One of those mosins has a Finnish capture/army property mark. How crazy is that, made in America, used by the soviets, and then used by the Finns against the Soviets, only to end up back in the USA again
"Stevens, under the ownership of New England Westinghouse, produced over 770,000 Mosin-Nagant rifles under contract with the Russian government between 1916-1917, of which 225,260 were delivered. The rest were sold to the U.S. government who supplied them to the American Expeditionary Forces, White Russian forces, Finland, and the Civilian Marksmanship Program." stevens wikipage excerpt
I remember an odd story of a White Russian living in New York who bought a bunch of these and planned on holding them until a counter-revolution that never came. He was eventually persuaded to sell some of them as aid to the Soviets in WW2..
@Stanley Jedrzejczyk those "Stalin hordes" (nice using of Nazi propaganda clichees BTW) fought for their country against a total genocide and replacement planned for them by the Germans. So have some respect.
Here is a few of the reasons why so many Mosin-Nagant rifles ended up in Finland after the Russian revolution, during the Finnish Civil War. The Bolsheviks supplied Finnish Red Guards about 35,000 rifles delivered by rail from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and almost 18,000 rifles shipped from Tallinn. The Germans on the other hand sold Finnish White Army at least 87,000 captured Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles. In addition to these large deliveries both sides also succeeded acquiring thousands of rifles from Russian garrisons located in Finland - the Reds from those Russian soldiers who supported them and the Whites by force, when they captured and disarmed Russian garrisons in their area. The grand majority of the rifles received by Finnish Red Guards and Finnish White Army were Mosin-Nagant infantry rifle m/1891. February of 1919 when Finnish Armed Forces made inventory, they had bit over 210,000 Mosin-Nagant rifles (all versions included).
It is funny that companies were "too big to fail" in the 1917 too. I find the Mosin rifles to be very interesting because of the variety and back story. You do a great job of telling the story without getting bogged down in too many details. Good job, Ian.
US soldiers and sailors carried Mosins during the "Polar Bear" expedition to Archangel. Also, 20,000 captured Mosins were shipped to Ireland by Germany, but that mission failed and the ship carrying them was scuttled.
a range buddy of mine picked one of these up at a pawn shop about 17 years ago it was mislabeled as he recalled as british 303 or something to that effect and purchased it at only 90 bucks since the pawn shop knew nothing about it, it actually was in very good shape bore wise, it passed the bullet test with flying colors when testing it with 147gr up to 203gr soft points and he shot it with some new production wolf 200gr match extra and it yielded 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards on a calm day, not too bad for a rifle thats a hundred years old.
Chris Ursiny i got one thats marked Tula 1939 and it shoots great. I bought it for 215$ around 5-6 years ago from GM and its all mechanically sound, the rifling is in good shape and its my favorite for the range.
I got to fire a mosin recently. I only know it being polish mil surp and it fired it's native cartridge it was pushing 80+ years old. It had a composite stock put on and it sported a shorter barrel than the one in this video, it was gone through and refurbished. Still had the bayonet and everything. Had to be one of the nicest firing rifles I've used in a very long time. We basically removed a stump with it. The fire ball that licks out the barrel is insane and the concussion is awesome but it recoiled so smooth and soft.... beautiful rifle.
I had a Westinghouse for a number of years, but ended up selling it earlier this year. It was a beautiful rifle and fired great. I had a lot old and unique firearms that I regret giving up, it was either that or go hungry. I miss my armory.
Several years back I pieced together a 1917 Remington from parts bought here and there. I got the barrel off EBAY and the rifling and crown looked almost unused. I think I got the receiver from Gunbroker, don't remember where I got the bolt. I put it all together and put it in a pretty nice wood sporter stock and mounted a RockSolid scope mount. I suppose it is the Remington barrel and a lot of luck but this thing shoots fantastic. I know that some will say I screwed up a collector/historical piece but I buy things to use and will throw them away if they function poorly. I will enjoy the challenge of making a rifle shoot accurately but if it is a lost cause, I will not sell it to someone else. It will either get trashed or given to someone that thinks he wants it. Anyway, my pieced together Remington is really great. So far I have only used surplus ammo but just bought 200 rounds of 180 grain Sellier & Bellot soft points and am looking forward to testing it with this modern ammo.
I've got a soviet one. My grandfathers neighbor trained dogs for the KGB or something like that, and when he saw it, he said that he once saw someone accurately shoot some sort of small game (I forget) at an extreme range with one.
From what I have have seen and read, most of the early Mosins were quite good and not sloppily assembled. Really, the issue of manufacturing came from a need to crank out as many rifles as possible under wartime stresses. Another thing to consider is that Russian thinking can be a bit different at times. To them, good enough is good enough and it is a waste of time chasing perfection when it doesn't make it substantially better. Funny thing is though, there are stories of the US troops sent to Russia during their civil war having major problems with the rifles being unusable and discarding the US made bolt for a Russian made one. From what I understand, the oil used by the US was entirely unsuited to the harsh cold and froze up, while the Russian bolts were lubed with a better suited oil for the cold. As a side note, I always found it interesting how people seem to judge the Mosin based on the roughly built WWII rifles and also point out the design flaws compared to other WWII era rifles. The thing to remember about the basic Mosin action is that it pretty much did not get any major design upgrades from 1891 to the 1960's, when the Chinese finally quit making them. It is not a contemporary of most of the WWII era rifles, it is pretty much a first generation smallbore repeater. It's contemporaries are the GEW 88, the long Lee-Enfield, the Lebel and Berthier, the Krag-Jorgensen and probably a handful of others that I am forgetting. Only two of those other base designs were still considered frontline rifles by WWII, the Lee-Enfield and the (Danish and Norwegian) Krag, and they had been upgraded from the original design that they were based on (in the Lee's case, almost redesigned).
