A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge .
84-483: The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles chambered for intermediate cartridges , which were later categorized as assault rifles . Battle rifles were most prominent from the 1940s to the 1970s, when they were used as service rifles . While modern battle rifles largely resemble modern assault rifle designs, which replaced battle rifles in most roles,
168-513: A boxed SA, as well as many other parts produced in those countries and barrels produced in Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Germany. The Finns also manufactured two-piece "finger splice" stocks for their Mosin–Nagant rifles. In addition, the rifle was distributed as aid to Republican anti- Franco forces in the Spanish Civil War . Spanish Civil War Mosins can be readily identified by
252-549: A falling-off in finish of the rifles. The wartime Mosins are easily identified by the presence of tool marks and rough finishing that never would have passed the inspectors in peacetime. However, despite a lack of both aesthetic focus and uniformity, the basic functionality of the Mosins was unimpaired. In addition, in 1938 a carbine version of the Mosin–Nagant, the M38, was issued. It used
336-410: A more complicated mechanism and a long and tiresome procedure of disassembling (which required special instruments—it was necessary to unscrew two fasteners). Mosin's rifle was mainly criticized for its lower quality of manufacture and materials, due to "artisan pre-production" of his 300 rifles. The commission initially voted 14 to 10 to approve Mosin's rifle. At this point the decision was made to rename
420-562: A patent since he was an officer of the Russian army, and the design of the rifle was owned by the Government and had the status of a military secret. A scandal was about to burst out, with Nagant threatening he would not participate in trials held in Russia ever again and some officials proposing to expel Nagant from any further trials, as he borrowed the design of the interrupter after it was covered by
504-518: A split rear receiver ring, also serving a similar function to Mauser's "third" or "safety" lug. The rifling of the Mosin barrel is right turning (clockwise looking down the rifle) 4-groove with a twist of 1:9.5" or 1:10". The 5-round fixed metallic magazine can either be loaded by inserting the cartridges individually, or more often in military service, by the use of 5-round stripper clips . The 3-line rifle, Model 1891 , its original official designation,
588-520: Is primarily found chambered for its original 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. In spite of its age, it has been used in various conflicts around the world up to
672-683: Is the most produced rifle in 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. The ArmaLite AR-10 is a 7.62×51mm NATO battle rifle designed by Eugene Stoner in 1955, as a late entrant to the United States Army 's Light Rifle Trials to replace the M1 Garand in US service. It was initially manufactured by ArmaLite (then a division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation ) and under a manufacturing license by Artillerie Inrichtingen . First introduced in 1956,
756-545: The 1937 World Shooting Championships in Helsinki. M/28–30 model, serial number 60974, was also used by Simo Häyhä , a well-known Finnish sniper. M/28–30 was used as Civil Guards competition rifle before World War II, as was the case with Simo Häyhä's personal rifle. Therefore, rifles were built very well, with highest grade barrels available and carefully matched headspace. Häyhä's rifle was still at PKarPr (Northern Karelia Brigade) museum in 2002, then moved to an unknown place by
840-685: The AK series rifles. Despite its increasing obsolescence, the Mosin–Nagant saw continued service throughout the Eastern bloc and the rest of the world for many decades to come. Mosin–Nagant rifles and carbines saw service on many fronts of the Cold War , from Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and along the Iron Curtain in Europe. They were kept not only as reserve stockpiles, but front-line infantry weapons as well. Finland
924-771: The Czechoslovak Legions in Siberia to aid in their attempt to secure passage to France. Many of the New England Westinghouse and Remington Mosin–Nagants were sold to private citizens in the United States before World War II through the office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship, the predecessor to the federal government's current Civilian Marksmanship Program . Large numbers of Mosin–Nagants were captured by German and Austro-Hungarian forces and saw service with
