without tools.
6. The magazine is box-shaped, with a single-row arrangement of cartridges, integral. Due to the fact that the lower cover of the magazine is hinged, cleaning the magazine and quick unloading is simplified. The magazine is loaded with one cartridge at a time when the bolt is open through the upper window of the receiver or from plate clips for 5 rounds.
7. Due to the peculiarities of the magazine, the design has a special part - a cut-off, which blocks the second and lower cartridges in the magazine when the upper one is fed into the barrel.
8. The mechanism involves turning off the cutoff if the bolt is completely closed, this makes it possible for the next cartridge to rise to the feed line.

Disassembling the rifle due to its manufacturability was not difficult.

The sniper rifle was adopted by the Red Army in 1931. Only the best fighters who had undergone special training were allowed to shoot from it.

The Mosin sniper rifle is perfect for precision shots at long-range single targets. Firing accuracy with an optical sight was ensured at a range of 100-1300 meters. However, due to the optical sight, it was impossible to design the rifle for loading with a clip—you had to insert one cartridge at a time.

The visibility was acceptable, the scope provided 3.5x magnification. Accuracy was ensured with the help of an aiming stump, as well as an aiming thread perpendicular to it.

The bolt handle was modernized; it was lengthened and bent down so that when reloading the bolt handle would not rest against the sight. For this reason, the rifle was loaded only with single cartridges, since the clip could no longer be inserted into the grooves. The rifle also has mounts for optical sights. Trigger sensitivity was reduced from 2.4 to 2 kg. The sniper rifle did not provide for the use of a bayonet. Its trunk narrowed at the exit cut by 2-3% (the so-called “choke”). The bullet in such a barrel was better centered and the bullet was “spitted out” rather than ejected.

Rifle specifications:

• caliber 7.62 mm;
• weight 4.27 kg;
• initial bullet speed 865 m/s;
• length 1230 mm;
• magazine capacity 5 rounds;
• sighting range 1300-2000 m;
• rate of fire 10 rounds per minute;
• manual loading type.

Sight characteristics:

• magnification 3.5x;
• exit pupil diameter 6 mm;
• field of view 4° 30′;
• the exit pupil distance from the surface of the eyepiece lens is 72 mm;
• resolving power 17″;
• sight length 169 mm;
• sight weight 0.270 kg.

Advantages and disadvantages of the rifle

For decades, the Mosin rifle was praised by Soviet propaganda as the best weapon, superior to other examples of its class. But it must be admitted that she was not ideal in all respects.

Advantages of the rifle:

1. cheap and easy to manufacture and maintain;
2. accessible to poorly trained and illiterate soldiers;
3. durable and reliable;
4. had good ballistic qualities for its time.

Disadvantages of the rifle:

1. a bayonet of an outdated design, permanently attached to the rifle;
2. the horizontal bolt handle was not very convenient when reloading and carrying weapons;
3. the bolt handle is located far from the neck of the butt - this contributed to the confusion of the sight and slowed down reloading.

In general, the Mosin rifle is a typical example of the Russian weapon idea, when ergonomics and ease of use were sacrificed for ease of use and production, reliability and low cost.

Video about the Mosin rifle

Shooting from a Mosin sniper rifle

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The “Three Line”, or Mosin rifle, was created and put into service in 1891. It combined outdated technologies and modern scientific solutions. This made it possible to create weapons that proved themselves worthy on the battlefields of several world wars.

Mosin sniper rifle (photo)

The Mosin Sniper Rifle, due to its technical characteristics, was used for many decades, and the army of the Soviet Union abandoned it in the 60s of the 20th century, replacing it with the SVD.

During its operation, a number of upgrades were made, but still the Mosinka sniper remained a reliable weapon, capable of confidently hitting the enemy at a distance of up to 1 kilometer.

History of creation

It is worth noting that Tsarist Russia in the 19th century did not produce weapons of its own design and foreign weapons were assembled at factories under purchased licenses. However, attempts to develop and adopt a domestic rifle took place, and gunsmiths offered their projects to army officials for consideration.

Among them there were exotic samples that had several barrels and a drum loading system, in the manner of revolvers. But despite such a flow, the command refused, arguing that the presented options did not meet the criteria. In particular, in terms of the reliability and accuracy of guided fire.