Many of the M-N's available here in the US have mixed parts, with mixed results - sometimes the rifle functions just as it should, and sometimes there are problems, for example, even getting a round to chamber.
combain I have a 1943 from Izhevsk that functions beautifully. It is loose and was put together fast because the Germans were close. They had to crank out rifles that would normally would never pass inspection. It’s not nearly as tight as my Chinese type 53, but it has way more character.
This channel has helped me through some rough days I love fire arms and find the way this is presented calming. Super chill super informative what's not to like.
I concur what he told me about the Russian weapon inspectors just makes me cringe you literally the country is being invaded from the West people are dying properties being destroyed you know Russian families are being torn apart and the grain of the wood lol I I could definitely tell you there are some people that contributed to Stalin's rise to power and it was those guys
After I heard ian talk about how tooling was before CNC machines. By having a machine that does a single cut for each part of a rifle. So if it takes 50-60 cuts to make a bolt then it take 50-60 machines and trained workers to operate each machine. So theres a TON of machines and trained to make the weapons.
Yep. Thats why production numbers for guns used to be so low, and why you would hear stories of guns being adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries, but not actually being produced until a few years later once the tooling was up and produced.
I participated in a play set in the Finnish Civil War. We had real (deactivated) Mosins on stage. One of them was made by Remington in the USA in 1917. It became the play's heroine's rifle as it was easily distinguishable in the storage. It was also somewhat lighter than Russian ones (I swear, it was more delicate and better finished) so suited a female user with less physical strenght and smaller hands and had nice, fluid operation of the bolt.
Ernie Pyle did an excellent column in WWII about a small arms repair depot. When he visited one, they were doing M-1 Garands. In the morning, they took the rifles apart, scrubbed them in gasoline and separated all the parts into buckets. After lunch, they reassembled rifles from the parts.
A few of the French mosins from Chatellearault exist in Finland in original config and I could find one easily, although acquiring them for something like a review is probably extremely difficult as they're typically something you find in some old attic on a piece of land you own and stuff and as a result unregistered, I don't think most people even know they have them. Same applies to Arisakas used in the civil war and other similar weapons. Finland kinda has this thing where there's a ridiculous amount of unregistered weapons that people either didn't register, turn in or just forgot in some attic or cellar somewhere. I think same might apply to a lot of the ones leftover in Russia where they're just unregistered and in some old farmers shed and hasn't been touched in 80 years or so.
Vodkasekoitus indeed, same here in Belgium. I think it is the same in all of europe. There are a lot of very rare weapons but people can't register them so you can't make videos about them. Even when you have a gun license you can't register unregistered guns so it is hopeless.
As for why the russian needs that many rifle, a simple "rule of thumb" of sorts is that for every soldier, you need 2.5 rifle; one on his person, one on the armory and one half as spare parts
Many years ago I purchased a Remington m91 at a gun show sa marked but it still wears its walnut stock with the flaming bomb and Russian eagle I also have a Remington 91/38 and Remington “Finncub” to go along with them I have a Westinghouse m91 that was heavily modified/ rebuilt by the Finns and is extremely accurate
Neat video, had the pleasure of working for Frankonia Jagd in the Late 90’s and got to Handel a number of US made Nagant Rifles. My main area was selling military rifles, Black Powder arms, and working with competitive sport shooters.
Great video, Ian. One note - 3rd arsenal is Sestroryetsk or Sestroretsk. You have a typo there. It would be amazing to get a video about the history of 3-line rifles in Russia and dispute between Mosin and Nagant about patents, naming and etc.
Westinghouse Air Brake Company's "sister" division "Union Switch & Signal Company" also made over 50,000 "1911s" for the US during World War Two at its main Swissvale, Pennsylvania plant.
I came across a MINT Remington at a gun show a few years ago. The guy wanted $1,800.00 and I didn't buy it. I still wish I had bargained with the guy, how often do you come across such a unique piece of history? I would not have been able to shoot it though, too expensive and firing it would have decreased the value so it would have just been a collectible. So I passed.
To add a small detail. J P Morgan was more than a purchasing agent. He actually held both the guns and Russian gold in “bond”. You see Russia had a long history buying arms in America. Smith and Wesson, Winchester and most famously Merwin and Hulbert. Occasionally, the Czar might “forget” to pay for a shipment of guns. So the makers who might have a large contract learned to ship in small batches. In stepped Morgan. Massively wealthy. Too rich to fail, he guaranteed production, delivery to an FOB point and most significantly paid the gun makers on that delivery. Usually to a Russian “bottom” (ship) in NY harbor. Then Russia would replenish the gold held in escrow by Morgan and the cycle would repeat.
Darn you for making me curious enough to locate my examples and take a fresh look at them! 😄 Unfortunately, neither of them is all matching. Like one of the earlier commenters, my NEW also bears a Finn stamp and sling swivels. My Remington does not bear Finn stamps but does bear Russian acceptance stamps. Both also bear import stamps, albeit from different eras. So both these went overseas and made their way back to the US after they were withdrawn from service. The life of an early 20th century battle rifle can be a fascinating journey through history! This story also demonstrates the hazards of getting involved in war production. If your customer suddenly ceases to exist, runs out of money, or the war suddenly ends and the contract gets canceled, well, SUCKS TO BE YOU! Thank heavens that the US govt decided that there was enough merit in making this purchase to save Remington from some difficult times. It's also really nice to see that Remington in such nice shape. Wouldn't be surprised if it simply sat in a crate for a few years untouched until after WWII and then sat in a safe for a few more decades, mostly untouched but well cared for.
I use to have one of these, it was kind of in rough shape, who ever had it before I found it, cut all of the wood off of the barrel and bent the hell out of the front sight it was also covered in rust, my dad and I spent a few years trying to get some parts to fix it up, but we ran out of money one day and had to sell it for food.
It'd be cool to find a Russian M1895 Winchester lever action, made in similar circumstances. Chambered in the same 7.62x54mmR, and modified with a bayonet lug, and with the capability to accept the Mosin's 5-round stripper clips. Last lever action to see a major war...