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#17330847015561008-610: The DP-27 were not available, but the weapon's 10 round capacity made it somewhat unsuitable for fully automatic fire. Nazi Germany was responsible for a large amount of experimental weaponry during the war. Among these was the FG-42 , a rifle built specifically for the Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers). The rifle was meant to be a jack-of-all-trades that would be used during the first stages of an airborne operation, before heavier weapons like
1092-579: The M1 Garand , and France used the MAS-49 . The FAL was supposed to solve this issue; however, the United States chose not to adopt it, primarily because their own design, the M14 rifle , was a pound lighter, less internally complex, and there was financial benefit for the United States in producing it domestically. At the time of its creation, it was adopted by several NATO countries, including Belgium , Luxembourg ,
1176-579: The M16 rifle in the 1960s, nearly every other nation adopted the assault rifle paradigm over the following decades. Because they were more controllable, much lighter, and still offered acceptable levels of penetration, intermediate cartridges were considered a better choice, and gradually battle rifles began to be replaced with weapons such as the Steyr AUG , Heckler & Koch G36 , FAMAS , and SA80 . However, battle rifles do continue to be used in certain roles where
1260-497: The MG-42 could be sent in. The FG-42 was a select fire rifle, which had a 20-round magazine that loaded on the left of the rifle, and it used the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. It was first used during the Battle of Rhodes (1943) , and continued to see limited service until the end of the war, with a total of about 7,000 produced. Postwar observers were very impressed by the rifle, resulting in
1344-575: The Mauser locks vertically. The Mosin bolt body is multi-piece whereas the Mauser is one piece. The Mosin uses interchangeable bolt heads like the Lee–Enfield . Unlike the Mauser, which uses a controlled feed bolt head in which the cartridge base snaps up under the fixed extractor as the cartridge is fed from the magazine, the Mosin has a push feed recessed bolt head in which the spring-loaded extractor snaps over
1428-715: 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). In 1889, three rifles were submitted for evaluation: Captain Sergei Ivanovich Mosin of
1512-654: The Netherlands , among many others. The United Kingdom manufactured their own version of the FAL, the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle , which is semi-automatic only . Though assault rifles are typically more common in contemporary usage, the FAL is still in active service in many nations (none of which are in NATO), most notably Brazil . In total, the FAL has been used by over 90 countries and over 7,000,000 have been produced, leading to
1596-509: The Star Wars prequel trilogy (e.g. Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope ). In the 1990s, when the Internet became widely popular and email accounts' instant delivery common, mail carried by the postal service came to be called "snail mail" for its slower delivery and email sometimes just "mail." Advances in technology and science are often responsible for the coinage of retronyms. For example,
1680-668: The Type 4 rifle , also known as the Type 5, to act as a counter to the American M1 Garand . While initial attempts were made as rudimentary copies of the Garand, it was found that the Japanese 7.7×58mm Arisaka cartridge didn't respond well to being fitted into the Garand's internals, and so, the en-bloc clip design of the Garand was replaced with a 10-round internal magazine, loaded with stripper clips, as
1764-528: The Winter War . France developed the Chauchat-Ribeyrolles 1918 submachine gun , an automatic shortrifle chambered in 8×50mmR Lebel , intended to defend tank crews. The battle rifle was of major significance during World War II , with the United States , Soviet Union , Nazi Germany , and Imperial Japan all producing them in some capacity. Millions were produced during this era, but overall, with
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#17330847015561848-456: The AR-10 used an innovative combination of a straight-line barrel/stock design with phenolic composite , a new U.S. patent 2,951,424 filed gas-operated bolt and carrier system and forged alloy parts resulting in a small arm significantly easier to control in automatic fire and over 1 lb (0.45 kg) lighter than other infantry rifles of the day. Over its production life, the original AR-10
