"Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name, give glory, for the sake of Thy mercy, for the sake of Thy truth."
(Psalm 113: 9)
S. I. shutter Mosin was really very different from L. Nagant's bolt, first of all, in that it could be disassembled without a screwdriver. The Nagant bolt consisted of fewer parts, was simpler, but to disassemble it, two screws had to be unscrewed. Now imagine our "plow soldiers", every day tightening and untwisting these screws. What are they going to turn these screws into very soon? Not to mention, they can be easily dropped and lost. Now it is clear why the members of the commission so insisted on Mosin's shutter? It was a technical device made by a man who knew his soldiers!
In the magazine of the weapons department of the Artkom GAU dated March 20, 1891, the test results are detailed. Both rifles, as noted, had disadvantages. At the same time, 14 members of the Commission preferred the Nagant rifle, and 10 - the Mosin rifle. After tests V. L. Chebyshev wrote his own, as they said then, "separate" opinion, arguing that the reason for the large number of misfires in Mosin's guns (499 - versus 123 for Nagan) was not because Mosin's guns were worse constructively, but because Nagan's guns were better made. And that was true. And Chichagov, and the officer of the permanent staff of the Officer Rifle School sent to Liege to receive rifles, captain of the Life Guards of the Lithuanian Regiment I. I. Kholodovsky also reported on the exquisite, even "dapper" quality of the Nagant rifles made there.
Then it was decided to accept the "box-shaped pack of the Nagant system in view of the preference given to it by the troops and the convenience of packing the packs themselves." The general conclusion of the Armory Department was as follows: “… both batch systems operated in the experiments all the time in general satisfactorily, and in this respect it would be difficult to give preference to one system over the other. As it turned out from the examination of the samples themselves, the explanations of those familiar with the factory production of weapons, the pack guns of the foreigner Nagan, in comparison with the same captain Mosin, represent a more complicated mechanism to manufacture”[9]. Everything! The last remark was exactly the straw that "broke the back of the camel." From time immemorial, the Russian military strove for a weapon that “was a mechanism that was simpler to manufacture”, even, perhaps, in something worse, but most importantly - simple, and simple is also definitely … cheap!
The bolt to the Mosin rifle.
At the beginning of April, additional firing was carried out from three Mosin guns, corrected according to the test results, two guns were with a Nagant clip, and one with a Mosin clip. The weapons department concluded: “The gun, adapted to the clip of the foreigner Nagant, contains all the changes designed to eliminate the shortcomings. This gun can serve as a guide for the manufacture of reference guns at the Imperial Tula Factory, if the pack gun of the Captain Mosin model is awarded the Highest approval”[10]. That is, the question of authorship (since Nagan did not insist on it!) Was practically removed from the agenda, removed automatically. And now everything was decided exclusively at the financial level. If Nagan insisted on the rights of authorship, then … his name would be included in the number of authors unconditionally! But the name Mosin WOULD ALSO BE INCLUDED THEN, both in defiance of the same Nagan, and taking into account the contribution of our designer to the creation of the rifle. And then it would be called Mosin-Nagan in the order of the letters of the Russian alphabet. But Nagan did not demand this, which, in fact, depersonalized the new sample, since it was incorrect to call it the "Mosin rifle" without mentioning the name of Nagan! At the same time, what about Lebel's barrel? Yes, the direction of the grooves in it was changed by 180 degrees, but all its other characteristics remained the same. And what, then, if we remember the same Lee-Metford?
Nevertheless, as early as April 9, 1891, i.e. seven days before the actual Supreme approval, the Commission still called the rifle "Mosin system with a Nagant clip."
In the draft order for the adoption of the aforementioned rifle into service with the Russian imperial army, it was proposed to approve "the model of a new packaged rifle of reduced caliber and a cartridge for it, proposed by the guards artillery by Captain Mosin, designed by the commission for the development of a small-caliber rifle, as well as a pack clip for cartridges proposed by a foreigner Nagant." This is how the wording of this project sounded, submitted to the tsar for his consideration.
