Russian/Soviet M91

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Russian/Soviet M91
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After trials of several different repeating bolt action designs Russia adopted a new standard infantry rifle in 1891. It fires the 7.62x54r cartridge and is a combination of designs by Russian Sergei Mosin and Belgian Leon Nagant whose primary contribution was the magazine and feed system. The official Russian designation is Three Line Rifle, Model of the Year 1891 but is more commonly known in the US as the Mosin Nagant M91. A line is a unit of measure equal to 1/10th of an inch. Production of the M91 took place at the Russian arsenals at Izhevsk, Tula, and Sestroryetsk. Due to a slow start in domestic production a contract was issued to the French arms company Chatellerault who built around 500,000 M91s. During WWI contracts were issued to the American firms of New England Westinghouse and Remington for 1.8 and 1.5 million rifles respectively. M91s were widely used in WWI and can be found with markings from many different European countries that purchased or captured them. The rifle pictured at the top of the page is in original configuration with the finger rest, no handguard, short cleaning rod, sling swivels on the magazine and front barrel band, early flat rear sight leaf, no recoil bolt and no sling slots. The rifle pictured below is in the final configuration with no finger rest, a handguard, full length cleaning rod, no sling swivels, Konovalov rear sight, recoil bolt, sling slots, and late pattern (type 4) barrel bands. Many M91s can be found with a mix of early and late features such as early barrel bands or missing the handguards due to damage and no replacement. See below for the intervening configurations and variations from other countries.

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Specifications For all models see the Mosin Nagant Rifle Specifications page. Barrel Stock Groove Length Length Diameter 31 1/2" 47 1/2" .311" 80.0 cm. 120.7 cm.

Weight 9 1/2 lbs. 4.3kg.

Over All Length 51 1/2" 130.8 cm.

Sight Radius 27" 68.6 cm.

Cleaning Rod Length (approx.) 29" 73.7 cm.

Chatellerault 1892 to 1895

(1)

Years of Production by Arsenal For all models see the Mosin Nagant Rifle Years of Production page. New England Tula Izhevsk Sestroryetsk Westinghouse 1891 to 1926 1891 to 1926 (1) 1892 to 1918 1915 to 1918 (2)

Remington 1915 to 1918

Izhevsk production may have ended prior to 1926

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(2)

All NEW M91s are dated 1915, regardless of year of actual production

Barrel Markings The translated text is in the same format as the original and the dates are when the marking was used.

Ordnance Factory Chatellerault 1892-1895

Izhevsk Ordnance Factory 1892-1919

Izhevsk Ordnance Factory 1919-1926

Sestroryetsk Ordnance Factory 1892-1918

Imperial Tula Ordnance Factory 1891-1892 (courtesy of Robert Jensen)

Imperial Tula Ordnance Factory 1892-1912

Foremost (at) Tula Ordnance Factory Tula Emperor Peter the Great Ordnance Factory 1912-1918 Tula Ordnance Fac(tory) 1918-1919 1919

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Foremost Tula Ordnance Factory RSFSR 1919-1920

Foremost Tula Ordnance Factory RSFSR 1920-1924

Foremost Ordnance Factory (of the) USSR at Tula 1924-1926

Remington Armory 1915-1917

Remington Armory 1917-1918

New England Westinghouse Company early "curved logo" with large arc

New England New England New England Westinghouse Westinghouse Westinghouse Company Company Company late "curved logo" with small arc "straight logo" "straight logo", "stylized eagle" All New England Westinghouse M91s are dated 1915 regardless of actual year of manufacture. See the New England Westinghouse Barrel Marks page for more detailed information.
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Receiver Tang Markings

Tula Hammer and date (2 digit pre 1900)

Tula Hammer and date (3 digit post 1900)

Izhevsk Bow and Arrow and date (pre 1928)

Sestroryetsk Arrow and date (2 digit pre 1900)

Sestroryetsk Arrow and date (3 digit post 1900)

Chatellerault Circle C and date

Chatellerault Circle P, no date

New England Westinghouse M with arrow (Can be other letters) On top of tang, no markings on bottom

Training rifle mark On top of tang Also found on barrel forward of rear sight

Receivers from 1891 until 1893 or 1894 were not marked on the tang, while Remington and New England Westinghouse did not date any receivers.

Design Revisions The chart and pictures below document the revisions to the original M91 design over it's more than three decades of production. Few of the earliest rifles are still in original configuration as most have been updated to one degree or another. Also, rifles can be found which do not fit the configurations listed below because they received one or more upgrades, but not all of them. Still other rifles have been repaired with earlier parts at some point and therefore "downgraded". In the case of handguards it's often simply a matter of it being broken in use, discarded, and never replaced. Karl-Heinz Wrobel, author of "Drei Linien, Die Gewehre Mosin-Nagant" deserves much of the credit for the information presented here and it would not be as accurate or complete without his invaluable help. The rifles in many of the pictures don't actually exist as shown and are a combination of parts from several rifles and digital alteration of the photographs. In fact, parts from only five rifles were used for the ten configurations and only one stock and action appear below. The intent is to educate and illustrate, not deceive, and the visitor's understanding of this is appreciated.
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Configuration Finger Cleaning Handguard 1 Rest Number Rod 2

