Rifle "three-line": characteristics, photo. Why Mosin's rifle is called a "three-line"?

It happened so historically, but in the post-Soviet space many people still think that the rifle "three-line" and the rifle of Mosin are two completely different types of weapons. It's a shame that this error continues to be transmitted from father to son for several generations. It's time to stop and learn the story. For which not ashamed. Which should be proud of. About which you need to talk. After all, who does not know his past, is not worthy of his future. And for general development it will be interesting enough to find out what kind of rifle Mosin is, why the "three-line" and how it happened that it became the most massive weapon produced in the first half of the twentieth century.

Prehistory of the legendary weapon

By the end of the XIX century, the Russian army was technically weakly equipped, significantly inferior to the enemy. Constant external challenges required new types of weapons for the tsarist army. The use of the American-made single - shot rifle of Berdan did not promise the victories of the Russian army. Multiple-shot weapons were required with a reliable mechanism.

The grandiose tender announced by the Russian Tsar is described in many historical documents and had no equal at that time. Not every state offered gold for the development and delivery of a multi-shot rifle to the conveyor. Experimental samples submitted to the commission had many drawbacks. The phrase "to cross the best samples, that at their own price", dropped by accident by one of the members of the commission, finished the contest for choosing weapons. It was decided to install a five-charge magazine with a cartridge dispenser, developed by the Nagan brothers, into the domestic Mosin three-line rifle. Considering the photo, many ask the question: "Why is the rifle called" trilinear "?"

Three rulers?

The name of the rifle was given to ordinary soldiers, who found it difficult to pronounce the full name of the weapon: "three-linear rifle of the sample in 1891". How many difficulties, it is certainly necessary to understand.

1. Under the contract between the brothers Nagan and tsarist Russia, it is forbidden to name the name of only one creator in the name of the rifle, that is, "Mosin's rifle" - it is impossible, and "the Mosin-Nagan rifle" is possible. It is not known which general came up with a patriotic idea, but until the middle of the twentieth century, the weapon was proudly called "rifle three-line." Why such a name? All thanks to the caliber of the bullet.
2. The Russian measure of length "line" was equal to 2.54 mm and was used for the separation of wheat grains for sowing. The breadth of a good wheat grain is equal to one line. Caliber rifle Berdan was 4 lines - 10.16 mm. To improve the tactical and technical characteristics of the rifle, it was decided to reduce the caliber. Neither centimeters, nor millimeters were not, on what to reduce? On one line! As a result, the caliber of the rifle became 7.62 mm, and the name of the weapon contains a full transcript.

Device and specifications

There is one feature, because of which the army of the tsarist army was adopted "three-line". Rifle specifications have almost the same as those of many competitors, as evidenced by photos made by reporters from around the world. However, this is the only weapon in the world, which can be quickly disassembled and collected on the battlefield. All due to the simplicity of the design - it does not have complicated mechanisms. The battle spring, together with the impactor, is placed in the shutter. Its compression occurs at the time the bolt is unlocked. At the time of its locking, the drummer's platoon is being fired. To put the rifle on the fuse, you need to pull the trigger, located at the trailing edge of the shutter, back to the end and turn it counter-clockwise. This same trigger "trilinear" can be translated into combat position, pulling it to the point of rejection.

It is noteworthy that the rifle "trilinear" characteristics of decent shooting demonstrates only with the bayonet attached. The thing is that a heavy, forty-centimeter bayonet is a counterweight in shooting, not allowing the barrel to be thrown upwards during the shot - this problem was eliminated only in 1938 by Russian gunsmiths.

Modifications in the design of the bullet

The cartridge for the "trilinear" was developed by the Russian designer Vetlishchev, taking as a basis the sleeve of Lebel. The bottle-shaped form with a protruding rim made it much cheaper for Russia to have sleeves with a ring groove, which are subject to higher requirements during processing. With a blunt bullet, borrowed, as it turned out in the analysis of photos, the French, also had some problems. First of all, it quickly lost its speed during the shot and was ineffective at long distances. In 1908, it was decided to use a pointed form. Thanks to this change, the rifle "three-line" the range of the bullet's flight was about two kilometers. Later, under the pointed bullet that was used, other types of small arms were developed - the Maxim machine gun, SVD, SVT-40.

