Mosin-Nagant Rifles:

I came across reference to the J Stevens Arms Company and The New England Westinghouse Group - when I was thinking about the 'invention' & development of that SUPERB all round cartridge .. the .22" LONG RIFLE RIM-FIRE.

I then learned that the NEW ENGLAND WESTINGHOUSE (1.8 MILLION Rifles) and REMINGTON ARMS (1.5 MILLION Rifles) - were both contracted by the Imperial Russian Government to make Mosin-Nagant M1891 Rifles. (7.62x54mmR)

I didn't know that these had been made - to a small extent - in USA.

- Did you know that numbers of these rifles had been made in America? - I have seen them offered for sale quiet cheaply here but always dismissed them as being old Russian "clunkers - who needs them?" - well I have to say that there's a lot of it about eh ... ignorance that is - my ignorance here.

One Each from either US Maker Mosin-Nagant 'Three Line" Rifles.

It's History now - but the two Russian Revolutions of February and then October 1917 meant that these orders for American made Imperial Mosin-Nagants expired and no money got paid from the freshly organised 'soviets'.  - Both Remington & Westinghouse had to be bailed-out from financial collapse by the US Government - by them buying all those rifles the manufacturers were stuck with.

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The Mosin-Nagant '3 Line' M 1891 Rifle  Five rounds of 7.62x54mmR (Finnish rifles were in 7.62x53mmR) has the second longest production history of any rifle - more than 37 MILLION of them being made. (It seems that the British "Brown Bess" Musket was made for more years.)

If you add that Mosin-Nagant record of production longevity to the biggest quantity ever made record of Kalashnikov (AK-47 Types) of roughly 100 MILLION - the Russians might justifiably claim to have the biggest success in rifle design and production.

More than 64 nations - including USA, Great Britain, & Israel have used these Mosin-Nagants which share some design features with Mauser, Lee-Enfields, Mannlicher, Carcanos, & the Gewehr 88.

"3 Line" refers to .30" caliber (1 "line" = ¹⁄₁₀ in or 2.54 mm, - thus 3 lines = 7.62 mm). - this is based on the old Russian system of measurement .. standardized by Peter-The-Great.

 The Russian "cubit" was a standard distance from the elbow to the finger tip and called the 'ARSHIN' - it was something like our old 'yard' but measured around 2 foot four inches. - The Russian 'inch' was called a 'dyuim'. - a tenth of an inch was a 'liniya' (line). - and a 100th of an inch was a 'tochka' (point). - That's all fairly logical and straightforward .. before they went metric in 1925 eh.

.. At least the communists went Metric quiet early - SOME archaic countries STILL haven't modernized eh.

- These "old clunkers!" have made very successful sniper rifles and to this day are still widely used around the world.

Sporterized Mosin-Nagant Rifle.

If you'd like to have your eyes opened to the Mosin-Nagants - Wikipedia would be a great start:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosin%E2%80%93Nagant

The Finnish 7.62x 53mmR is interchangeable with the 'standard' 7.62x54mmR having very minor differences.

Marty K.

Rod says:

Hi Marty

The very first Mosin Nagant rifles were made by SIG in Switzerland to extremely high standards.  I owned one for a while but never shot it before I sold it.  SIG only made them until the Russians began their own production.  The US production was to help the Russians prepare for WW1 when their own factories couldn’t produce rifles fast enough.

Cheers

Rod