But what, then, should this new model be called? It would be absurd to leave such a long title listing all its authors. And Minister of War Vannovsky was well aware that Mosin was far from the only author, therefore he imposed the following resolution: “The new model being manufactured contains parts proposed by Colonel Rogovtsev, the Commission of Lieutenant General Chagin, Captain Mosin and gunsmith Nagan, so it is advisable to give the developed sample the name "Russian 3-line rifle, model 1891" [10].
Cartridges for the M1891 rifle: on the left - experienced, on the right - serial.
But what about the word "Russian"? To be precise, then it’s Russian-Belgian, and if we remember that its barrel was essentially a copy of Lebel’s barrel, then there could be applicants for the inclusion of the word “French” in the name. And how, in this case, to call the rifles of the Berdan, Krnka, Krupp, Schneider systems, and later Madsen and others, adopted by the Russian army? As a result, the text of the order has changed. A completely impersonal version was proposed, in which the names of the creators of this sample of the rifle were not mentioned at all. That is, if Nagan himself does not insist on including his name in the name, then … and we will not talk about him.
Well, the tsar thought and gave the highest order to call the gun "3-line rifle model 1891" That is, he threw out the word "Russian", and not at all because he "was in awe of the West," but precisely because he was concerned about the reputation of Russia, and in order not to create quite possible unpleasant precedents for the future.
However, indeed, this rifle was the result of the work of many designers: the bolt was designed by S. I. Mosin, the method of loading and the clip - proposed the Nagant, the cartridge for it and the barrel - Colonel Rogovtsev and such commission members as Colonel Petrov and Staff Captain Savostyanov. It would be possible to give the rifle, as mentioned above, and a double name: Mosin-Nagana. But the name of a foreigner during the reign of Alexander III did not seem acceptable in the name of a weapon for the Russian army. Was it possible to give the rifle the name of Mosin alone? From our current point of view of modernity, of course, it is possible, since Mosin was officially recognized as the authorship of the main parts of the gun. But then the Commission and the GAU Weapons Department considered it impossible, since everyone knew that the captain was not the only author, because there were parts that S. I. Mosin borrowed from Nagan, and his gun itself, in the course of working on it and testing it, was improved in accordance with the instructions of the members of the Commission, that is, Mosin … was putting into practice not his own, but other people's ideas!
After the approval of the sample of the rifle, Nagan received an agreed prize of 200,000 rubles from the Russian government. But conditions were set for him: to transfer to the full and exclusive his, that is, the government, the ownership of all the privileges (patents) he had already taken on his gun and those that he could receive five (!) Years in advance: technological drawings of a rifle, technological equipment - templates, and all the tools necessary for its high-quality manufacturing: as well as information about all the tolerances and dimensions of the parts of his gun, as well as the types of steel used in it, and their cost, the method of barrel hardening used by Nagant, etc. In addition, he was required to come, if the case required it, to Russia together with his master for technological, so to speak, assistance in fabricating a new model. That is, speaking again in the language of modernity, Nagan was simply cheated, since all of the above should have been, according to all laws, both the divine and human subject of a SEPARATE DEAL! But, apparently, he was so tired of all this fuss with cunning … Russians - well, how else can I say, otherwise you can't say that he agreed to all these demands, just to get at least something for his labors.
M1891 rifle with accessories.
But the saving of public funds on the new rifle was continued. So, S. I. Mosin was awarded a prize of 30,000 rubles (although at first it was planned to give him 50,000), since his superiors considered that he had designed his rifle not at home, but at state-owned factories, and, of course, at public expense, and besides that he also received a salary. being released from their direct duties of performing service, which was very rarely practiced in those years. Then he was given the Great Mikhailovsky Prize (awarded once in five years "for the best composition or invention that improved artillery"). Further, by the Highest order of August 9, 1891, from the captains of the Guard, Mosin was transferred to the colonels of the army artillery; and in 1892 he was awarded the Order of St. Anne II degree. Finally, in 1894, he was appointed head of the Sestroretsk arms factory; and in addition he became an advisory member in the Artkom of GAU. That is, again based on the concepts of those years (and from a modern point of view!), A person made an excellent career, received a lucrative position, and then a major general.
