Russian M91

Production Numbers

Models

The M1891 Mosin Nagant is the most ubiquitous and under appreciated Mosin variant. As the standard isssue rifle of the Russian Empire during the first world war, much less people are aware of this variant than its updated relative, the 91/30.

There are many rare and interesting markings that can be found on the Mosin Nagant, many of which can be found on the markings page, and the majority of these are found on the M91 rifle, since it was used by countless countries during world war one alone. These rifles were sighting in with the bayonet attached, which is why you so often see pictures of this rifle with the bayonet.

The majority of these rifles were purchased by Finland after WW1, and most of these rifles that are found today have a 'SA' Finnish army property marking stamped somewhere on the barrel

German Landsturm in Seraing, Belgium

Notice the solider on the right has an M91 with an early finger rest, dating to 1892 or 1893.

Ohio man next to his recent deer harvest during the early 1950s

This photo was taken before Mosins were widely imported into America, so it is likely a New England Westinghouse or a Remington that has been sporterized. It appears that there is a peep sight that has been attached to the front of the receiver

Colors of the First Battalion 310th Engineers and color guard composed of the only two real American Indians in North Russia

left to right: Ben H. Layton, Company C, 310th Engineers; Col. Sergt. William N. Monroe, Hdqrs. Detachment 310th Engineers and Private G.W. Bailey of Co. C, 310th Engineers. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 86729854

Sleeping quarters of the men in the ward of the Convalescent Depot, showing wooden bunks, a Russian stove, and barbers' chair

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313164130

The only American woman on the front where the Americans are fighting in North Russia

Along the line of the Vologda Railway is Miss Marcia Dunham who is operating a Y.M.C.A. canteen in a railway car in the zone of the advance

Pioneer Platoon, Hq Company, 339th Infantry, 85th Division returns to their quarters after a day of building blockhouses. Verst 455

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313162815

WITH THE AMERICANS IN NORTH RUSSIA. Recreation time in box car quarters of the American Infantryman along the Vologda Railway

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 86707070

Funeral services at Allied Burial Ground for Clifford F. Phillips, 338th Infantry, and James H. Lynch, 339th Infantry

The services were in charge of Chaplain John S. Landowski, 339th Infantry. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313164079

British Brigadier General V. Ironsides inspects newly formed Russian civilian guards in front of the Sabornia Cathedral

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313164011

Convoy of sleds drawn up at Jalinna, Russia, a rest house along the road between Archangel and Emetskoe

Convoy of sleds drawn up at Jalinna, Russia, a rest house along the road between Archangel and Emetskoe (Emetsk). Similar rest houses are provided at points approximately 20 verts apart along teh convoy route. A loaded convoy usually travels 4 versts an hour and remains between 5 and 7 hours at each stopping point. This rest house is maintained by a detail of 5 Americans from Company F. The guard is Private Arthur Gottleber, Company F. Courtesy of The Library of Congress. Item 313150625

Lieutenant Colonel F.E. Bury handing out citations at award ceremonies. Vologda Railroad Front, Verst 455, Russia

Record of citations for bravery being handed out to each of the American officers and men who received the Croix de Guerre. At the left, Lt. Colonel F.E. Bury, Chief of Staff, handing out the citations, Lieutenant J.H. Tucker, Assistant Ajt. Men in the picture, right to left: Privates Benjamin Jondro, Thomas McElroy, John H. Rompinen, William Donnor, Company M, 339th Infantry; Corporal John H. Magin, Company M, 339th Infantry, Vologda Railroad front, Verst 455, Russia. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313164041

Tents in snow used by 3rd Platoon, Company C, 310th Engineers. 85th Division, Bolshie Ozerka, Russia

American Soldiers who were engaged in fighting near the village of Bolshie Ozerka, a pointe on the allied line of communication between Obozerskaya and Onega, had to live under trying conditions. Here are shown tents which were used by men of the 3d Platoon, Company C, 310th Engineers. The tents were pitched in the snow among the forest trees near Verst 18. 85th Division, Bolshie Ozerka, Russa. Note: The 85th Division, originally composed of troops from Michigan and Wisconsin, was organized and trained at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313162741