Sling Swivels magazine and front band

Barrel Bands
3

Rear Sight 4 original

Crossbolt

Sling Slots none

Date of Change 1892

Arsenals 5

yes

no

short

conf. 1

none

C, T, I, S

Original, no changes

no

no

short

magazine and front band

conf. 1

original

none

none

June 4, 1893

C, T, I, S

Dropped finger rest

no

yes

short

magazine and front band

conf. 2

original

none

none

February 2, 1894

C, T, I, S

Added handguard which necessitated a change in the barrel bands

no

yes

long

magazine and front band

conf. 2

original

none

none

1896

T, I, S

Lengthened cleaning rod and altered stock accommodate it

no

yes

long

magazine only 6

conf. 3

original

none

none

unknown

T, I, S

Dropped sling swivel at front barrel band 6

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no

yes

long

none

conf. 3

original

none

yes

1908

T, I, S

Added sling slots which had been in use on Dragoon and Cossack rifles from the beginning of their production and dropped swivel on magazine

no

yes

long

none

conf. 3 Konovalov

none

yes

mid 1909

T, I, S

Changed rear sight to Konovalov type with adoption of M1908 spitzer bullet cartridge

no

yes

long

none

conf. 3 Konovalov

wood 7

yes

unknown

T, I, S

Added wooden crossbolt 7

9 no Changed crossbolt to steel

yes

long

none

conf. 3 Konovalov

steel

yes

late 1909

T, I, S

10

no

yes

long

none

conf. 4 Konovalov

steel

yes

early 1909 to 1910 8

T, I, S, N, R

Changed barrel bands to type 4 with an oval shape and recessed tension screw

Notes. 1. The "configuration numbers" used in this chart are not official designations and are provided only as an aid for collectors to discuss the subject. 2. The short cleaning rod design changed several times in 1893 and 1894 (Karl-Heinz Wrobel).
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3. There are four configurations of barrel bands used on M91s. Configuration 1 has an "exposed" tension screw, no notches for the handguard tabs, and a sling swivel. Configuration 2 is basically the same but has notches for the handguard tabs. Most configuration 1 bands had the notches added, converting them to configuration 2. Configuration 3 eliminates the sling swivel, which may or may not have been an original configuration. Configuration 4 has an oval shape and recessed tension screw. 4. When the rear sight leaf was changed the shape of the base where the leaf connects also changed slightly. Konovalov (later) rear sight leaves will fit on the early bases, but early flat leaves will not fit on the later bases. 5. Arsenal abbreviations are as follows; Chatellerault, Tula, Izhevsk, Sestroryetsk, New England Westinghouse, and Remington. 6. It is thought that a hook attached to the sling which fit over the tension screw on the front barrel band was used prior to the conversion to sling slots, but it is not mentioned in source documents (John Sheehan, Karl-Heinz Wrobel). 7. There is some question whether or not the wooden crossbolt is Russian or was done by another country as no mention of them appears in source documents (Karl-Heinz Wrobel). Rifles have been documented with only wooden crossbolts and with steel crossbolts retrofitted through a wooden crossbolt. 8. Configuration 4 bands began to be used in early 1909 but rifles were still being produced in 1910 using the configuration 3 bands (Karl-Heinz Wrobel).

Other Country's Variations See the Finnish M91 page for variations from Finland. Follow the links for detailed information on each rifle. Japanese Russo Japanese War capture 6.5 Arisaka single shot trainer conversion German WWI capture Mauser bayonet conversion Japanese Russian Civil War Allied Intervention single shot trainer US (Remington) WWI contract US walnut stock Belgian postWWI/1920s era commercial 8mm conversion Spanish
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Civil War purchase Spanish (post war?) walnut stock

Romanian Cold War era Instructie training rifle Romanian unknown era, possibly Cold War Romanian made two piece stock

Hex Receiver

Sight Variations The original rear sights on Russian M91 rifles are a flat leaf graduated in arshini (singular arshin) which is an archaic Russian unit equal to 28". The base has five notches numbered 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 representing hundreds of arshini. Chatellerault placed the numbers on the right side of the base while all other arsenals numbered the left side of the base as in the example below. The rear of the leaf is marked 13 through 27 also representing hundreds of arshini with a notch in the leaf itself serving the 2700 arshini (2100 yards) range. However, the example below is not marked with the "26" or "27". The base is attached to the barrel by means of a dovetail and is soldered in place.

With the adoption of the spitzer bullet in 1908 a new rear sight leaf designed by Konovalov was adapted to the existing base which did not change. The arshin unit was retained and most M91s were retrofitted with the new leaf. The graduations on the back side are from 13 to 32 (hundred arshini) with the notch at the end of the leaf itself being eliminated.

The first two pictures below are a typical M91 rear sight base with the numbers on the left side while the second two pictures are a Chatellerault base with the numbers on the right side.

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The Russian M91 front sight is a simple "barleycorn" blade dovetailed to a base which is integral to the barrel.

Cleaning rod nut, tapered hole in front only, hole in top threaded to receive nose cap screw to aid in removing nut

Nose cap

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Early front barrel band and magazine with sling swivels. The stock would not have had sling slots. Most of these were upgraded. Front bands Configuration 1 (no notches for handguard tabs) Configuration 2 (notches for handguard tabs)

Sling slots with screwed in place escutcheons

Early M91 barrel band, configuration 3

Late M91 barrel band, configuration 4

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Handguard

Handguard end rivets

Copper

Small aluminum

Large aluminum

Bayonet Socket

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