North Viet Nam marksman was the M91 or M91/30 Sniper Rifle fitted with a short telescope sight.
Mosin-Nagant Rifles
There are several rifle variations based on the M91 M-N action. I will briefly describe the principal ones. First, of course, is the M91 rifle with a 30.5” barrel, weighing about 9.75 pounds. The first of these had sling swivels; later on swivels were omitted, and slots cut into the stock through which the sling could pass. Then there is the M91 Dragoon rifle, its barrel 28.8” long and weighing about 8.75 pounds. The top of the receiver of M91 rifles is octagonal in shape and usually color casehardened. Later models had a round receiver top, including the M91/30 standard rifle (28.7” barrel, and about 8.75 pounds) and the Sniper’s rifle—about the same except fitted with a telescope sight. Several types of mounts and scopes were used on these sniper rifles. The scopes are the short and low-powered hunting type, attached with high-bracket side mounts. The scopes usually had built-in windage and elevation adjustments, and usually with one or both of these adjustments also built into the mount. The mount base, attached to the side of the receiver, was designed to let the scope and mount bracket be easily detached. The sniper rifle had a long bent-down bolt handle. Both M91/30s have a globe front sight.
Russian Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant action; late version with the rounded receiver ring.
There were also three M-N carbine models. The Model 1910 has a 20” barrel, weighs about 7.5 pounds, and has an unprotected blade front sight. The Model 1938 also has a 20” barrel, weighs about 7.6 pounds, and M1910 blade front sight. The Model 1944 has a 20.4” barrel, weighs about 8.9 pounds, and has a globe front sight. All M-N rifles and carbines have elevation-adjustable rear sights and are chambered for the 7.62mm Russian cartridge.
The Mosin-Nagant Action
An odd and unusual action, it has few features which can be said to have been copied from other actions. In fact, it has a number of features unique to it. In a way the action seems a fairly simple one, as indicated by its relatively few parts, but at the same time it has a complicated three-piece bolt assembly. Its design and manufacture is complicated because it has to accommodate a rimmed cartridge. Many small and minor parts are eliminated in its design; there are no separate safety or bolt-stop parts, and the number of trigger and bolt-stop parts is four. Even the novel magazine interrupter feature has only three parts, of which one is the ejector. Although the action is somewhat crude and is not easily operated, it is nonetheless quite reliable.
The Model 1891 actions with octagonal-topped receivers show much better workmanship throughout than do those with rounded receivers. This is especially true of the actions made by Remington and Westinghouse, doubtless because these plants were swarming with Russian inspectors (about 1500 of them, according to one report) to see that every part was made just so. The actions made in Russia, especially during the war years, are rather poorly finished.
The receiver is a one-piece steel forging machined to final shape. The inside of the receiver ring is bored and threaded to receive the barrel shank. The breech end of the barrel is flat except for an extractor hook recess, taking up about one-third of its face. Most receivers have an inside collar, against which the barrel abuts; this ring is cut away on the right for about one-third of its circumference, to make room for the extractor. Very late wartime receivers don’t have this inside collar. The rear of the receiver ring is milled out to receive the dual locking lugs on the bolt head.
The recoil shoulder under the receiver ring is quite heavy but narrow, affording only about a ½” x
A portion of the bottom of the receiver, from the recoil shoulder back, is milled flat. The magazine-well recess in the bottom of the receiver is milled out to approximate the shape of the rimmed 7.62mm Russian cartridge, with a sort of tunnel or chute milled out in the narrower front half of the well to allow passage of the cartridge head as the cartridge is pushed into the chamber.