Detachments of American troops pulled from front lines for award ceremonies, near allied armored train

Detachments of American Troops, Companies I & M, 339th Infantry, 357th Field Hospital, Trench Mortar Platoon, Headquarters Company, which were withdrawn from front line positions for the ceremonies attending the decoration of nine American officers and thirteen enlisted men with the Croix de Guerre (French decoration). After the awards had been made, the detachments returned from Verst 455 to their respective stations. In the distance are the allied armored trains. Vologda Railroad front, Verst 455. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313164025

Men from Company C, 310th Engineers outside their tent near the Bolshie Ozerki front, Russia

Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 313162789

23 German soldiers in Königsbrück

Translated on 2/2/2025 using ChatGPT

Dear Albert!

Thank you for the sent postcard. I was very pleased to receive it and also send you my greetings.

Hopefully, you are doing well.

With heartfelt greetings,
Yours,
Klara

1st Sokol Battalion of Czechoslovakia during 1919

Translated using ChatGPT on 2/2/2015

Addressed to Miss Anna in Balice

"I. Sokolský prapor

Dear Anna,
I am writing to you from our station. We are well, and I hope the same for you. We have been marching a lot, but morale is high. Perhaps I will be able to visit soon. Please write back when you can.
With regards,
[Name unclear]"

The ghost girl from Belgrade

Translated on 2/2/2025 using ChatGPT

Sender:
Gefr. (Gefreiter) Diehl, Commandant at the German Military Hospital, Belgrade

Dated:
Belgrade, May 28, 1916

Recipient:
To the Merchant
Mr. Preacher
Kirchhain
near Kassel

Message:
Dear Nikolai!

I hope that you and your family are doing well. I am also in good health and am enjoying the beautiful springtime in the former Serbian capital.

Sending you warm greetings,
Your G. Diehl

German soldier from the 57th Infantry Regiment of the VII Army Corps

Translated using ChatGPT on 2/2/2025

Königsberg, 3.2.16

Dear Brother-in-Law,

I have thankfully received your card.
I am sending you four marks with
this and hopefully also for Christmas,
as well as the two pieces of sausage.
We will soon return to training.

The commander, at the moment,
is giving us 17 hours of drills,
which will soon be daily. Then
we will be allowed to move
to the front line on the Western Front.

How are the siblings
and the child, as well as the others?

We will be leaving here soon
and, after discharge, coming to you.

With this, I want to close,
hoping that this card finds you
in good health and that my news
brings you joy and reassurance.

Many heartfelt greetings
and send my regards to all
whom I love.

Greetings and a kiss,
(your name)

39th Regiment of the VII Army Corps

Field Watch III, 1st Landsturm Infantry Battalion, Saarbrücken

Grandfather Julius
Middle, second row with peaked cap
Non-commissioned officer 1914–1918

Addressed to Mr. Hermann Lindner of Hanweiler

Russian POWs during 1916

Translated on 2/2/2025 using ChatGPT:

My dear ones!
Received news from me as confirmation of a war souvenir arrival of a sign with missing district.
Greetings & kisses
Papa Karl Findler
Adjutant Staff
4th Armament Battalion, 1st Company
13th Company, 91st Army Corps
Field Post S 104 East

Not far from the battle action
Russia
Field Post, April 24, 1916

Just a friendly gathering in Albania

From the stacked rifles one might get the impression that this was an armed camp. But its an American Red Cross distribution of old clothing in Albania. These Albania mountaineer tribesmen seem to have an unusual feeling of protection under the stars and stripes. At all other times their guns are carried in a "ready" position. The Albanian tribesmen have their own laws and their own methods of dispensing justice. The rifle plays a big part in the latter activity. The Red Cross has given hundreds of tons of clothing, medical supplies and other materials to these destitute mountain people. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2017670985