I wonder; did manufacturers in the 19th century have instruments that could assess bullet velocity and effective range or did they take an educated guess?
blastpressure710 I could imagine one way was to know the distance from the rifle too the target, and count how long it took for the bullet to get there. Of course, that wouldn't be the most accurate measurement, but it may have been all they had.
Take a rotating rod with two round paper sheets on it in a measured distance. Since you know the distance between the sheets and the speed at which they're rotating, when you shoot through them, the angle at which the holes appear can be used to calculate the bullet velocity. Of course only as long, as the sheets wont rotate a full revolution until between the two passes of the bullet!
My Mosin has a Remington stamp on the receiver and also has the Imperial Russian stamp on the barrel and reciever. Unfortunately before it came into my family, someone had tried to sporterize the stock. The comb was raised, and added a rifle pistol grip.
The rifles sold via the English broker were known as English contract guns and have the circular stamp on the stock. I have a Westinghouse English contract rifle.
Good lord, the logistics of these American mosin deals was convoluted. What a nightmare. But I would love to have one if it was affordable. Fantastically informative Ian. Thanks.
I have a 1942 Tula 91/30, just got a deer the other day with it. Took it clean off it’s feet!! The power transfer of the 7.62x54 is immense!! Also it is the most accurate gun I have ever fired.
No! Don't remind me of these! I turned down a Remington made excellent condition mosin last year, I don't know why I said no.. these things keep me up at night, lol.
Fantastic video with a lot of information I never knew before, but it's funny that he said "Break", "Wear Out", and "Mosin Nagant in the same sentence.
I recently acquired a 1917 Remington in original configuration. All matching except the bolt. This gun has no SA Finnish markings and no US marks of any kind. It also has Tula hammers and Ishevsk Bow and arrows on several original serialed parts.
I think many of our prejudices about the fit and finish of mosins come from the fact that most mosins we have are wartime rifles. Pre war (WW2) rifles, particularly pre 1935 mosins were generally of good fit and finish and higher quality builds. Although they all performed the same in therms of reliability and function.
I have a Westinghouse Mosin I found cheap online, that the owner had picked up at a garage sale many years ago The steel is immaculate... if there's such a thing as a used rifle with 100% bluing, this gun is it. And it has no markings whatsoever, beyond the standard factory ones. But the American walnut stock was completely butchered: the comb had been shaved down, the hand guard was missing, and the stock had been crudely cut back to just a few inches in front of the trigger. Fate stepped in. A member of Gun and Game said he was replacing the original stock on his 91/30 with a synthetic Monte Carlo stock, and would send the original to anyone willing to pay the shipping. I didn't need one at the moment, but figured what the heck. Imagine my surprise when what showed up was a stock for an M1891, complete with hand piece and all the hardware. It looked like crap, because someone had applied a black finish without properly cleaning it first. It was crinkled like an old-fashioned typewriter finish, and actually sluffing off in places. But when I stripped the wood, it turned out to be the most gorgeous Arctic birch Finnish stock I've ever seen. A lovely set of clothes for the Westinghouse... One interesting feature is that the bolt isn't bright; some sort of treatment gave it a dark, shadowed look. It's the only Mosin I've ever seen that on.
I had a customer come into my shop back in 2004. With a Remington marked 1917. He wanted to put a scope on it. I refused, telling him to keep it like it is. That it would be worth a lot more in the future. I hope he did. Also I remember back in 1990. You could go to a Rose's store and but a Mosin for $99 dollars. And they would bring several out to choose from. Most had the octagonal receiver. Tell you the truth. The Mosin is one of my favorite rifles.
i think it would be an awesome idea if someone or a group of people found the original tooling and equipment and decided to produce a new american mosin-nagant rifle today, sell it for about 500-800 bucks, this would be a awesome idea since most of the current stock mosins currrenty in the us market place are quite worn and used, gone are the days when you could acquire a excellent condition (1945-1948 mosin) for 89 bucks.
Some of the American mosin nagant crossed the southern border of the United States and ended up in the hands of soldiers from the many factions of the Mexican revolution. You can find pictures on google of soldiers armed with mosin nagants. I have one of those Remington Mosin Nagant used in the Mexican Revolution. greetings from Mexico.
Fun fact: Russia even bought guns from the japanese, mere 11 years after the Russo-Japanese war. Thats why the Russians on the eastern front were sometimes equipped with arisaka type 30. I know this because my grandfather (Im a german)was issued an arisaka type 30 that was captured in WW1, when he entered the Volksturm in 1945. He was given no ammunition though.
@@foxy126pl6 Oh yes, the town he was in was so insignificant that no american bothered to capture it, after the war was over he simply took his rifle and went home, he sold it later to a gunshop in the 70s.
mybluebelly he has a lot of videos about black powder rifles and pistols/Revolvers but you will have to scroll down a bit in his videos, about last year I think. Also there will be some playlists. Just look at his channel
Great video. Thank you. Sir, the comment regarding chambering to 30.06 sponsors this request: would you review the FN Mauser chambered in that calibre. Thank you.
I have a Remington 1917 Mosin Nagant that was brought back from Japan at the end of WW2 by my father. It would be interesting to know the story of that rifle. It's in very good shape for a 106 year old rifle.
I have a Westinghouse. Now, I didn't it as a fully built rifle. I got it as a barrel, receiver, trigger and the bolt. Also it didn't have any front or rear sights, and it was in a pretty short barrel. Despite the fact that it is a very old mosin nagant, the barrel looks like it has never had a round put down the barrel. I'm making it a light precision rifle with an archangel stock.
I was at a tiny private museum in Florida where they let us handle pretty much every relatively well known historical military guns from WWI through Vietnam. The firearms were all in perfect condition, well oiled and still functional. There was a rack of similar bolt action single round capacity rifles, from France, England, US, and others. Any ideas on what they are called? they were fascinating and were in perfect condition.