Mosin Infantry Rifle

The "three-line" rifle, created for the infantry, had a long barrel equal to 800 mm. Taking into account the bayonet and the butt, the total length was 1738 mm. Given the weight of the rifle (4.5 kg), it can be noted that the weapons were bulky enough. Since the shooting from the Mosin rifle without a bayonet was ineffective, weapons had to be used at short distances. During the Russo-Japanese War, along with the high lethal force of the "trilinear", a number of shortcomings were discovered. First of all, it turned out that with frequent shooting the barrel heats up strongly, burning the hand. The second significant drawback was the unreliable attachment of the bayonet, which broke from frequent blows. At the end of the war, it was decided to stop the production of infantry rifles.

"Three-line" of the dragoon and Cossack pattern

Along with rifles for infantry, the production of "trilines" for cavalry and Cossacks with a barrel shortened by 70 mm was produced. Slightly losing in the initial velocity of the bullet, the weapon showed good results with both bayonet and without it. Dragoon rifle "trilinear" still supplied with a bayonet, but the Cossack cavalry, he clearly was not needed. Having a half-kilogram difference in weight and a length shorter than an infantry rifle by a half-meter - it was a completely different "three-line". Light, compact and killing weapons immediately became popular among soldiers, as evidenced by multiple photos of that time. Although there were minor flaws in the form of a strange placement of the ramrod and inconvenience of wearing only on the left shoulder, but they were overlapped by the tactical and technical characteristics of the weapon. Positive feedback from soldiers who used shortened rifles forced the gunsmiths to review their designs and make changes to the design. So there was a single rifle Mosin - "trilinear" model of 1930.

Rifle Mosin in the service of sailors and police

It is noteworthy that the tsarist army was concerned about the arming of soldiers serving in the navy and the police. Along with revolvers "Nagan", sailors and law enforcement officers was placed "trilinear". The rifle was delivered without a bayonet and was significantly shortened. The weapon was proudly named "Mosin's carbine". With a barrel of 510 mm, the total length of the rifle was about one meter. The weight of the weapon with a full ammunition did not exceed four kilograms. And although the initial speed of the bullet was lower than that of long-barreled rifles, the carbine still showed good shooting performance both at close and long distances. There were also shortcomings in the weapon - a very short shutter handle in the closed position was withdrawn to the side, creating inconvenience when carrying the carbine and during the shooting.

Several upgrades of the "three-line"

Taking into account the opinions of the soldiers about the merits and demerits of all weapons, the rifle "three-line" was refined. At first, in 1923, as a base, it was decided to leave the dragoon rifle. In 1930, the entire aiming system changed. The aiming bar began to be graduated in meters, and the fly received an annular fuse. The length of the wooden frame was increased by almost the entire length of the trunk. This innovation protected the soldiers' hands from accidental burns. Modified weapons became legitimately called Mosin's rifle. In 1944, the fastening of the ramrod and bayonet changed, the constant problems with which was "trilinear". The rifle bayonet was recessed sideways, as in German weapons of that time.

Modifications of "three-line" for special forces

Mosin's rifle ("trilinear") during the Great Patriotic War was popular among snipers: it's enough to look at the photos of famous war heroes. Tactical and technical characteristics of weapons allowed to fight from a distance of about two kilometers. Good range and high killer force became the basic criteria when choosing weapons for snipers. Initially, the developers of the rifle used the four-fold optical sight of the PE copied from the Germans. However, the high cost and complexity of its manufacture led to the fact that in 1942, the armament was put 3.5-fold sight PU, which proved to be in the battles from the best side. Scouts also liked the "trilinear". A rifle for this kind of troops was equipped with a special silencer, which was developed by the Russian brothers Mitin (device "Bramit"). Also, weapons with silencers and optics were used by subversive units of the Soviet army.

Interesting myths of the USSR about "trilinear"

Why Mosin's rifle is called "three-line", we sorted it out. It remains to understand that myths are still transmitted word of mouth for almost a century, not only that the Russians ride bears, but also about pasta and cigarettes of caliber 7.62 mm. Like, in the case of war production in a moment can be converted to the release of ammunition to the rifle "trilinear" Mosin. Is that really true?

The Russian measure was also actively used after the fall of the tsarist regime, at the beginning of the twentieth century. The country was built and raised all kinds of industry. It came to the production of food and cigarettes. Technologists were mostly grown-up people who did not particularly want to change to a new measure of length, so the same lines were used in production. It is enough to imagine macaroni and cigarettes the size of 4 or 2 lines, and everything will fall into place. Taking into account that in many areas of industry technologies have not changed since the construction of plants, it is possible to draw conclusions about myths on their own.