This went on for quite a long time and it seemed that foreign dominance in the arms market in Russia would never end. The situation was disrupted by an event that came from a completely unexpected direction.

The famous scientist and chemist Mendeleev in 1891, after several years of experiments, discovered the formula for pyrocollodium smokeless gunpowder. This chemical composition had more power than simple gunpowder and at the same time cost several times less.

Another factor was the creation of a new type of cartridge, which used a newly discovered chemical composition. Veltishchev designed this ammunition, taking as a basis the French cartridge for the Lebel gun.

Simultaneously with the advent of the three-line cartridge, technical innovations began to appear, marking the beginning of a new era of weapons - the era of repeating rifles. The advent of store-bought food had a positive effect on the rate of fire of rifles, and the armies of the world began to introduce new models into infantry and cavalry units. The Russian Empire was no exception.

The generals of those times faced a difficult choice. On the one hand, the license for the production of the Nagant rifle had already been paid for, on the other hand, the first sample of a completely domestic weapon appeared, a rifle created by Captain Mosin chambered for 7.62 caliber. A series of field tests were ordered to make a final decision.

caliber of Mosin rifle cartridges

After all the checks and tests, the commission made a number of conclusions about both presented samples. In particular, the Belgian Nagan had better characteristics in terms of accuracy and rate of fire, but experienced problems in conditions of increased pollution. Another drawback was the indecently large number of misfires (almost 2 times more than that of the Mosinka).

The positive aspects of the Mosin rifle were: high reliability and simplicity of the mechanism, a low number of failures and ease of production. As a result, it was decided to adopt the “three-line”, but with a magazine from a Nagant rifle.

Mass production of the rifle did not start immediately, but several years after the events described above. The reason was the low industrialization of Tsarist Russia and the long process of establishing technological lines.

Cartridges for "Three-line"

Simultaneously with the adoption of the Mosin rifle, the production of new ammunition began. The cartridge for the three-ruler consisted of 3 parts:

• blunt-pointed bullet enclosed in a jacket:
• smokeless powder propellant charge;
• a bottle-shaped cartridge case with a pronounced rim (the rim was necessary to facilitate the transition to the production of new ammunition for cartridge factories).

The caliber of the three-line cartridge was 7.62 mm or three lines, according to the measurement system adopted at that time. For this, the rifle received its nickname in the infantry units - “three-line”.

Modifications

Mosin's "Three Line" was adopted, the technical characteristics of which differed in 3 modifications, for different branches of the military. Basically, barrel length:

• option for infantry. Long bayonet and barrel;
• cavalry variation had a shortened barrel and a different principle of fastening the belt;
• Cossack version was not equipped with a bayonet and had the shortest barrel length.

The bayonet that was supplied with the rifle had a tetrahedral shape, was attached using a pipe-shaped coupling, and the tip had a horizontal sharpening. This design feature was considered obsolete.

An interesting fact about this bayonet was that it was used as a screwdriver when disassembling a gun. For this purpose, a tip of this shape was provided.

During combat operation, another unpleasant fact was revealed. The bayonet could not be removed, and the weapon was always carried in a combat position. When the gun was unlocked, the balance and shooting accuracy were disrupted. The deficiency was corrected during modernization, already in 1930.

A little about the places of production

The industry of the Russian Empire at the time of 1891 did not make it possible to establish full-fledged production of the “three-line”. Therefore, the first batches of new weapons were ordered from the French Chatellerault.

Later, in 1894, the production of “mosinki” began at domestic arms factories. First at the Sestroretsk arms factory near St. Petersburg (it was led by Mosin himself), and then in Tula and Izhevsk.

During the First World War, Russian industry could not cover the needs of the army. The rifles were ordered from the USA and delivered by sea.

After 1917, a large number of guns that were never sent to Russia remained in warehouses in the United States. Later they were used to train recruits or sold to other countries.

1891 design

The Mosin rifle is a five-shot weapon with a rifled barrel and manual reloading. To fire, the barrel is locked with a bolt that has 2 stops located at different points. One in the front, the other in the horizontal plane. It is in the bolt that the mainspring and a simple firing pin are located.