Nah, I've inherited one of those Bannerman conversions from my gandfather and there're anything but iffy. I've reloaded a bit and put quite a few pretty hot loads through it. The only problem I have is a crack in the old stock is starting to emerge from the pin in the side back to the trigger guard. If it wasn't for that crack, I'd go out and shoot it when I'm done here.
@16:50 they sent a lot to state governments for backup rifles for national guards. Florida had several crates sent to the basement of its original capital building that were rediscovered in 2009. One of the is on display upstairs, beautiful Remington model that has been asleep for over 100 years. I asked where the rest went and actually went behind the scenes with the curator of the museum trying to dog up records but nothing came up
You failed to mention that the Mosin was a US issued service rifle and issued to the USMC Expeditionary Force occupying Arkhangelsk during the Russian Civil War. I believe they are referred to as US Rifle Model 1918. US manufactured rifles were issued to these troops. These rifles were surplused after the war along with ammo through the DCM. The Russian issues with Mosin production were not as severe as the American issues in supplying troops with 1903 Springfields.
@@diffsnicker4664 Tryokh lineinaya vintovka was a Russian designation, referring to Russian Imperial standards of measurement. The USMC Expeditionary CORPs occupying Arkhangelsk had Mosins issued as US Rifle M1918.
I was reminded of the movie about the battle of Stalingrad where the troops disembarked into battle with many of them unarmed. They were told that there would be plenty of rifles available on the ground after the owner was cut down.
@@thesturm8686 sources? Unless it is Völkischer Beobachter WW2 propaganda, I doubt, you could find ANYWHERE any mention of such tactics, used by the Soviets.
Some of these American made Mosins were used by our home guard during WWI & WWII. That was well before my time, but I was told this by older maritime men who worked on the docks/loaded & unloaded ships.
One of those mosins has a Finnish capture/army property mark. How crazy is that, made in America, used by the soviets, and then used by the Finns against the Soviets, only to end up back in the USA again
I have a Suomi marked American Mosin made at Westinghouse.
That gun was likely sold directly to Finland
"Stevens, under the ownership of New England Westinghouse, produced over 770,000 Mosin-Nagant rifles under contract with the Russian government between 1916-1917, of which 225,260 were delivered. The rest were sold to the U.S. government who supplied them to the American Expeditionary Forces, White Russian forces, Finland, and the Civilian Marksmanship Program." stevens wikipage excerpt
MrMoustaffa - exactly. Both mind blowing and ironic.
The history and engineering alone make me a fan of weapon history... that and they are a lot of fun to shoot.
Incomplete Suomi markings? So it was left unFinnished...
Illseemyselfout
No, you stay.
You can stay, I'll go out.
Zyme86
Thank you Cleveland, I'll be here all week!!!
Hiyo!
No hurry, stop Russian.
I remember an odd story of a White Russian living in New York who bought a bunch of these and planned on holding them until a counter-revolution that never came. He was eventually persuaded to sell some of them as aid to the Soviets in WW2..
Gerald Fallon-Griffin neat one
@Stanley Jedrzejczyk those "Stalin hordes" (nice using of Nazi propaganda clichees BTW) fought for their country against a total genocide and replacement planned for them by the Germans. So have some respect.
@@mihanich they did the same to the Germans after the war although the Germans did the same to them
@@mihanich I would only respect them if they were averse to doing that themselves.
@@moritamikamikara3879 I don't really get your point
Here is a few of the reasons why so many Mosin-Nagant rifles ended up in Finland after the Russian revolution, during the Finnish Civil War. The Bolsheviks supplied Finnish Red Guards about 35,000 rifles delivered by rail from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and almost 18,000 rifles shipped from Tallinn. The Germans on the other hand sold Finnish White Army at least 87,000 captured Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles. In addition to these large deliveries both sides also succeeded acquiring thousands of rifles from Russian garrisons located in Finland - the Reds from those Russian soldiers who supported them and the Whites by force, when they captured and disarmed Russian garrisons in their area. The grand majority of the rifles received by Finnish Red Guards and Finnish White Army were Mosin-Nagant infantry rifle m/1891. February of 1919 when Finnish Armed Forces made inventory, they had bit over 210,000 Mosin-Nagant rifles (all versions included).
did the rifle know it was adopted?
Yes, but they made sure it knew that it was loved all the same.
What some stuped shit 😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😯😯😯😯😯
@@tobyjenny7622 can you take a joke?
@@UncleMerlin Apparently not.
@@tobyjenny7622 can't even spell stupid .
You mentioned the Westinghouse Air Braking system. It was in fact adopted for every railroad and all heavy trucks used since. It was revolutionary.
It is funny that companies were "too big to fail" in the 1917 too. I find the Mosin rifles to be very interesting because of the variety and back story. You do a great job of telling the story without getting bogged down in too many details. Good job, Ian.
A good book to read id "Foreign Miltary Rifle Contrats in America"...forget the author
It was more of a military strategic move than a too big to fail situation.
US soldiers and sailors carried Mosins during the "Polar Bear" expedition to Archangel. Also, 20,000 captured Mosins were shipped to Ireland by Germany, but that mission failed and the ship carrying them was scuttled.
History alone makes these videos worth watching. Super interesting.
Darn it, Ian, now I want to know more about that Westinghouse air-brake system and its effects on the Imperial Russian railways....
a range buddy of mine picked one of these up at a pawn shop about 17 years ago it was mislabeled as he recalled as british 303 or something to that effect and purchased it at only 90 bucks since the pawn shop knew nothing about it, it actually was in very good shape bore wise, it passed the bullet test with flying colors when testing it with 147gr up to 203gr soft points and he shot it with some new production wolf 200gr match extra and it yielded 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards on a calm day, not too bad for a rifle thats a hundred years old.
