April 28 marks the 125th anniversary of the adoption by the Russian army of the "three-line rifle of the 1891 model" - a magazine rifle of 7.62 mm caliber designed by Sergei Mosin.
This small arms was widely used during the Russo-Japanese, World War I, Civil and World War II, for more than half a century it was in service with the Russian Empire and the USSR. Sniper versions of this rifle are still used today, including in the armed conflict in Syria.
The history of the creation of the "three-line"
Adopted by the Russian army in 1867-1870. rifles of the Hiram Berdan system ("Berdanks") of two types were single-shot - after a shot, the weapon had to be reloaded manually.
In 1882, the Main Artillery Directorate of the War Ministry of the Russian Empire set the task of developing a "repeating" (multiply charged) rifle. To conduct the corresponding competition, a "Commission for testing magazine guns" was created, which considered both fundamentally new systems and attempts to adapt a magazine for several cartridges to the Berdan system.
One of such projects in 1883 was proposed by the head of the tool workshop of the Tula arms factory, captain Sergei Mosin, but the commission eventually recognized the attempts to improve the "Berdanka" as futile.
In 1883-1889. various rifle systems were considered. In 1889, Sergei Mosin proposed for the competition a new 7.62 mm rifle (in the old measures of length - three Russian lines, hence the name "three-line").
In the same year, the commission received a tender offer from the Belgian Leon Nagant - an 8 mm rifle. The organizers of the competition developed a technical task, proposing to Mosin and Nagan to modify their systems to meet the established requirements.
Based on the results of comparative tests of the samples obtained in 1891, the commission chose Mosin's "three-line", deciding, however, to significantly change and supplement the design - including elements borrowed from Leon Nagant, who sold the Russian side patents, drawings and patterns for his competitive rifle.
In addition, changes were made to the design proposed by members of the commission - Colonel Petrov and Staff Captain Savosyanov, as well as Colonel Rogovtsev, who developed a "three-line" blunt-pointed cartridge with smokeless powder.
Adoption
Echelon with the Red Army goes to the front, 1918
© Photo chronicle TASS
On April 28 (April 16, old style), 1891, by the decree of Emperor Alexander III, a "three-line rifle of the 1891 model of the year" was adopted by the Russian army. Since a group of specialists was responsible for the development, it was considered incorrect to fix only one surname in the name of the rifle.
Sergei Mosin was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the II degree and the Great Mikhailovsky Prize "for outstanding developments in the artillery and rifle unit"; he retained the copyright for the elements of the developed weapon.
Only after the modernization of 1930 it will become known as the "Mosin three-line rifle, model 1891/1930." In Western sources, a variant of the name "Mosin-Nagant rifle" is also widespread.
Characteristics of the "three-line" sample of 1891:
-length: 1 thousand 306 mm (with a bayonet - 1 thousand 738 mm, barrel - 800 mm)
- weight without bayonet: 4 kg
-magazine capacity: 5 rounds
- bullet speed: 640 m / sec. (blunt-pointed, heavy), up to 880 m / sec.(pointed lung)
- bullet energy: up to 3 thousand 800 joules
- combat rate of fire: 10 rounds per minute
- aiming range: 1 thousand 920 m
Rifle advantages:
- ease of maintenance and use
-high power
-precision and reliability (in comparison with other small arms of those years)
Disadvantages of the rifle:
-large dimensions
-slower loading shutter handle
-inconvenient fuse
Release and combat use
The production of the "three-line" was started in 1892-1893. at the Tula, Izhevsk and Sestroretsk arms factories. Initially, infantry and cavalry (with a shortened barrel) versions were produced, in 1907 a short-barreled carbine was added to them.
According to various sources, for the first time the Russian military used the "three-line" in combat conditions:
-in 1893, when the expeditionary detachment collided with the Afghans in the Pamirs
-in 1898, when repelling an attack by Islamists on the garrison in Andijan
-in 1900, during the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in China
By the time the Russian Empire entered the First World War, the Russian army was armed with 4 million 519 thousand 700 "three-lines", and a small part of them were produced in the United States.
After the war, production continued in the USSR, Finland, Poland, etc. produced their modernized versions. In different years, Mosin rifles were in service with about 30 countries. In Belarus, the "three-line" was officially removed from service only in 2005. Mosin carbines can be used in the FSUE "Okhrana" system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
Modifications
Keeper of the weapons fund Roman Sheparev demonstrates the "three-line"
© Yuri Mashkov / TASS
In the course of modernization, the rifle acquired a wooden pad to protect the shooter's hands.
In 1910, a version of the "three-ruler" was developed for a cartridge with a pointed bullet (the aiming range of fire increased to 2 thousand 276 m).
In 1930, the sighting devices and the method of fastening the bayonet were changed, a new clip was used.
A sniper version with an optical sight appeared (1932), a modified carbine (1938).
Rifle sample 1891/1930 was produced until January 1944 (according to other sources - until the beginning of 1945), the carbine of the 1944 model - until the adoption of the Kalashnikov assault rifle in the USSR in 1949.
In 1959, the Izhevsk plant produced a batch of carbines for the needs of non-departmental security, and in the USSR, the production of many civil and sports rifle modifications was launched, some of which are still being produced in the Russian Federation.
In addition, in Russia, in Ukraine and in some other countries, sniper rifle versions are produced - with an optical sight, bipods, a flash suppressor and a shock-absorbed butt.