1932-758: The American .30-06 Springfield cartridge. With the fall of the Iron Curtain , a large quantity of Mosin–Nagants have found their way onto markets outside of Russia as collectibles and hunting rifles. Due to the large surplus created by the Soviet small arms industry during World War II and the tendency of the former Soviet Union to retain and store large quantities of old but well-preserved surplus (long after other nations' militaries divested themselves of similar vintage materials), these rifles (mostly M1891/30 rifles and M1944 carbines) are inexpensive compared to other surplus arms of
2016-550: The Berdan rifles then in use by the Russian army. The Mosin rifle was first tested in combat in 1893, during clashes between Russian and Afghan troops in the Pamirs. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was the rifle's first major conflict. By the time the war broke out in 1904, approximately 3.8 million had been built, with over 1.5 million in the hands of the Russian cavalry and all of its reserves when hostilities commenced. Between
2100-788: The British EM-2 rifle and the American M60 Machine Gun , which was standard issue in the U.S. during the Vietnam War . Both of these designs were heavily influenced by the FG-42. Another German design built during the Second World War was the Gewehr 41 , which was produced by Walther Arms and Mauser , and had a 10-round internal magazine, loaded with 2 stripper clips and used the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. About 145,000 were produced before
2184-798: The Donbas, and to conscripted Russian civilians as part of Vladimir Putin's wider general mobilization during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . After the Estonian War of Independence, Estonia had around 120,000 M/1891s in stock, later the Kaitseliit , the Estonian Defence League , received some Finnish M28/30 rifles, a few modernised variants were also made by the Estonian Armory; Most Finnish rifles were assembled by SAKO , Tikkakoski Oy, or VKT ( Valtion Kivääritehdas , State Rifle Factory, after
2268-505: The Finnish Army. Mosin–Nagants have been exported from Finland since the 1960s as its military modernized and decommissioned the rifles. Most of these have ended up as inexpensive surplus for Western nations. In the USSR surplus military carbines (without bayonet) were sold as civilian hunting weapons. Also, the Mosin–Nagant action has been used to produce a limited number of commercial rifles,
2352-662: The Mauser design was worked upon and made into the Gewehr 43 . Externally, the two rifles look mostly identical, and the main difference that sets them apart is that the G43 reloads with external box magazines (10 rounds), and has a short-stroke piston , whereas the G41 uses the same system as that in the M1922 Bang rifle . Over 400,000 G43s were built. During the Pacific War , the Empire of Japan created
2436-526: The Mauser, the bolt lift arc on the Mosin–Nagant is 90 degrees, versus 60 degrees on the Lee–Enfield. The Mauser bolt handle is at the rear of the bolt body and locks behind the solid rear receiver ring. The Mosin bolt handle is similar to the Mannlicher : it is attached to a protrusion on the middle of the bolt body, which serves as a bolt guide, and it locks protruding out of the ejection/loading port in front of
2520-573: The Mosin–Nagant (Russia had not paid for the order at any time throughout the Great War). With Remington and Westinghouse on the precipice of bankruptcy from the Communists' decision, the remaining 280,000 rifles were purchased by the United States Army . American and British expeditionary forces of the North Russia Campaign were armed with these rifles and sent to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in
2604-524: The Mosin–Nagant as a sniper rifle, with similar success with their own designs and captured Soviet rifles. For example, Simo Häyhä is credited with having killed 505 Soviet soldiers, many of whom fell victim to his Finnish M/28-30 derivative. Häyhä did not use a scope on his Mosin. In interviews Häyhä gave before his death, he said that the scope and mount designed by the Soviets required the shooter to expose himself too much and raise his head too high, increasing
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2688-723: The Mosin–Nagant, all of them manufactured using the receivers of Russian-made, American-made, French-made or (later) Soviet-made rifles. Finland also utilized a number of captured M91 and M91/30 rifles with minimal modifications. As a result, the rifle was used on both sides of the Winter War and the Continuation War during World War II. Finnish Mosin–Nagants were produced by SAKO , Tikkakoski, and VKT, with some using barrels imported from Switzerland and Germany. In assembling M39 rifles, Finnish armorers reused "hex" receivers that dated back as far as 1891. Finnish rifles are characterized by Russian, French or American-made receivers stamped with
