so last time we talked about the sks
today well talk about the gun the soviets used before that
the nagant rifle
ok ok youre already complaining
clammy its a mosin nagant named after sergei mosin blablsbls ok shh
i know
this gun has an interesting history with drama
so back in the 1800s
lol
yeah this is an old design guys
back in the 1800s there was a revolution in arms design
it started around the mid 1800s and went on for decades
exciting time
we got stuff like
metallic cartridges
repeating rifles and revolvers
telescopic sights
it was really cool
so in like the 1870s the russians got into a fight with the ottomans
the russians had a history of doing this back when there were ottomans
but there was a problem
the russians were using single shot berdan rifles
like its a single shot breech loader
drop the block and pop one round in
meanwhile the turks had some slickass winchester repeaters from america goin like
pew pew pew pew pew pew
and the russians were like geeeeeeez this sucks
so they put out specifications for a new rifle
the round it would shoot is the 7.62x54r
guys this is a pretty good round
its still in service to this day
one of the oldest military rounds still in service
its like 120 years old
its kinda tricky tho
you see that very wide base sticking out
thats the rim
most other rounds dont stick out like that because they feed better
but rimmed rounds were still a thing in the friggin 1890s
so the russians were like hey build something to shoot this round
and a few guys submitted their designs
the two important ones being russian army officer sergei mosin
and belgian weapons designer leon nagant
they sent in a couple iterations and the committee refined their specs and got new iterations from the designers
and there was some
shall we call it
borrowing in design elements
so best we can figure mosin put in an interrupter in his magazine so that the rim on the cartridge wouldnt get stuck on the next round and jam the rifle
since mosin was an army officer this became property of the russian government and a state secret
then nagant took that idea and fiddled with it and patented it
plus made a couple other improvements like a simpler magazine floorplate and a cool stripper clip
so in the end the committee liked mosins rifle and used the small tweaks from nagant
but nagant was pissed
he complained that he patented the interruptor system first and should get the whole prize money
meanwhile the russians were like uh bro you stole that from our guys prototype and spread state secrets
but nagant was a pretty good designer and one of the few independent guys who hadnt been snatched up by some other country and the russians didnt want to lose his business
so in the end they just gave him his money
gave mosin a promotion
and tsar nicholas iii himself finalized the name simply as
three line rifle model 1891
a line is a tenth of an inch
so it just meant thirty caliber
a lot of times they just called it the model 1891
nagant stopped being mad and went on to design the very interesting nagant 1895 revolver for russia
its unique
mayble ill talk about that next lol
anyway back to this gun
which ill just call the mosin now that i explained all that drama
the mosin is a five shot bolt action rifle
its in the same power as the 8mm mauser and the .30-06
which is to say itll kill most anything outside of africa
its a very very simple system
very few parts and very simple parts at that
its also exteemely strong
straight up abuse is not enough to defeat the mosin
the mosin laughs in your girly face
and you have to work it rough
hit it like a mail order bride lol
she likes it
that stock is extremely durable and has a lovely steel plate at the end in case you need to crush any skulls
the sights go to like friggin 2000 m
incidentally the mosin sights were directly carried over to the sks the ak and the svd
theyre pretty solid
the original rifle is super long
and the bayonet is like a foot and a half
its over six feet put together
guys its kinda ridiculous lol
so im just gonna talk about the main few variants
the main one is the model 1891/30
91/30 for short
its got a couple slight differences from the original 1891
its slightly shorter than the original
like by a couple inches
metric sights instead of premetric russian measurement in arshins
which was like one pace while marching
then in 1938 they made a shorter version
its only 40 inches long
and towards the end of wwii they created the model 1944
the big change was they added a side folding bayonet
this is very similar to the mechanism later put on the sks
those are the three main types
lots of countries made them
they each have their own peculiarities
there were also sniper versions
in fact the famous soviet and finnish snipers of wwii used mosins a lot
my personal favorite is the m38
its just the most practical
its shorter than the 91/30
and lighter than the m44
its compact but packs a punch
i might need to take out some feral hogs with that bad boy
ill let you know if i do lol
like the sks there are a lot of these is the us today
the market was flooded for a while and they were ridiculously cheap
guys i dunno if you know what a hipoint is
but i bought two mosins for the price of one hipoint
lol
so there is a large aftermarket for mosin accessories
new stocks sights bipods scope mounts
but again
overall id just recommend leaving it as is
it works just fine and is super simple and bombproof
if you want to hunt itll take out anything in north america
it has a lot of kick
the m38 even moreso
but its not super punishing so its fun to shoot a real rifle
the accuracy is probably adequate
some can be pretty good but you kinda have to work and research
others are arsenal refurbished and are mostly accurate enough to hit a body at range but nothing more
but this is the kind of rifle where a hit to the shoulder might still be disabling
a real cool thing about these is its almost guaranteed some commie soldier held it
maybe he even shot at nazis
or got his head blown off lol
holding that kinda history in your hands is really something
you look at the soviet crest stamped into it and see the big year it was made
1943
you know its seen some shit
that kind of direct connection to history isnt something you can find often anymore
if youre the kind of person who bathes in cosmoline
then the mosin is for you lol
pew pew
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