Mosin–Nagant
five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine-fed, military rifle
The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891, in Russia and the former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle (Russian: винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: vintovka Mosina) and informally just mosinka (Russian: мосинка), it is primarily chambered for the 7.62×54mmR cartridge.
Developed from 1882 to 1891, it was used by the armed forces of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and various other states. It is one of the most mass-produced military bolt-action rifles in history, with over 37 million units produced since 1891. Despite its age, it has been used in various conflicts around the world to the present day.
History
Initial design and tests
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Imperial Russian troops, who were armed mostly with single-shot Berdan rifles, suffered heavy casualties against Ottoman troops equipped with Winchester 1866 repeating rifles, particularly at the bloody Siege of Pleven. This showed Russian commanders the need to modernize the general infantry weapon of the army.
Various weapons were acquired and tested by GAU of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire, and in 1889 the Lebel Model 1886 rifle was obtained through semi-official channels from France. It was supplied together with a model of the cartridge and bullet but without primer or smokeless powder. Those problems were solved by Russian scientists and engineers (the smokeless powder, for instance, was produced by Dmitri Mendeleev himself).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q154321. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1891, 1877 and 1878.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mosin–Nagant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.