2772-505: The United States in 1915. Remington produced 750,000 rifles before production was halted by the 1917 October Revolution . Deliveries to Russia had amounted to 469,951 rifles when the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended hostilities between the Central Powers and now Soviet-Russia. Henceforth, the new Bolshevik government of Vladimir Lenin cancelled payments to the American companies manufacturing
2856-849: The Western press. From a technical point of view the rifle that came to be called "Mosin–Nagant" is the design proposed by Mosin as further amended by Mosin with some details borrowed from Nagant's design. Only since 1924 the rifle was officially named "Mosin's rifle" in the USSR, although some variants were still known only by their year of origin. In 1889 Tsar Alexander III ordered the Russian army to meet or exceed European standards in rifle developments with "rifles of reduced caliber and cartridges with smokeless powder". The new weapons would entail "high velocities", exceeding 600 metres per second (2,000 ft/s) and would result in land battles both commencing and being capable of being fought at longer ranges, nearly two kilometers. The new Mosin rifles would replace
2940-564: The adoption of the final design in 1891 and the year 1910, several variants and modifications to the existing rifles were made. With the start of World War I , production was restricted to the M1891 dragoon and infantry models for the sake of simplicity. Due to the desperate shortage of arms and the shortcomings of a still-developing domestic industry , the Russian government ordered 1.5 million M1891 infantry rifles from Remington Arms and another 1.8 million from New England Westinghouse Company in
3024-589: The basis for the creation of the M14 rifle . The Soviet Union issued one major battle rifle, the SVT-40 , which was invented by Fedor Tokarev , who is also well known for creating the Tokarev pistol . It uses the 7.62×54mmR cartridge, and reloaded with a 10-round magazine, but the receiver was open-top, meaning it could also be loaded with 5-round stripper clips, the same ones used in the Mosin-Nagant . The SVT's performance
3108-472: The bolt, but not enough to prevent interchangeability with the earlier Model 1891 and the so-called "Cossack dragoon" rifles. Finland was a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until 1917, so Finns had long used the Mosin–Nagant in service with the Imperial military. The rifle was used in the short Finnish Civil War and adopted as the service rifle of the new republic's army. Finland produced several variants of
3192-501: The cartridge base as the bolt is finally closed similar to the Gewehr 1888 and M91 Carcano or modern sporting rifles like the Remington 700 . Like the Mauser, the Mosin uses a blade ejector mounted in the receiver. The Mosin bolt is removed by simply pulling it fully to the rear of the receiver and squeezing the trigger, while the Mauser has a bolt stop lever separate from the trigger. Like
3276-422: The chances of being spotted by the enemy. In addition, scopes tended to reflect sunlight when moved side to side, which gave away a sniper's position. In 1935–1936, the 91/30 was again modified, this time to lower production time. The "hex" receiver was changed to a round receiver. When war with Germany broke out, the need to produce Mosin–Nagants in vast quantities led to a further simplification of machining and
3360-547: The end of the 19th century, most bicycles have been expected to have two equal-sized wheels, and the other type has been renamed " penny-farthing " or "high-wheeler" bicycle. The Atari Video Computer System platform was rebranded the "Atari 2600" (after its product code, CX-2600) in 1982 following the launch of its successor, the Atari 5200 , and all hardware and software related to the platform were released under this new branding from that point on. Prior to that time, Atari often used
3444-416: The existing commission and call it Commission for creation of the small-bore rifle ( Комиссия для выработки образца малокалиберного ружья ), and to put on paper the final requirements for such a rifle. The inventors obliged by delivering their final designs. Head of the commission, General Chagin, ordered subsequent tests held under the commission's supervision, after which the bolt-action of Mosin's design