Russian soldiers off duty - Tientsin, China 1901

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2022637894

Some of the Czar's hardy Cossacks under Freedom's banner--Russian soldiers before the American barracks

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2022654128

Soldiers of the Russian empire passing through the gates of Mukden, Manchuria

Littleton, N.H. : Photographed and published by B.W. Kilburn. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 91784483

A soldier-cobbler mending boots in a Russian redoubt during a lull in the firing at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678630

Lifting a wounded Russian to a bicycle stretcher -- a Red Cross post during battle at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678334

Russian soldiers looking down at a trench filled with corpses of Japanese soldiers at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678318

The shattered remains of Russian heroes who were killed near 203 Metre Hill at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678323

Japanese buried by Russians inside fort - every man entering killed by bayonet - Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678319

Wounded soldiers of the Czar -- convalescents at Marinsky Hospital during the siege at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Item 2005678628

A sentinel over the dead -- guarding comrades who died defending Russian forts at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

The surrender -- Japanese sentinels relieving Russian sentinels in an outer fort at Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Bicycle stretchers bringing Russian wounded to a surgical station during the siege of Port Arthur

Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Landsturm soldier in Dresden

Needs translation

Russian war booty captured by the Germans

Russian M91 rifles and Colt M1895 Potato Digger machine gun in 7.62x54r

10 Landsturm soldiers at the Chateau des Mazures in Pepinster, Belgium

Imperial German landsturm soldiers with M91 & dragoon rifles celebrating Christmas in Belgium during 1916. Translated on 2/2/2025 using ChatGPT

"For your album.
Many heartfelt greetings from my time as a soldier.
Best wishes to you!
Kind regards!"

Signed: Tannel (or Tammel – unclear handwriting)

Parade of Romanian soldiers in Giurgiu, Romania during the spring of 1941

Back of photo: Romanian soldiers, III. March through Giurgiu as part of the 50th infantry division during the invasion of Romania and Bulgaria, spring 1941

American soldiers of Company A marching through Boulder, Colorado during Armistice day

Courtesy of the Carnegie Library for Local History, Boulder

Captured anti-tank gun at Kiestinki-Louhi

Kiestinki-Louhi. Photo courtesy of SA-Kuva

War booty taken from the enemy on the East side of the Kiestinjoki River

Photo courtesy of SA-Kuva

Finnish soldiers with confiscated hunting weapons

The Russians did not take the hunting weapons they had confiscated from the residents with them to evacuate, but in their haste, they sank them next to a pier. The little boys pointed out the place, and the military police fished out about a hundred different hunting weapons. Photo courtesy of SA-Kuva

Republican soldiers in the house-to-house fighting that took place during the Battle of Teruel

Landsturm Regiment 11 in Alesandrowka

3 Landsturm soldiers in Kuchary, Poland

The men of the armoured car detachment of the Helsinki Civil Guard in a joint photo

The Helsinki Civil Guard was established at the Citizens' Assembly on 10.11.1918. At first, a couple of regiments of infantry, an Old Boys regiment and a number of separate companies were formed. Already at that time, cavalry, artillery, signal and armoured car detachments also began.

Pictured 7. E.J. Nordman from left and Y.F. von Schantz from 12. left. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0.

Two White Army soldiers, Matti Kauppinen from Vaala on the left and Antti Utoslahti from Utajärvi on the right

Antti Utoslahti is apparently leaving for the front in February 1918 at the age of 17. Antti Utosjrvi was later a member of the staff of the Utajärvi Civil Guard. Notice the Mosin on the left has an early finger rest. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Helsinki Jaeger Brigade Infantry Company with German trainers

First row seated in the middle Lieutenant Armas Liljeberg. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Civil Guard members who participated in the occupation of Helsinki in the courtyard of Broberg co-educational school

In the second row, fourth from left, sitting Dr. Karl Hjalmar Göös. Back row, fifth from left Konstantin Ferdinand Lojander. In the background, a building designed by Gustaf Nyström. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Reisjärvi boys going to war in 1918