Chris Ursiny i got one thats marked Tula 1939 and it shoots great. I bought it for 215$ around 5-6 years ago from GM and its all mechanically sound, the rifling is in good shape and its my favorite for the range.
Actually not a very good deal since you can get new unissued ones for about $125
@@chadnoland5438where lol
I got to fire a mosin recently. I only know it being polish mil surp and it fired it's native cartridge it was pushing 80+ years old. It had a composite stock put on and it sported a shorter barrel than the one in this video, it was gone through and refurbished. Still had the bayonet and everything. Had to be one of the nicest firing rifles I've used in a very long time. We basically removed a stump with it. The fire ball that licks out the barrel is insane and the concussion is awesome but it recoiled so smooth and soft.... beautiful rifle.
I had a Westinghouse for a number of years, but ended up selling it earlier this year. It was a beautiful rifle and fired great. I had a lot old and unique firearms that I regret giving up, it was either that or go hungry. I miss my armory.
You can be sure.....The Westinghouse models only ran on AC current!
now that is funny, well done mate..
Does he live at RIA house? 😂
Yes.
I would.
Safest place on earth.
Miss gun Jesus: please come back home...
Gun Jesus: *I'm in it*
That’s actually his bedroom.
Several years back I pieced together a 1917 Remington from parts bought here and there. I got the barrel off EBAY and the rifling and crown looked almost unused. I think I got the receiver from Gunbroker, don't remember where I got the bolt. I put it all together and put it in a pretty nice wood sporter stock and mounted a RockSolid scope mount.
I suppose it is the Remington barrel and a lot of luck but this thing shoots fantastic. I know that some will say I screwed up a collector/historical piece but I buy things to use and will throw them away if they function poorly. I will enjoy the challenge of making a rifle shoot accurately but if it is a lost cause, I will not sell it to someone else. It will either get trashed or given to someone that thinks he wants it.
Anyway, my pieced together Remington is really great. So far I have only used surplus ammo but just bought 200 rounds of 180 grain Sellier & Bellot soft points and am looking forward to testing it with this modern ammo.
Its not Soviet rifle,its Russian Empire weapons,nord folks in Russia love this gun for hunting ,shoot squirrel in eye.
after october 1917 they're soviet rifles. and yes "shoot squirrel in eye".
I've got a soviet one. My grandfathers neighbor trained dogs for the KGB or something like that, and when he saw it, he said that he once saw someone accurately shoot some sort of small game (I forget) at an extreme range with one.
There would be no squirrel left.
I've seen rabbits separated at the spine, one half is the head, the other half the hind legs. Mosins are for Moose, not small game, haha!
@Richard Joyce pest control you idiot
Curious as how these compare to other nationalities of Mosins in terms of quality.
How do the American ones compare to the later Finnish ones?
Likely the quality was more consistent than Russian guns. The Finns had the best Mosins, of course. Really nice rifles.
From what I have have seen and read, most of the early Mosins were quite good and not sloppily assembled. Really, the issue of manufacturing came from a need to crank out as many rifles as possible under wartime stresses. Another thing to consider is that Russian thinking can be a bit different at times. To them, good enough is good enough and it is a waste of time chasing perfection when it doesn't make it substantially better. Funny thing is though, there are stories of the US troops sent to Russia during their civil war having major problems with the rifles being unusable and discarding the US made bolt for a Russian made one. From what I understand, the oil used by the US was entirely unsuited to the harsh cold and froze up, while the Russian bolts were lubed with a better suited oil for the cold.
As a side note, I always found it interesting how people seem to judge the Mosin based on the roughly built WWII rifles and also point out the design flaws compared to other WWII era rifles. The thing to remember about the basic Mosin action is that it pretty much did not get any major design upgrades from 1891 to the 1960's, when the Chinese finally quit making them. It is not a contemporary of most of the WWII era rifles, it is pretty much a first generation smallbore repeater. It's contemporaries are the GEW 88, the long Lee-Enfield, the Lebel and Berthier, the Krag-Jorgensen and probably a handful of others that I am forgetting. Only two of those other base designs were still considered frontline rifles by WWII, the Lee-Enfield and the (Danish and Norwegian) Krag, and they had been upgraded from the original design that they were based on (in the Lee's case, almost redesigned).
I have an M39 and the action is so sticky it really is a problem. Rounds get caught on the feed ramp too.
HaqqAttak send it to me. I'll take it off your hands.
My Finn capture 1897 Tula M91 has a Remington bolt.
Thanks for sharing that
I'm from Tula. Hope your Mosin-Nagant works properly.
Many of the M-N's available here in the US have mixed parts, with mixed results - sometimes the rifle functions just as it should, and sometimes there are problems, for example, even getting a round to chamber.
@@shawngilliland243 What could you expect from an old gun with rimmed ammo...
combain I have a 1943 from Izhevsk that functions beautifully. It is loose and was put together fast because the Germans were close. They had to crank out rifles that would normally would never pass inspection. It’s not nearly as tight as my Chinese type 53, but it has way more character.
This channel has helped me through some rough days I love fire arms and find the way this is presented calming. Super chill super informative what's not to like.
"It's hard to solve the problem if you don't acknowledge that there is a problem." Oh boy didn't that age well.
I concur what he told me about the Russian weapon inspectors just makes me cringe you literally the country is being invaded from the West people are dying properties being destroyed you know Russian families are being torn apart and the grain of the wood lol I I could definitely tell you there are some people that contributed to Stalin's rise to power and it was those guys
After I heard ian talk about how tooling was before CNC machines. By having a machine that does a single cut for each part of a rifle. So if it takes 50-60 cuts to make a bolt then it take 50-60 machines and trained workers to operate each machine. So theres a TON of machines and trained to make the weapons.
Yep. Thats why production numbers for guns used to be so low, and why you would hear stories of guns being adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries, but not actually being produced until a few years later once the tooling was up and produced.