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3528-597: The extra power is appreciated, for example, designated marksmen in the Bundeswehr use the HK417 . Other examples of contemporary battle rifles include the SCAR-H , Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle , Desert Tech MDRx , IWI Tavor 7 , and XM7 rifle . Retronym A retronym is a newer name for something that differentiates it from something else that is newer, similar, or seen in everyday life; thus, avoiding confusion between
3612-407: The front lines. Significantly, the front sight of the M38 was positioned in such a way that the Model 91/30's cruciform bayonet could not be mounted to the muzzle even if a soldier obtained one. An increase in urban combat led directly to the development of the Model M44 Mosin. In essence, the M44 is an M38 with a slightly modified forearm and with a permanently mounted cruciform bayonet that folds to
3696-439: The hands of Soviet, Afghan and Mujahadeen forces in Afghanistan during the Soviet Afghan War of the 80s and the following civil wars of the late 1980s and 90s. Their use in Afghanistan continued on well into the 1990s and the early 21st century by Northern Alliance forces. Mosin–Nagant rifles are still found on modern battlefields around the world. Russia has issued the rifle to conscripts from both occupied regions of
3780-434: The imperial army submitted his "3-line" caliber (.30 cal, 7.62 mm ) rifle; Belgian designer Léon Nagant submitted a "3.5-line" (.35 caliber, 9 mm) design; and a Captain Zinoviev submitted another "3-line" design (1 " line " = 1 ⁄ 10 in or 2.54 mm, thus 3 lines = 7.62 mm). When trials concluded in 1891, the evaluators were split in their assessment. The main disadvantages of Nagant's rifle were
3864-427: The initialism "VCS" in official literature and other media, but colloquially the Video Computer System was often simply called "the Atari." The first film in the Star Wars franchise released in 1977 was simply titled Star Wars . It was given the subtitle "Episode IV: A New Hope" for its 1981 theatrical re-release, shortly after the release of its sequel The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. Initially, this subtitle
3948-434: The late summer of 1918 to prevent the large quantities of munitions delivered for Tsarist forces from being captured by the Central Powers. Remaining rifles were used for the training of U.S. Army troops. Some were used to equip U.S. National Guard , SATC , and ROTC units. Designated "U.S. Rifle, 7.62mm, Model of 1916", these are among the rarest of American service arms. In 1917, 50,000 rifles were sent via Vladivostok to
4032-415: The most famous are the Vostok brand target rifles exported in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s chambered in the standard 7.62×54mmR round and in 6.5×54mmR, a necked-down version of the original cartridge designed for long range target shooting. Rifles in 6.5×54mmR use a necked-down 7.62×54mmR cartridge and were the standard rifle of the USSR's Olympic biathlon team until the International Olympic Committee revised
4116-424: The name of Mosin, because of the personal decision taken by Tsar Alexander III , which was made based on the opinion of the Defence Minister Pyotr Vannovskiy : there are parts in this newly created design, invented by Colonel Rogovtzev, by Lt.-General Chagin's Commission, Captain Mosin and small-arms manufacturer Nagant, therefore it is only fair to call it the Russian 3-line rifle M1891 . The Tsar himself dashed
4200-428: The present day. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) , Imperial Russian troops 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
4284-415: The rather underpowered 6.5mm Arisaka round from a 25-round box magazine. Only about 100 were produced and used during the war, before the Russian Civil War forced Russia to withdraw its forces in 1917, and so there is an absence of reports on the combat effectiveness of Fedorov rifles, but they continued to be produced until 1925. Fedorov rifles were also used in limited numbers during the opening stages of
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#17330847015564368-423: The rear-echelon forces of both armies, and also with the Imperial German Navy . Many of these weapons were sold to Finland in the 1920s. During the Russian Civil War , infantry and dragoon versions were still in production, though in dramatically reduced numbers. The rifle was widely used by all belligerents in the civil war. In 1924, following the victory of the Red Army , a committee was established to modernize
4452-537: The rifle's other, unofficial name: "The Right Arm of the Free World ." The ' Heckler & Koch G3 ( Gewehr 3 ) is a roller-delayed blowback operating system rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CETME ( Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales ), firing 7.62×51mm NATO from 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 round detachable box magazines and 50 or 100 round detachable drum magazines . It