To reload the rifle after firing, you had to do these steps:

• move the reloading handle to the rearmost position;
• remove the sleeve;
• move the reloader to its original position;
• remove the cartridge from the magazine and lock it in the barrel.

The receiver had manufacturer's markings.

Unlike modern rifles, the Mosinka had an integral box-type magazine. It housed 5 cartridges in one row.

Reloading occurred by inserting a cartridge through a specially designed window, accessible when the bolt was open. If necessary, the magazine was opened from below and all ammunition was removed.

The design of the magazine includes a cut-off reflector, which blocked the supply of cartridges when the bolt was open.

The stock is made of wood, usually birch. In addition, there are wooden linings on the barrel, which prevent burns to the shooter’s hands. Initially, the barrel was “naked” and soldiers were often injured because of this.

Sights are open type. Later, during the First Pestilence, they began to install optical sights, captured or domestic. Optics were extremely expensive and snipers were equipped with them.

When talking about snipers, I would like to note the sniper modification of the rifle released during the Great Patriotic War. More advanced technologies were used to produce such guns. In particular, a different metal alloy, chrome plating and a vertical method of cutting the barrel. Such rifles were marked “CH”.

The model showed the best parameters of range and firing accuracy. An optical "PU" - "Short Sight" - was used as a standard sight. By the way, such a sight was installed on anti-tank rifles - its resistance to damage was incredible.

There was also a not entirely successful modification of the “three-ruler”. It was called the Mosin carbine of 1907 and was characterized by low efficiency at long distances, poor design of the mechanism, a number of negative design decisions and unsatisfactory performance characteristics of the three-line.

Mosin rifles are produced in a number of countries and are actively sold from military warehouses.

this year the gun became the best-selling gun in the United States

According to a number of services, the gun became the best-selling gun in the United States in 2012. It is used for sport shooting or for hunting large game.

Technical characteristics of the Mosin rifle (TTX)

The Mosin rifle has the following dimensions and tactical and technical parameters:

• Weapon weight 4.5 kg;
• Length without bayonet 130 cm;
• Length with attached bayonet 173 cm;
• Barrel length 51 - 80 cm;
• Caliber 7.62 mm or 3 lines by the standards of Imperial Russia;
• Type of cartridges used: 7.62*54;
• Rate of fire 55 rounds per minute;
• The bullet starts at a flight speed of 870 m/s;
• Sighting range with optics is 2 km.
• The destructive power of the Mosin rifle is 3000 m.

Advantages and disadvantages

The technical characteristics of the Mosin rifle have a number of positive and negative parameters.

Positive sides

• excellent ballistics;
• high cartridge power;
• long life of the barrel and bolt;
• manufacturability of production;
• low maintenance requirements;
• trouble-free operation in highly polluted conditions;
• ease of disassembly;
• high rate of fire.

Negative sides

• cartridge with a rim, outdated design;
• the presence of a “capricious” delay cut-off device;
• horizontal shutter stops;
• difficulty in equipping ammunition;
• sharp trigger pull.

Mosin rifle 1891/30 - aka “Mosinka”, “Russian 3-line”, “Three-line”. A non-automatic rifle with a non-removable magazine feed for 5 rounds of 7.62x54 mm, adopted by the Imperial Russian Army in 1891. Official name " 7.62 mm Mosin rifle mod. 1891"received in 1924. " Three-ruler“The rifle was nicknamed for the caliber of the barrel; previously, calibers were usually measured using lines. One line was equal to one tenth of an inch (1 inch equals 2.54 cm), hence 2.54 x 3 = 7.62 mm.

Mosin rifle was not the first magazine-fed rifle. So in the USA, during the Civil War in the 19th century and military operations against the Indians, Spencer rifles with a magazine located in the butt were used. The Henry rifle had an under-barrel magazine. In 1877-1878, during the Russian-Turkish War, a Russian soldier had to experience the hard way of the advantage of multi-shot rifles with a rifled barrel. These rifles were Winchester rifles with under-barrel magazines.