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Finns in Uhtua during the tribal wars

from right Harry Brotherus, Havulinna, Saarwa, Lindstedt (Humara). Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Salo Civil Guard members in group photo

E. Pohjanvuori on the left and John Ramstedt on the right. inscription: "Captain Lönnqvist with his group leaders." The picture is included in the Finnish Freedom Corps part VI p. 68 It says: "Members of the so-called Salo Freedom Corps. Seated: Captain E. Pohjanvuori and G.J. Ramstedt", on the back of the card. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

An unknown White Guard in the village of Ruovesi

Aho, J. H., photographer 1918. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Four Finnish White Guard Boys

Even children were dragged into the Civil War during 1918. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Barracks life in Suomenlinna

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Group photo of Vöyri Military Academy

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

White Guards Armas Hiltunen (left) and Pekka Korhonen

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Vöyri Military School

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Prison queue on Hämeenkatu in Tampere after the occupation of the city

Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

A Finnish Red Guard next to his M91 rifle

Taken by Augusta Olsson

19 Finnish White Soldiers

Taken 1918. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Turkish soldier with M91 in Brăila, Romania

The building is still there to this day - https://bit.ly/4cLxvig

Finnish Whites in Central Square

Four men with rifles sheltering bales of mass at Palander House (Keskustori 7) at the corner of Kirkkokatu Market Square. Males have coniferous branches on their hats. On the man on the left, a white Civil Guard ribbon is visible. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Conquest of Riihimäki - 1918

The grenade of the Germans hit the ammunition train of the Reds. The explosion destroyed twenty train cars. The photo shows a Red Guard killed in an explosion. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

Red Guards in the courtyard of the tavern in Tyrvää

Lots of armed men in the yard, two wooden buildings in the background, a horse in the foreground. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museoviratso) via finna.fi and used with CC BY 4.0

German soldiers at compound in Nowa-Wies

Russian troops in Marseille, France during 1916

Kolchak's troops during the retreat in October 1919

A Soviet woman training with a cutaway M91 rifle

Three men of Headquarters Company, 339th Infantry, 85th Division, bringing up ammunition during engagement between American and English troops and mutinous Russian soldiers

The firing was of short duration and no American or British were injured. Several Russians were wounded. Archangel, Russia. December 11th, 1918

Firing squad from Company "M" 339th Infantry firing a salute over the graves of American officers and men on Memorial Day, Allied burial ground

Archangel, Russia. May 30th, 1919

British, French and Polish officers inspect a detachment of Polish troops before they depart for the front

Archangel, Russia. May 16th, 1919

Newly arrived British troops passing in parade along the streets of Archangel, Russia

May 26th, 1919

British officers confer decorations for bravery upon Polish soldiers

Archangel, Russia. Taken May 16th, 1919

Polish troops before their departure for North Russian front

May 16th, 1919

Red Guards and Russians fighting on the side of the Reds in Ruovedi

The soldier on the second right probably belongs to the "Black Guard" formed from the matrons of Russia's Baltic Fleet

Finnish white soldiers in Tampere

Rifles surrendered by Red Guard soldiers after the battle of Lahti

April 1918

White troops in the center of Tampere

5 April 1918

Ernest Hemingway during the Spanish Civil War

Captured Germans on the Eastern front

Czech Legion on the march in Siberia

Photo taken by the Red Cross Siberian Commission

Montenegrin soldiers from Colorado

The Minute Men of Montenegro. This group of Montenegrin soldiers, who returned from their jobs in the Colorado mines to help their motherland in the war, came to meet Lieut. Col. Robert E. Olds, American Red Cross Commissioner to Europe, on his recent tour of the Balkan countries. They are the best fighters in the Montenegrin army and go about armed to the teeth rifles, hand grenades, knives and pistols being a part of their equipment. After the armistice these men formed a "Minute Man" Company to resist any attempt of another country to gain control of Montenegro. They also volunteered to act as guards for Red Cross Relief supplies. Note the soldier in the rear, second from the right, has a M91 rifle on his back. These soldiers are likely from the coal mining region of Las Animas county (Southern Colorado)

