Lock, Stock & Barrel
The Mosin Nagant rifle and its 7.62 x 54R cartridge
Chaz Forsyth looks at one of the world’ s great and most abundantly produced rifles of 19th century design
The days of getting a cheap military surplus rifle and successfully converting it into a sporting rifle somewhat like a new one are long gone. These days, most entry-level hunting rifles are capable of shooting within 1.5 minutes of angle and can be bought for less than $ 800, telescopic sights included. However, if you want to use a cartridge that dates from the 19th century and enjoy the nostalgia it provides, converting a used military rifle is slightly cheaper than building one up from scratch. Here I describe the performance of one of these conversions.
The rifles
Mosin Nagant( MN) rifles were adopted in 1891 by the Imperial Russian government. They were initially manufactured in France, Switzerland and Austria before the Russian government arsenals began production, and during World War 1 the Russians contracted the Americans to manufacture another 1.5 million. Oddly enough, many of these rifles were used by American troops in 1918 in the counter-revolutionary campaign in northwestern Russia( Smith & Smith, 1963).
Mosin was a Russian soldier and Nagant was a Belgian who was credited with the magazine-interrupter design.( This was actually devised by Mosin but he could not be paid for it because he was a serving soldier. Nagant was duly rewarded because he was not involved with other military powers and because of his revolver design, which was later adopted by the Imperial Russian forces.)
This bolt-action rifle has been described by de Haas( 1995) as“ odd and unusual”, with its three-piece bolt( unlike the Mauser one-piece design), its five-round singlerow box magazine and its club-like stock. The bolt is very slick to operate, although the standard handle is a bit far forward to reach easily for rapid fire. On a sporting rifle, the bolt handle is swept back and down to clear the scope and is far easier to manipulate rapidly.
The single-row magazine, unlike most of the contemporary designs, can be loaded by pressing directly down on each cartridge from the top, and the interrupter( which retains ammunition in the magazine) is a neat feature of this design.
A rifle of this age has seen several variations during its history, and the models commonly found in New Zealand are usually arsenal-refurbished Model M1891 / 30s manufactured in the early 1940s, and M1944 carbines manufactured in the early 1950s( Smith & Smith, 1963). The ones made during the Great Patriotic War( between Germany and Russia, 1941 – 1945) show toolmarks left when the external finish was compromised in order to keep up the numbers produced( more than 3,000,000 in 1942).
Cartridges of the time
Cartridges of the late 1800s. From left: 7.62 x 54R Mosin Nagant;. 303 British;. 30’ 06 Springfield;. 308 Winchester; 7.62 x 39 mm( M43). These military cartridges were used from the late 1880s to the late 1940s – including two world wars. Note: apart from the. 303 and 7.62 x 39 mm the rest are soft-point hunting loads – not military rounds.
MN actions showing differences in detail of finish. The rifle behind dates from the 1940s, when the desperate urgency of wartime production meant the finish was less tidy – but it worked just as well. Also shown is the bolt positioning, a feature that is not so good for rapid firing in sporting use.
Comparison with post-World War 2 rifles reveals that the latter were far better finished externally – but there was nothing wrong with their internal workings, as later tests confirmed.
Model 1891 / 30 rifles are more than four feet( 1200 mm) long, with a 28.7-inch( 730 mm) barrel, and as issued, weigh 8.7 lb( 3.95 kg) without sling or bayonet.
42 NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196- Autumn 2017