Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Мо́син, April 2 or 14, 1849 - February 8, 1902) was a Russian Major General,
engineer, and the main contributor to the design of the 3-line rifle, Model 1891 (Russian: "трёхлинейная винтовка образца 1891 года"), colloquially known as
Mosin–Nagant
The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891 and informally in Russia and former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle ( ru , винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: ) ...
.
Early life
Mosin was born in
Ramon, in the
Voronezh Governorate of the
Russian Empire in 1849. He entered into a
military academy at age 12 where he excelled as a young officer. In 1867, he entered the Alexandrovskoye Military High School in
Moscow. Upon leaving Alexandrovskoye in 1870, he decided to go to the
artillery branch and transferred to the
Mikhailovskoye Artillery Academy
Russia has a number of military academies of different specialties. This article primarily lists institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation rather than those of the Soviet Armed Forces.
Russian institutions designated as an "aca ...
. He graduated in 1875 and transferred to the
Tula Arsenal
Imperial Tula Arms Plant (russian: Императорский Тульский оружейный завод, Imperatorskiy Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod) is a Russian weapons manufacturer founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia in 1712 in Tula, Tula Oblast as ...
where he became the head of the
machining
Machining is a process in which a material (often metal) is cut to a desired final shape and size by a controlled material-removal process. The processes that have this common theme are collectively called subtractive manufacturing, which utilizes ...
division.
Mosin–Nagant
It was at Tula where Mosin began his career as a weapons designer by first making improvements to the
Berdan II and later collaborating with
Nagant to design the
Rifle of Three Lines of the Year 1891. Some details in Mosin's rifle were borrowed from
Léon Nagant
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
's design. One such detail is the attachment of the magazine spring to the magazine base plate. In Mosin's original design the spring was not attached to the base plate and, according to the commission, could be lost during cleaning. Another detail is the form of the
clip
Clip or CLIP may refer to:
Fasteners
* Hair clip, a device used to hold hair together or attaching materials such as caps to the hair
* Binder clip, a device used for holding thicker materials (such as large volumes of paper) together
** Bulldog ...
that could hold five cartridges to be loaded simultaneously into the magazine. Another detail is the form of the "interrupter", a specially designed part within the receiver, which helps prevent double feeding. The initial rifle proposed by Mosin lacked an interrupter, leading to numerous failures to feed. This detail was introduced in the rifle borrowing from Nagant's rifle.
Mosin eventually rose to the rank of
Major General and was appointed as the director of the
Sestroretsk arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
. He died on February 8, 1902, and was buried in Sestroretskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg
Sestroretsk.
See also
*
List of Russian inventors
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosin, Sergei Ivanovich
1849 births
1902 deaths
People from Voronezh Oblast
People from Voronezhsky Uyezd
Russian military engineers
Russian inventors
Generals of the Russian Empire
Weapon designers
Firearm designers