Rifles of that time with under-barrel or butt-mounted magazines had a number of disadvantages. As a rule, they used insufficiently powerful pistol cartridges with a blunt bullet; to increase safety, they had to use cartridges with rim-ignition powder, since cartridges with a centrally located cartridge led to the cartridge being fired in front of the cartridge during operation. Rimfire cartridges often misfired. Firing pistol cartridges was significantly inferior to the efficiency of shooting rifle cartridges. So the pistol cartridge could not penetrate many types of fortifications, did not have sufficient accuracy, and had a short sighting range. The problem with rifles of that time was still the price, since in the 19th century there were no weapons factories that could produce firearms in an assembly line manner, for this reason magazine-fed rifles were quite rare and expensive. Like all first-generation models, they had problems with reliability and maintenance.

In 1879, James Paris Lee patented the in-line store layout. The first rifle with a safe in-line arrangement of cartridges in the magazine was the Mannlicher rifle of the 1886 model. In 1889, they solved the problem of quickly loading rifles with in-line cartridges using special clips. The clips significantly speeded up the reloading of weapons during combat, which increased the weapon's combat rate of fire.
In Tsarist Russia in 1882, the Main Artillery Directorate gave instructions for the development of a multi-shot rifle. In 1883, the definition of “rifle” appeared in Russia; previously, any long-barreled hand weapon was called “gun,” that is, there was no difference between smooth-bore and rifled weapons. The first rifles for the Tsarist Army wanted to be chambered for the 4.2-line cartridge. More than 150 domestic and foreign rifles were reviewed. During the competition, the good performance characteristics of the S.I. Mosin rifle of the 1887 model were noted, but nevertheless it was decided to abandon it, since it was magazine-fed. The disadvantage of such loading was described above in the article.
Also in Russia, rifles with a smaller caliber (7-8 mm) began to be tested. So in 1885, Colonel Rogovtsev created a 3.15-linear (8 mm) cartridge using “Beradnovsky” cartridges as a basis. Rogovtsev’s cartridges were distinguished by an increased content of nitrate and bullets with copper jackets, which significantly increased the life of the barrels and compression when fired, and the 13.6 gram bullet accelerated to 550 meters, which gave the cartridge a force of 2057 J.

Military masters of repeating rifles in Tsarist Russia were faced with the conservative views of the military, who began to argue that there was no need for such rifles, that such rifles needed a lot of “gluttonous” ammunition. There was no war with the massive use of repeating rifles. They also understood that re-equipping with a new rifle would require a lot of financial resources. In addition to conservatism, the appearance of new rifles and the rapid obsolescence of rifles, which a couple of years ago were considered as the main rifle for the Tsarist Army, played a factor. At the same time, a revolution occurred in ammunition, when black powder was replaced by smokeless gunpowder, which significantly increased the performance characteristics of weapons.
In 1888, the Tsarist Army received Austrian 8-mm Mannlicher rifles and Danish Krag Jorgensen rifles. During testing, it turned out that the rifles had good accuracy, but low bullet speed (508-530 m/s), since black powder was used for firing. Also, the shutter mechanisms did not meet the requirements.
In 1889, the famous chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev had a hand in creating domestic smokeless gunpowder. In the same year N.F. Rogovev created a 3-line cartridge with a cupronickel silver bullet; a high-quality capsule for cartridges was made only in 1890. At the same time, it was decided to adopt cartridges with a rim at the bottom of the cartridge case. At this stage of development, the 3-linear cartridge was not fully adopted, so a 6.5 mm cartridge would soon be developed.