4536-478: The rifle, making a distinctive ping sound in the process, after which a new en bloc clip could be inserted into the rifle. The adoption of the semi-automatic rifle allowed American riflemen to field much greater sustained firepower than their Allied and Axis contemporaries, who were still using bolt-action rifles as their primary rifle. The Garand continued to see front line service during the Korean War , saw limited service during the Vietnam War , and served as
4620-475: The rifle, which had by then been in service for over three decades. This effort led to the development of the Model 91/30 rifle, which was based on the design of the original dragoon version. The barrel length was shortened by 7 cm (2.8 in). The sight measurements were converted from arshins to meters; and the front sight blade was replaced by a hooded post front sight less susceptible to being knocked out of alignment. There were also minor modifications to
4704-419: The right when it is not needed. It was an improvement on the Model 91/30, particularly for urban warfare; but few M44s saw combat on the Eastern Front. By the end of the war, approximately 19.8 million Mosin–Nagant rifles had been produced. In the years after World War II, the Soviet Union ceased production of all Mosin–Nagants and withdrew them from service in favor of the SKS series carbines and eventually
4788-431: The rules of the event to reduce the range to 50 meters and required all competitors to use rifles chambered in .22 LR. A number of the Model 1891s produced by New England Westinghouse and Remington were sold to private citizens in the United States by the U.S. government through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship Program in the interwar period. Many of these American-made Mosin–Nagants were rechambered by wholesalers to
4872-438: The same cartridge and action as other Mosins, but the barrel was shortened by 21.6 cm (8.5 in) to bring the weapon down to an overall length of 101.6 cm (40.0 in), with the forearm shortened in proportion. The idea was to issue the M38 to troops such as combat engineers , signal corps, and artillerymen, who could conceivably need to defend themselves from sudden enemy advances, but whose primary duties lay behind
4956-421: The secrecy status given in Russia of that time to military inventions and therefore violated Russian law. Taking into consideration that Nagant was one of the few producers not engaged by competitive governments and generally eager to cooperate and share experience and technology, the Commission paid him a sum of 200,000 Russian rubles, equal to the premium that Mosin received as the winner. The rifle did not receive
5040-412: The sole exception of the United States, bolt-action rifles were much more common on the battlefield. At the outbreak of World War Two, the United States was the only nation in the world to have formally adopted a battle rifle as their service rifle . The M1 Garand fired the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, which loaded from an eight-round en bloc clip . When empty, this clip would eject upwards out of
5124-403: The term acoustic guitar was coined with the advent of the electric guitar , analog watch was introduced to distinguish from the digital watch , push bike was created to distinguish from the motorized bicycle , and feature phone was coined to distinguish from the smartphone . Likewise, visible light refers to electromagnetic radiation on the narrow visible spectrum , and water ice
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#17330847015565208-421: The term may also describe older military full-power semi-automatic rifles such as the M1 Garand , SVT-40 , Gewehr 41 , Gewehr 43 , Type 4 , FN Model 1949 , and MAS-49 . First examples of semi-automatic fully powered-cartridge rifles used in World War I are the Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 in 8×50mmR Lebel and the Winchester Model 1910 in .401 Winchester Self-Loading . During World War I , all of
5292-452: The two. The term retronym , a neologism composed of the combining forms retro- (from Latin retro , "before") + -nym (from Greek ónoma , "name"), was coined by Frank Mankiewicz in 1980 and popularized by William Safire in The New York Times Magazine . In 2000, The American Heritage Dictionary (4th edition) became the first major dictionary to include the word retronym . The global war from 1914 to 1918