But … he spent the rest of his life not only in labors, but also in upholstering the thresholds of the reception rooms of his superiors and writing letters to them. For example, a letter shortly before his death, on November 19, 1901, he wrote to the Minister of War A. N. Kuropatkin: “My rifle has been put into service, but 200 thousand rubles were given to a competitor only for his clip to my store, and I only 30 thousand for the project and construction of the entire gun, which was not even given the name of its inventor … The foregoing gives an idea of the degree of chagrin, felt by me from the consciousness that openly to everyone I was not recognized as the inventor of the rifle by either the authorities, or colleagues, or homeland, and to this and in monetary terms, the Nagant turned out to be rewarded more than me”[11]. That is, he could not rise above this money in any way, well, nothing at all! Someone was given more - oh, how, alas, in Russian !!! That is, the fact that Nagan was not paid for the technological support of production, for patterns, tools, rifle drawings, information on tolerances, finally, all patents, both current and for five years in advance, not a penny, he considered quite normal, what really - then is it a sin, because he is a foreigner? Money passed me by - this is an insult, and even the name was not mentioned in the title. Although he, after all, knew about the consideration by the Commission on March 9, 1891 of the claims arising from the rights of authorship and the decisions taken on them.
Mosin asked, if it is already impossible to give the rifle his name, then … at least equalize him in monetary reward with Nagan. A resolution was imposed on the letter: "His Excellency did not find it possible to raise the question of additional remuneration for this general." From this it is clear that they did not stand on ceremony with Mosin, although in the absence of even elementary design bureaus with trained personnel in Russia in those years, he withstood the competition with the advanced weapons technology of Western Europe in a very worthy way, and as the chairman of the Commission for the development of templates for new rifle, stood at the origins of its development at Russian arms factories. But … what did this have to do with his own rifle? That is, he wanted, alas, to live according to some clearly idealistic concepts, and not according to the harsh laws of life of that time. As a result, on January 29, 1902, S. I. Mosin was gone. He died at the age of only 52 from croupous pneumonia in the rank of major general, in full bloom of his creative powers and at the peak of his career, having managed, however, to do the main work of his life - to give the Russian army a new rifle, practically nothing inferior to foreign samples. And again in 1903, however, after his death, as an obvious recognition of his merits in Russia, the S. I. Mosin for achievements in creating new types of small arms [12]. This award still exists today …
Here is this document … (Archive of the Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. F.6.op. 59, file 5, sheet 6.)
Monument to S. I. Mosin in Sestroretsk.
P. S. It may very well be that the reason for this behavior was another financial story associated with his design activities. It is known that the French firm "Ricte" offered him a large sum of money - 600,000 francs, and after a refusal already 1,000,000 for his applied store, which was rejected in Russia. And Mosin … how they loved to write about this in the books of the Soviet era, "like a true patriot" he refused this money. Today it is difficult for us to understand the psychology of those people and the motives of their actions. However, let's think about it, is it "patriotism"? The fact is that his store, in fact, was not needed in Russia even then, the time for such stores has passed. And he, as his designer, should have understood this better than anyone else! And having sold it to the French (especially the French, who were looking for rapprochement with Russia after the defeat in 1871!), He would not have done any harm to his country. It is clear that, as an officer of the Russian imperial army, he could not only lower himself to the level of merchants and philistines, and conduct trade with a foreign company … in his personal interests. It was against class concepts. But … he could easily get money from her and, being a patriot and an officer, give it to the needs of military hospitals, establish scholarships for cadets of military schools, that is, to enrich his Motherland, while, as it turns out, he deprived it of this free money! And there is no doubt that there were already people who explained all this to him and opened their eyes to this act of his, indicating that he did not act very wisely, after which he already began, perhaps, to look at it differently and, of course, regretted that he did so. Tragic, in general, the story came out in the end, isn't it, and it remains only to regret that S. I. Mosin got into it.
Here it is, this Mosin rifle with a magazine in the butt, with which it all began!
Notes (continued)
9. Archive of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. F. 4. Op. 39/6. L. 34. (hereinafter - AVIMAIVVS)
10. Ilyina T. H. The fate of the rifle // Eagle No. 1, 1991 P.38.
11. Ilyina T. H. The fate of the rifle // Eagle No. 1, 1991 P.39.
12. AVIMAIVS. F. 6. Op. 59. D.5. L.6.