In 1889 S.I. Mosin presented his 7.62 mm rifle with a stack-loading magazine, like the Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher rifle, but it required improvement. At the end of the same year, the Belgian Leon Nagant (yes, the same designer of the Nagant revolver) presented to the military commission 3 variants of 8 mm repeating rifles. Leon Nagant rifles were well appreciated for their successful magazine design and the ability to load with a clip, but shortcomings were noted that required improvement. In 1890, the Nagant rifle received 14 positive votes against 10 negative votes at the first introductory competition. In essence, the Nagant and Mosin rifles were structurally similar, but the Nagant rifle had an advantage in the quality of finishing, as it was manufactured on high-quality machines, unlike the Mosin prototype. But at the second stage of field testing, when 300 were tested Mosin rifles and 300 Nagant rifles, Mosin rifles turned out to be more reliable: 217 delays of cartridges from the magazine, versus 557 for Nagant rifles. In 1891 the commission decided to choose Mosin rifle, since the production of rifles was planned in Russia (technical independence), and not abroad, plus this significantly saved budget money. The commission gave instructions for refining the rifle and then putting it into service. For revision Mosin rifles It was recommended to take a clip for charging, a spring for the magazine and a reflector for spent cartridges. So to some extent it was fair to call the rifle Mosin-Nagant. But they abandoned the name Nagan by renaming it “Russian 3-line rifle of the 1891 model.” On April 16, 1891, Emperor Alexander III decided to remove the “Russian” from the name and adopted it for service as a “three-line rifle of the 1981 model.” For the development of the rifle, Mosin was awarded the Grand Mikhailov Prize. In 1924, the Soviet government decided to add Mosin's surname to the name of the rifle, as a tradition of naming weapons in honor of the main designers. Although in foreign sources on weapons topics, the names of the main weapon designers are often written: the Mosin-Nagant rifle, the Tokarev-Colt pistol, the Makarov-Walter pistol, etc.

During the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923 and in criminal circles, the Mosin rifle was “circumcised” and a kind of pistol chambered for a rifle cartridge was obtained. Often such a sawn-off shotgun was called a “kulak sawn-off shotgun.”

In 1892 Mosin rifle began to be produced at three weapons factories at once: Sestroretsk, Izhevsk, Tula. Since the production capacity of these factories was not enough. To speed up the armament of the army, Tsarist Russia decided to place an order for 0.5 million rifles in France at the plant in the city of Chatellerault. The following year, the Mosin rifle was used for its intended purpose for the first time in the Pamirs against the Afghans.
As you use it Mosin rifles improvements began to be made to it. In 1893, to protect the hands of soldiers from burns to the barrel, they began to put a wooden cover on it. In 1896, the rifle began to be equipped with a longer cleaning rod, with a head larger than the diameter of the barrel, so that it would not fall into the barrel. Then they removed the notches on the sides of the magazine so that they would not rub off the soldiers’ uniforms.
By the end of 1897, the Russian army received more than 500 rifles, thereby completing the first stage of rearmament. Before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, 3.8 million “three-line” rifles were manufactured for the Tsarist Army.
In 1908, cartridges with a pointed bullet began to be used for rifle shooting; before that, the bullet had an oval head, like pistol cartridges. With the advent of the new cartridge, Konovalov sights with ballistics for the new cartridge began to be installed on rifles. The new cartridge weighed 22.55 grams - bullet weight 9.7 grams, had an initial speed of 850 m/s from a Cossack rifle and 880 m/s.
By the beginning of WWI, 4.52 million “ three-ruler" During WWII, another 3.3 million rifles were manufactured for the army. Mosin rifle was manufactured in four versions: dragoon, infantry, Cossack, carbine. Even with this number of rifles, the army continued to experience a shortage of rifles and the government purchased various variants of rifles from other countries. During the Russian Civil War, only infantry and dragoon versions of the rifle were produced. After 1922, a dragoon version and a carbine of the 1907 model were produced.

After WWII and the Civil War, the Soviet government resolved the issue of modernization Mosin rifles or abandonment of it due to the rapid obsolescence of repeating rifles and the desire to arm the army with self-loading rifles. In 1924, the military commission decided to modernize the dragoon version of the rifle as a more convenient option. The new rifle received the GAU index -56-B-222. The rifle began to be widely used at OSOAVIAKHIM for training shooting for the “Voroshilov shooters”. In 1928, Soviet industry mastered its own production of optical sights for Mosin rifles: PE, PU. In 1923, military factories began to produce a sniper version of the Mosin rifle (index GAU-56-V-222A). The sniper version was distinguished by improved barrel quality, selection of barrels with better accuracy, and a bolt handle curved down, since the optical sight did not allow the use of the classic bolt version, for this reason the Mosin sniper rifle was loaded one cartridge at a time. The quality of the barrel, which had a check, was different. 108,345 Mosin sniper rifles were produced. Let's move a little away from the topic, but 120,000 PE sights were manufactured, 500,000 PU sights.
In 1938 it was adopted Mosin carbine, representing Mosin carbine 1905 - with the barrel removed by 5 mm with a sight of 1000 meters. As a rule, such a carbine was armed with fighters who needed a compact and lightweight self-defense weapon: cavalry, signal troops, artillerymen, sappers.