I participated in a play set in the Finnish Civil War. We had real (deactivated) Mosins on stage. One of them was made by Remington in the USA in 1917. It became the play's heroine's rifle as it was easily distinguishable in the storage. It was also somewhat lighter than Russian ones (I swear, it was more delicate and better finished) so suited a female user with less physical strenght and smaller hands and had nice, fluid operation of the bolt.
Ernie Pyle did an excellent column in WWII about a small arms repair depot. When he visited one, they were doing M-1 Garands. In the morning, they took the rifles apart, scrubbed them in gasoline and separated all the parts into buckets. After lunch, they reassembled rifles from the parts.
Jeez, the finish and markings on these rifles is outstanding.
Do you have a video on one of those French Mosin Nagants?
Not yet. It's hard to find them in their original configuration; most were refurbished by the Russians or Finns.
Shame. Oh well, keep up the good work. Love your content.
A few of the French mosins from Chatellearault exist in Finland in original config and I could find one easily, although acquiring them for something like a review is probably extremely difficult as they're typically something you find in some old attic on a piece of land you own and stuff and as a result unregistered, I don't think most people even know they have them. Same applies to Arisakas used in the civil war and other similar weapons. Finland kinda has this thing where there's a ridiculous amount of unregistered weapons that people either didn't register, turn in or just forgot in some attic or cellar somewhere.
I think same might apply to a lot of the ones leftover in Russia where they're just unregistered and in some old farmers shed and hasn't been touched in 80 years or so.
Vodkasekoitus indeed, same here in Belgium. I think it is the same in all of europe. There are a lot of very rare weapons but people can't register them so you can't make videos about them. Even when you have a gun license you can't register unregistered guns so it is hopeless.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this with us guys!
Mosin Nagant: because sometimes the enemy hides behind things.
For when your neighbors house is getting robbed and the guy is hiding behind a fridge
Fun fact, it cost about $22.50 to produce those rifles in 1917 is is equal to about $425 in today’s money
As for why the russian needs that many rifle, a simple "rule of thumb" of sorts is that for every soldier, you need 2.5 rifle; one on his person, one on the armory and one half as spare parts
this goes on your greatest hits album
Many years ago I purchased a Remington m91 at a gun show sa marked but it still wears its walnut stock with the flaming bomb and Russian eagle I also have a Remington 91/38 and Remington “Finncub” to go along with them I have a Westinghouse m91 that was heavily modified/ rebuilt by the Finns and is extremely accurate
Neat video, had the pleasure of working for Frankonia Jagd in the Late 90’s and got to Handel a number of US made Nagant Rifles. My main area was selling military rifles, Black Powder arms, and working with competitive sport shooters.
Great video, Ian. One note - 3rd arsenal is Sestroryetsk or Sestroretsk. You have a typo there. It would be amazing to get a video about the history of 3-line rifles in Russia and dispute between Mosin and Nagant about patents, naming and etc.
Westinghouse Air Brake Company's "sister" division "Union Switch & Signal Company" also made over 50,000 "1911s" for the US during World War Two at its main Swissvale, Pennsylvania plant.
Wonder what the "unit cost" was back in the day on a large order such as this, adjusted for inflation into today's dollar.
Damn these are beautiful, and look more well done than all others i've seen before.
I came across a MINT Remington at a gun show a few years ago. The guy wanted $1,800.00 and I didn't buy it. I still wish I had bargained with the guy, how often do you come across such a unique piece of history? I would not have been able to shoot it though, too expensive and firing it would have decreased the value so it would have just been a collectible. So I passed.
I have one of the new england Westinghouse ones that was sporterized still shoots and works flawlessly
I picked up a sporterized Westinghous Mosin Nagant today for $250, very nice rifle.
I am glad to hear it shoots great
Yeah the trigger is a little heavy but once you get use to it it's a tack driver
"War Is A Racket" - Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler
My 91/30 has a Remington marked firing pin so that’s pretty cool!
To add a small detail. J P Morgan was more than a purchasing agent. He actually held both the guns and Russian gold in “bond”. You see Russia had a long history buying arms in America. Smith and Wesson, Winchester and most famously Merwin and Hulbert. Occasionally, the Czar might “forget” to pay for a shipment of guns. So the makers who might have a large contract learned to ship in small batches. In stepped Morgan. Massively wealthy. Too rich to fail, he guaranteed production, delivery to an FOB point and most significantly paid the gun makers on that delivery. Usually to a Russian “bottom” (ship) in NY harbor. Then Russia would replenish the gold held in escrow by Morgan and the cycle would repeat.
Nice history lesson. Keep 'em comin'.
My first rifle was one of these- Remington. No top handguard. Cases would get stuck sometimes. Eventually ejector broke off.
Make Nagants Great Again
enfields are the best so you cant!!
ahh tenpenny, the memories
Officer Tenpenny What do you mean again?
#MEGA #MakeEnfieldsGreatAgain
Man, I love story time with Ian. But is it just me or is the audio mixed really low? I always have to crank it up all the way.
Darn you for making me curious enough to locate my examples and take a fresh look at them! 😄
Unfortunately, neither of them is all matching. Like one of the earlier commenters, my NEW also bears a Finn stamp and sling swivels. My Remington does not bear Finn stamps but does bear Russian acceptance stamps. Both also bear import stamps, albeit from different eras. So both these went overseas and made their way back to the US after they were withdrawn from service. The life of an early 20th century battle rifle can be a fascinating journey through history!
This story also demonstrates the hazards of getting involved in war production. If your customer suddenly ceases to exist, runs out of money, or the war suddenly ends and the contract gets canceled, well, SUCKS TO BE YOU! Thank heavens that the US govt decided that there was enough merit in making this purchase to save Remington from some difficult times. It's also really nice to see that Remington in such nice shape. Wouldn't be surprised if it simply sat in a crate for a few years untouched until after WWII and then sat in a safe for a few more decades, mostly untouched but well cared for.