5376-469: The wars part of Valtion Metallitehtaat (Valmet) , State Metalworks). The Finnish cartridge 7.62×53mmR is a slightly modified variation of the Russian 7.62×54mmR , and is considered interchangeable with 54R. However, the older version of the Finnish military cartridge was loaded with the S-type bullet that had nominal diameter of .308. In 1936 the Finnish Army fielded a new standard service cartridge intended for both machine guns and rifles. This new cartridge
5460-427: The wire sling hangers inserted in the slots in the forearm and buttstock meant to take the Russian "dog collars" for Russian-style slings, so the rifles could accept Western European–style rifle slings. At the beginning of the war, the Mosin–Nagant 91/30 was the standard-issue weapon of Soviet troops. Millions were produced in World War II for use by the largest mobilized army in history. The Mosin–Nagant Model 1891/30
5544-402: The word "Russian" from this document with his own hand. The decision to pay off Nagant proved wise, as he remained the major contractor for the Russian Government, and the Nagant M1895 revolver was subsequently adopted by the Russian army as its main sidearm. However, in spite of the payment, Nagant attempted to use the situation for publicity, resulting in the name "Mosin–Nagant" appearing in
5628-403: The world's armies were equipped with bolt-action rifles , and the thought of fully automatic fire in a design that was lightweight and controllable enough to be used by a single soldier was seen as something that would be extremely useful in the static conditions of trench warfare . The Russian Empire produced the world's first battle rifle, the Fedorov Avtomat , which was select-fire and fired
5712-413: Was a modernized design introduced in 1930. Some details were borrowed from Nagant's design. Despite the failure of Nagant's rifle, he filed a patent suit, claiming he was entitled to the sum the winner was to receive. It appeared that Nagant was the first to apply for the international patent protection over the interrupter, although he borrowed it from Mosin's design initially. Mosin could not apply for
5796-452: Was adopted by the Russian military in 1891. Production began in 1892 at the ordnance factories of Tula Arsenal , Izhevsk Arsenal and at Sestroryetsk Arsenal. An order for 500,000 rifles was placed with the French arms factory, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault . There have been several refinements and variations of the original rifle, the most common being the M1891/30 (commonly referred to as "the 91/30" by shooters), which
5880-719: Was also improved by adding coil spring to minimize very long pre-travel. Following M/39 does not have this improvement. The magazine was also modified to prevent jamming. Magazines were stamped with "HV" ( häiriövapaa , lit. ' jam free ' ) letters in right side of rifle. Later M/39 uses identical design, but without the "HV" stamp. M/28–30 also have metal sleeve in fore-end of handguard, to reduce barrel harmonics change and to make barrel-stock contact more constant between shots and/or during environmental changes such as moisture and temperature. Later M/39 does not have this upgrade. In addition to its military usage, approximately 440 M/28–30 rifles were manufactured by SAKO for use in
5964-422: Was built in relatively small numbers, with fewer than 10,000 rifles assembled. However, the ArmaLite AR-10 (later developed into the ArmaLite AR-15 , M16 rifle , and M4 carbine ) would become the progenitor for a wide range of firearms. After WW2, the USSR was the first global power to make an assault rifle the standard infantry weapon, with the AK-47 family of firearms. After the United States formally adopted
6048-458: Was coined to distinguish the solid state of water (including exotic forms) from the solid state of other volatiles such as carbon dioxide and argon. 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 the former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle ( Russian : винтовка Мосина , ISO 9 : vintovka Mosina ), it
6132-465: Was eventually replaced by the M16 assault rifle , which was a controversial decision as the M16's less powerful 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge, combined with the fact it was much smaller and lighter, and had plastic furniture instead of wood, led some soldiers to sarcastically call the new rifle the ' Mattel 16'. Despite initial shortcomings, however, the M16 remains in American military service to this day, and it
6216-611: Was first produced in 1953, at which point all the nations of the Warsaw Pact except Czechoslovakia (which first used its own vz. 52 rifle before switching to the vz. 58 model), were all equipping with the AK-47 , or some variant of it, but most NATO countries had their own, domestically produced designs. For instance, the United Kingdom used the Lee-Enfield , the United States used