In 1938, the Tokarev-SVT Self-Loading Rifle was adopted by the Red Army, which was supposed to replace Mosin rifle. The military departments planned to supply 1.8 million SVT rifles to the army in 1941, and 2 million SVT rifles in 1942; in fact, by the beginning of the war, about 1 million SVT rifles were manufactured. But during the war Mosin rifle became the small arms of the Red Army fighters, so the factories could not quickly produce more complex automatic weapons in large quantities (machine guns, automatic rifles, submachine guns). Per share Mosin rifles accounted for half of the small arms that participated during the Second World War. Production Mosin rifles was stopped at the beginning of 1945, when the outcome of the war was decided, and the weapons accumulated in warehouses were sufficient. The Mosin carbine of the 1944 model was produced until 1949. Latest upgrade Mosin rifles occurred in 1944: the bayonet was made folding.

Automation

The rifle barrel has 4 grooves. The distance between the grooves ranges from 7.62 to 7.66 mm. The magazine has a springy bottom and holds 5 cartridges in one row, so that one cartridge runs over the edge of the bottom onto the body of the previous cartridge, so that the edges do not overlap. One cartridge was immediately fed into the chamber when the bolt was closed. The rifle could be unloaded by jerking the bolt or opening the bottom of the magazine. When the bolt moved back, the striker spring was cocked; when the bolt moved forward, the cartridge was captured and fed into the chamber. After the shot, the cartridge case was pulled out and flew to the side with the help of a spring reflector. The trigger assembly consists of a trigger, which releases the movement of the combat cylinder, which is pushed by a spring. The trigger travel is quite tight and the shot occurs without conscious warning. The stock stock was made of birch or walnut wood. The cartridges in the magazine are cut off using a reflector, one cartridge at a time. Mosin rifle has an open sight rail in steps (arshins) on rifles produced before 1930, later replaced by a sight in meters with an aiming range of 2000 meters in 50 meter increments manufactured under Soviet rule. A sighting bar at 2000 meters does not imply shooting at such a distance, since a person at 800-1000 meters is not able to see a human figure against the background of buildings or bushes.
The bayonet is one of the elements " three-ruler"which served for use during hand-to-hand combat. Also, the bayonet had to always be attached to the rifle during shooting, and its removal was only provided for on the march or when moving in transport. The use and sighting of the rifle always had to take place with an attached bayonet; in its absence, the aiming line shifted significantly and at long distances it became difficult to hit the target.
Mosin rifle has “great” accuracy for a weapon that was mass-produced. So at a distance of 100 meters the deviation is no more than 3 cm (SVD-10 cm rifle), at 1000 meters - 33 cm, and at 2000 meters - 170 meters.

Advantages of the Mosin rifle:

• Price and own production
• Penetration ability of cartridges
• Long barrel resource
• Reliability and reliability in any climatic conditions
• Excellent accuracy at different distances
• Durable stock and stock
• Fast charging using a clip
• Quick Release Shutter
• Removable bolt cylinder, which can be replaced separately without replacing the bolt
• Didn’t spoil the cartridge when feeding it into the barrel

Disadvantages of the Mosin rifle:

• An outdated cartridge with a rim, although a very controversial point, since the cartridge is widely used even now and there are no plans to abandon it
• An obsolete bayonet that was supposed to be fixed during shooting. The second point is that with a fixed bayonet, a fighter greatly lost mobility while moving through the trenches or fighting in urban conditions.
• Low rate of fire
• Lack of standard space for a bracket for an optical sight
• Lack of muzzle brake-compensator
• The magazine holds only 5 rounds; it could be increased to 10 rounds or upgraded to use magazines of various capacities.

Just the quantity produced Mosin rifles 37 million pieces speaks of its popularity and reliability. The rifle is/was in service with many countries around the world, and is/was produced by several countries. On the base Mosin rifles modern sniper rifles with excellent performance characteristics were created. In the post-war years, 32-caliber smoothbore shotguns, nicknamed “Frolovkas,” began to be made from rifles. Also based on the Mosin rifle, sporting versions chambered for the 6.5 mm cartridge were made. Number of shots