I use to have one of these, it was kind of in rough shape, who ever had it before I found it, cut all of the wood off of the barrel and bent the hell out of the front sight it was also covered in rust, my dad and I spent a few years trying to get some parts to fix it up, but we ran out of money one day and had to sell it for food.
It'd be cool to find a Russian M1895 Winchester lever action, made in similar circumstances. Chambered in the same 7.62x54mmR, and modified with a bayonet lug, and with the capability to accept the Mosin's 5-round stripper clips. Last lever action to see a major war...
Ian has a video on the russian 1895, since you like it so much.
@@bradenpetty3828 I've seen it now, just hadn't seen it then
@@bradenpetty3828don’t be petty Braden
That wood is sexy. I wish my mosin had that kind of wood.
Walnut, perhaps ⁉️
I wonder; did manufacturers in the 19th century have instruments that could assess bullet velocity and effective range or did they take an educated guess?
Yes, they would measure bullet velocity.
Forgotten Weapons how so?
blastpressure710 I could imagine one way was to know the distance from the rifle too the target, and count how long it took for the bullet to get there.
Of course, that wouldn't be the most accurate measurement, but it may have been all they had.
I suppose a stopwatch would work over a couple of hundred metres, and then maybe some math could be used to extrapolate a muzzle velocity.
Take a rotating rod with two round paper sheets on it in a measured distance.
Since you know the distance between the sheets and the speed at which they're rotating, when you shoot through them, the angle at which the holes appear can be used to calculate the bullet velocity.
Of course only as long, as the sheets wont rotate a full revolution until between the two passes of the bullet!
My Mosin has a Remington stamp on the receiver and also has the Imperial Russian stamp on the barrel and reciever. Unfortunately before it came into my family, someone had tried to sporterize the stock. The comb was raised, and added a rifle pistol grip.
The rifles sold via the English broker were known as English contract guns and have the circular stamp on the stock. I have a Westinghouse English contract rifle.
Good lord, the logistics of these American mosin deals was convoluted. What a nightmare. But I would love to have one if it was affordable. Fantastically informative Ian. Thanks.
I have a Mosin Ganant 1952 / love it they are very accurate
I love my own Mosin, so seeing these is pretty cool to me.
I have a 1942 Tula 91/30, just got a deer the other day with it. Took it clean off it’s feet!! The power transfer of the 7.62x54 is immense!! Also it is the most accurate gun I have ever fired.
No! Don't remind me of these! I turned down a Remington made excellent condition mosin last year, I don't know why I said no.. these things keep me up at night, lol.
Now we need a greek M1 garand
This is a 4 year old video but I saw the title and couldn’t help myself
Y’allsin-Nagant
Mosin numbers are kind of mind blowing.
Fantastic video with a lot of information I never knew before, but it's funny that he said "Break", "Wear Out", and "Mosin Nagant in the same sentence.
Note, he did indicate that it takes an artillery shell to do...
thenks
Great video! Fascinating how many were made in the US .
The guns look brand new! We're they ever used? They just look so clean!! Never seen a Mosin look so clean!
I recently acquired a 1917 Remington in original configuration. All matching except the bolt. This gun has no SA Finnish markings and no US marks of any kind. It also has Tula hammers and Ishevsk Bow and arrows on several original serialed parts.
are the contract mosins (as im calling them) regarded as better quality rifles or is a mosin just a mosin unless it's Finnish?
They are all pretty much the same in terms of quality.
Forgotten Weapons how about in function? do any variations work smoother?
The Mosins where the bolt it fitted to the gun work just fine :) My Remington M91 cycles fine but the bolt is a force match by the Fins.
I think many of our prejudices about the fit and finish of mosins come from the fact that most mosins we have are wartime rifles. Pre war (WW2) rifles, particularly pre 1935 mosins were generally of good fit and finish and higher quality builds. Although they all performed the same in therms of reliability and function.
I had the chance to handle a Tula M91 dated 1915 and it was much better made than the Soviet stuff. I would own it today but the man wanted over $500.
I still want one of these..
I have a Westinghouse Mosin I found cheap online, that the owner had picked up at a garage sale many years ago The steel is immaculate... if there's such a thing as a used rifle with 100% bluing, this gun is it. And it has no markings whatsoever, beyond the standard factory ones. But the American walnut stock was completely butchered: the comb had been shaved down, the hand guard was missing, and the stock had been crudely cut back to just a few inches in front of the trigger.
Fate stepped in. A member of Gun and Game said he was replacing the original stock on his 91/30 with a synthetic Monte Carlo stock, and would send the original to anyone willing to pay the shipping. I didn't need one at the moment, but figured what the heck. Imagine my surprise when what showed up was a stock for an M1891, complete with hand piece and all the hardware.
It looked like crap, because someone had applied a black finish without properly cleaning it first. It was crinkled like an old-fashioned typewriter finish, and actually sluffing off in places. But when I stripped the wood, it turned out to be the most gorgeous Arctic birch Finnish stock I've ever seen. A lovely set of clothes for the Westinghouse...
One interesting feature is that the bolt isn't bright; some sort of treatment gave it a dark, shadowed look. It's the only Mosin I've ever seen that on.
Last I remember, the Russian stride is called "shag", ca. 71cm.
And the Archin (also ca. 71cm and some change) is an arm-length.
I bought a tula mosin-nagant best purchase I have made I love the rifle
I had a customer come into my shop back in 2004. With a Remington marked 1917. He wanted to put a scope on it. I refused, telling him to keep it like it is. That it would be worth a lot more in the future. I hope he did. Also I remember back in 1990. You could go to a Rose's store and but a Mosin for $99 dollars. And they would bring several out to choose from. Most had the octagonal receiver. Tell you the truth. The Mosin is one of my favorite rifles.
i think it would be an awesome idea if someone or a group of people found the original tooling and equipment and decided to produce a new american mosin-nagant rifle today, sell it for about 500-800 bucks, this would be a awesome idea since most of the current stock mosins currrenty in the us market place are quite worn and used, gone are the days when you could acquire a excellent condition (1945-1948 mosin) for 89 bucks.