6300-473: Was first produced in 1959. The modular designed G3 has over the years been exported to over 70 countries and manufactured under licence in at least 15 countries, bringing the total number built to around 7,800,000. The M14 rifle is an American design, made to replace the M1 Garand , which was used as the basis for the M14. It is a select fire weapon, firing 7.62×51mm NATO from 20-round detachable box magazines. It
6384-453: Was limited to the opening text crawl, as all three films in the original Star Wars trilogy ( Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back , and Return of the Jedi ) were still sold under their original theatrical titles on home media formats (such as VHS and Laserdisc). It was not until their 2004 DVD releases that the titles of the individual three films were changed to follow the same titling pattern as
6468-594: Was loaded with a new bullet designed in 1934–the D-166, which had a nominal diameter of .310. The new service rifle m/39 was designed from the start around the D-166, thus it had nominal barrel diameter of .310. Handloaded cartridges for Finnish rifles should however use a 0.308-inch (7.8 mm) bullet for use with other Finnish Mosin–Nagant variants instead of the 0.310-inch (7.9 mm) one which gives best results in M/39, Soviet and most of other Mosin–Nagant rifles. The trigger
6552-533: Was modified and adapted as a sniper rifle from 1932 onwards, first with mounts and scopes from Germany then with domestic designs ( PE , PEM) from 1931; from 1942 it was issued with 3.5-power PU fixed focus scopes . It served quite prominently in the brutal urban battles on the Eastern Front , such as the Battle of Stalingrad , which made heroes of such snipers as Vasily Zaitsev , Lyudmila Pavlichenko , Ivan Sidorenko , and Roza Shanina . Finland also employed
6636-495: Was ordered into production under the name of 3-line rifle M1891 ( трёхлинейная винтовка образца 1891 года ). The colloquial name "Mosin-Nagant" used in the West is persistent but erroneous, as established in Nagant's legal dispute . Like the Gewehr 98 , the 1891 Mosin uses two front-locking lugs to lock up the action. However, the Mosin's lugs lock in the horizontal position, whereas
6720-565: Was overall unsatisfactory, owing largely to its lack of reliability, in particular that it needed frequent cleaning, and the stock was of a poor quality. Nonetheless, over 1 million rifles were produced, and it continued to see service until the end of the war. Like the Mosin-Nagant, it was replaced by the AK-47 shortly after World War II. A select fire variant named the AVT-40 was also produced in limited numbers where regular machine guns such as
6804-537: Was referred to at the time as the Great War . However, after the subsequent global war erupted in 1939, the phrase Great War was gradually deprecated. The first came to be known as World War I and the second as World War II . The first bicycles with two wheels of equal size were called " safety bicycles " because they were easier to handle than the then-dominant style that had one large wheel and one small wheel, which then became known as an "ordinary" bicycle. Since
6888-637: Was seen in the German Gewehr 41 . Only 250 were built, in 1945, when the Imperial Japanese Army was already at its breaking point, and production ceased with the surrender in August of that year. The most enduring battle rifle of the Cold War is the FN FAL ( Fusil Automatique Léger ). The FAL is a rifle produced by Belgian company FN Herstal , firing 7.62×51mm NATO from 20 or 30 round box magazines. It
6972-624: Was still producing the M39 Mosin–Nagant in small numbers as late as 1973. Virtually every country that received military aid from the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe during the Cold War used Mosin–Nagants at various times. Middle Eastern countries within the sphere of Soviet influence—Egypt, Syria , Iraq , Afghanistan and Palestinian fighters—have received them in addition to other more modern arms. Mosin–Nagants have also seen action in
7056-506: Was the primary infantry rifle used during the Vietnam War , but once deployed into combat, there were complaints about the weapon's performance, such as it was too difficult to control in full auto , its profile was too long, and the weapon was generally unreliable. A 1962 Department of Defense report described it as "completely inferior" to the M1 Garand. It went into production in 1959 and about 1,300,000 M14 rifles have been produced. The M14
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