History
Almost every shooter in the US has heard of or seen the Mosin-Nagant rifle, due to the large volume of them that were imported over the last decade or so. The WWII variant was quite readily available and inexpensive until very recently. As it turns out, they have actually been floating around our nation for quite a long time. In the process, they have ended up in some very interesting situations.
More @ Guns America
When the US Army invaded Russia on behalf of the "Whites" right after the first world war. They quickly discovered that the M1903 Springfield did not work in the arctic cold. So US troops were issued 1891 rifles and maxim machine guns until they left Russia in the 1920's. THATS why they distrust us. We invaded their country, lost, and have been sweeping that fact under the rug ever since.--Ray
ReplyDeleteWhy exactly didn't they?
DeleteFirstly, the weapons probably jammed because the cold shrank critical components beyond allowed for +/- tolerances. A simple matter of 3 into 2 won't go.
DeleteSecondly, we didn't so much lose as we chose not to win. Both France and Britian were militarily, economically and emotionally exhausted from the great war. There were also scared shitless by their own communist labor movements.
In the US there was little interest as the post war boom got underway and growing isolationism as reflected in the rejection of Wilson's League of Nations. Additionally at the time the army of newly reconstituted Poland was kicking the Bolshevik's butts and there was much sentiment to let them defeat or stalemate the Russians.
Thirdly, since when is having the enmity of the likes of Stalin a bad thing. There were enough Soviet moles and naive fools in FDR's administration, imagine how much worse it would have been if Stalin had feigned a more friendly disposition.
imagine how much worse it would have been if Stalin had feigned a more friendly disposition.
DeleteIndeed.
Lenin tried to make a deal with Wilson to be recognized as the legitimate government of Russia after he had the Russian royal family killed. Wilson landed troops in Archangel and Murmansk instead. It was the first major confrontation between the to country's. We were there to support the royalist "white" faction, and wound up in a "low level" war. IMO it is the reason that Stalin was almost as hostile to the US in WW2 as he was to the Japanese. He treated us as an "almost" enemy. He was happy to take the free food and weapons that that idiot Churchill conned FDR into giving him. But he hated and distrusted the US for life after the "Russian expedition"--Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteAS the country is being manipulated into a war hysteria with Russia and Putin cast as Satan incarnate, this "minor" detail still remains: Russia never has invaded the USA. While the USA did invade Russia to influence the out come of their civil war. Now on our current batch of TV drama/crime shows who is the villain? Yup those Russians! Maybe if one looks at the USA from their perspective and history, they have cause to be distrustful and angry with us.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of the Mosin-Nagant rifle. The KISS principle applied to a rifle. And I will agree with the rifles' detractors regarding the rifles' short comings, however it is still a battle and time tested design. It works.
Maybe if one looks at the USA from their perspective and history, they have cause to be distrustful and angry with us.
DeleteYes and I had a M44
And yet we must also consider that Russia has never been a benign power on the world stage. It wasn't just Central Europe that declared their independence in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. All those those Central Asians and South Caucuses states didn't leave because they had any great love for there Russian overseers. Even today Putin still say that "Russia government up our lands". His action pretty much demonstrate he covers there return.
Deletethose Central Asians and South Caucuses states didn't leave because they had any great love for there Russian overseers.
DeleteYup.
Very interesting perspective and one I had not researched; now I have ANOTHER subject to follow.
ReplyDeleteI own a few 1891 MG but with scant opportunity to fire them. It seems the Russian designs, like their aircraft and wheeled vehicles, are designed to operate in low-maintenance environments not as a brilliant feature but "baked in the cake" as an expected factor - part of the world they are in. The rough machine marks on the receivers (mine are 1944 versions) are mute testimony to the haste of manufacture and delivery.
operate in low-maintenance environments not as a brilliant feature but "baked in the cake" as an expected factor - part of the world they are in.
DeleteAs AK's also.