I can't think of a single person willing to pay anywhere close to that for a Nagant that isn't extremely collectible.
hm, that westinghouse looks somewhat un-finnished
Drum sting.
Some of the American mosin nagant crossed the southern border of the United States and ended up in the hands of soldiers from the many factions of the Mexican revolution. You can find pictures on google of soldiers armed with mosin nagants. I have one of those Remington Mosin Nagant used in the Mexican Revolution. greetings from Mexico.
Yeah "Mexicanskis"! Most of them that were left were sent to Spain to arm International Brigades during the Civil War there.
Fun fact: Russia even bought guns from the japanese, mere 11 years after the Russo-Japanese war. Thats why the Russians on the eastern front were sometimes equipped with arisaka type 30. I know this because my grandfather (Im a german)was issued an arisaka type 30 that was captured in WW1, when he entered the Volksturm in 1945.
He was given no ammunition though.
That's why the Russians had plenty of 6.5mm arisaka lying around, it was also used by the Federov rifle.
Did he survive the war?
@@foxy126pl6 Oh yes, the town he was in was so insignificant that no american bothered to capture it, after the war was over he simply took his rifle and went home, he sold it later to a gunshop in the 70s.
@@teutonic_crusader1175 cool
We still use the Westinghouse train brakes today BTW. Not the main valve in the locomotive but the brake controller on the individual cars.
Thanks for the vid sir. Very educational.
Great video.
Your videos are so long i have to speed them up, lol. Still very interesting stories you have. Have any videos about really old weapons?
mybluebelly he has a lot of videos about black powder rifles and pistols/Revolvers but you will have to scroll down a bit in his videos, about last year I think. Also there will be some playlists. Just look at his channel
Thanks!
You can be SURE.... If it's Westinghouse!
One of my Finn M39 rifles has a Westinghouse bolt group, while the receiver is a Sestroryetsk.
I knew Czarist Russia had incompetence adapting to a changing world, but even in the 1800s, that attitude towards preparation would have been pitiful
really good video, keep it up, love your channel
Mine’s a Westinghouse. No SA marks. Maybe a Bannerman rifle. Thanks for the info!
Great video. Thank you.
Sir, the comment regarding chambering to 30.06 sponsors this request: would you review the FN Mauser chambered in that calibre. Thank you.
I used to have one of those from Colombia... best 250$ I ever spent and that was only 2 years ago...
I have a Remington 1917 Mosin Nagant that was brought back from Japan at the end of WW2 by my father. It would be interesting to know the story of that rifle. It's in very good shape for a 106 year old rifle.
The carbine version with the chrome bore I like the best
I love the hammer and sickle stamped ones
I only like the ones with the Imperial Crest, double headed eagle
It’s like shooting a triple barrel 12 gauge with 3-1/2 nitro mags slugs all at once.
Massive loss of arms, poor planning prior to war, commanders refusing to believe inconvenient reports from the front. Some things never change.
One of the few bolt-actions I would pay over a $1000 for
at that price i will sell you 6
I have a Westinghouse. Now, I didn't it as a fully built rifle. I got it as a barrel, receiver, trigger and the bolt. Also it didn't have any front or rear sights, and it was in a pretty short barrel. Despite the fact that it is a very old mosin nagant, the barrel looks like it has never had a round put down the barrel. I'm making it a light precision rifle with an archangel stock.
I was at a tiny private museum in Florida where they let us handle pretty much every relatively well known historical military guns from WWI through Vietnam. The firearms were all in perfect condition, well oiled and still functional. There was a rack of similar bolt action single round capacity rifles, from France, England, US, and others. Any ideas on what they are called? they were fascinating and were in perfect condition.
Nah, I've inherited one of those Bannerman conversions from my gandfather and there're anything but iffy. I've reloaded a bit and put quite a few pretty hot loads through it. The only problem I have is a crack in the old stock is starting to emerge from the pin in the side back to the trigger guard. If it wasn't for that crack, I'd go out and shoot it when I'm done here.
I saw one of those at a local gun shop (the Remington one). It was like 1000$.
@16:50 they sent a lot to state governments for backup rifles for national guards. Florida had several crates sent to the basement of its original capital building that were rediscovered in 2009. One of the is on display upstairs, beautiful Remington model that has been asleep for over 100 years. I asked where the rest went and actually went behind the scenes with the curator of the museum trying to dog up records but nothing came up
You failed to mention that the Mosin was a US issued service rifle and issued to the USMC Expeditionary Force occupying Arkhangelsk during the Russian Civil War. I believe they are referred to as US Rifle Model 1918. US manufactured rifles were issued to these troops. These rifles were surplused after the war along with ammo through the DCM.
The Russian issues with Mosin production were not as severe as the American issues in supplying troops with 1903 Springfields.
I thought the designation was .3 inch Russian rifle
@@diffsnicker4664 Tryokh lineinaya vintovka was a Russian designation, referring to Russian Imperial standards of measurement. The USMC Expeditionary CORPs occupying Arkhangelsk had Mosins issued as US Rifle M1918.
I was reminded of the movie about the battle of Stalingrad where the troops disembarked into battle with many of them unarmed. They were told that there would be plenty of rifles available on the ground after the owner was cut down.
I heard statistically there is a rifle per 5 men
@@thesturm8686 sources? Unless it is Völkischer Beobachter WW2 propaganda, I doubt, you could find ANYWHERE any mention of such tactics, used by the Soviets.
@@mdokuch96 nan geo or history channel, watch one of their documentaries
Some of these American made Mosins were used by our home guard during WWI & WWII. That was well before my time, but I was told this by older maritime men who worked on the docks/loaded & unloaded ships.
I think that the Bannerman Co. would be quit interesting subject itself!