Serbian soldiers at the funeral of an American doctor

Photograph shows flag-draped casket Dr. John M. Kara, who died of typhus in Skopje, Serbia, while working to control the typhus epidemic. 1915

Soldiers of the 225th Chinese Regiment of Zhen Fuchen

Autumn, 1918

Russian soldiers in trench on the eastern front

The photo was taken on the Eastern Front by George Mewes, who worked for the London newspaper Daily Mirror and received the status of official photographer of the Russian Imperial Army

Ottoman troops in Galicia

Officers and men of the XV. Ottoman Corps in Galicia, August 15, 1916

Austro-Hungarian cavern guard with M91 rifle

Primolano (just north of Monte Grappa). Entrance to the roadblock cavern.

Russian POWs working in the Dolomites

Russians working on cable car construction on the Obslauserriegel (Passo Ombretta) in the Italian Dolomites. Notice the Austro-Hungarian soldier, 3rd from the right, has an M91 rifle and a metal Mosin bayonet scabbard on his belt. Mosins even found their way to Italy during WW1

Austro-Hungarian station guards with M91 rifles

Station guard at the 2nd Infantry Division. 1917

Austro-Hungarian roadblock at the Italian front

Roadblock KERSCHOWEC against FLITSCH. Taken on July 4, 1916. Isonzo front

Church service with M91 rifles in the foreground

At the Russian front

Russian soldiers inspect captured German airplane

A group of soldiers inspect the captured German aircraft Albatros. Radom province, art. Konsk. March 1915

Russian soldiers moving the airship "Kondor"

The airship "KONDOR" (Clement Bayard N ° 5) was acquired from France in 1913 simultaneously with the airship "ASTRA" (Astra-XIII).

"KONDOR" was assigned to the 2nd aeronautical company in Brest-Litovsk. Soon the airship was transferred to Lviv and was used when attempting to bomb the fortress of Przemysl. The commander of the airship was appointed Oppman Eugene Maximilianovich. The task was not carried out because of low flying data airship "KONDOR".

In the summer of 1915, the Germans began to use fighter planes with incendiary bullets and antiaircraft artillery against airships and the use of airships in the war ceases.
The 6th Aviation Military Group in Lemberg. 1915

Sailors from the U.S.S Olympia surrounded by the 339th Infantry

Sailors from the U.S.S. Olympia, who formed a part of a landing force, returning from the line along the railroad to Vologda where they had been fighting Bolsheviks. The party got back to its starting point only after picking its way through swamps and forests. They were compelled to abandon everything but their rifles. They are surrounded by men of the 339th infantry who had just landed in Russia. Bakharitza, Russia

American sailors from the U.S.S Olympia

Ensign D.M. Hicks and some of the men under his command, returning from four weeks fighting at the front. Bakharitza, Russia

Russian revolutionists during the overthrow of the Kolchak government in Vladivostok

Taken by the American Red Cross

Armenian soldiers bringing back deserters

Taken during the American Military Mission to Armenia (1919) led by General James G. Harbord

Army of the People's Republic of Ukraine

The newly established army of the Republic of Ukraine. Troops belonging to the First Ukrainian Division, in training

Russian armored car

A ruined Russian armored car during WW1. Notice the M91 rifle sticking out

Putilov factory combat team

Montenegrin Guerillas with captured Austro-Hungarian equipment

Loaded for stray Austrians. The Comitage of Montenegro were the scourge of the invading Austrian forces. For two years they waged a relentless guerilla warfare on the enemy. This shows a group of the hillmen wearing uniforms and carrying equipment they captured. Many of them are now under treatment for old wounds at the American Red Cross Hospital in Montenegro - 1919

Deserted Russian trench

Ottoman Camp

Austro-Hungarian soldier with M91 in trench

Located in Podgajci, Croatia

Austro-Hungarian officers on the Strypa river

Notice the captured M91 rifles on the right

Austro-Hungarian War Museum with Mosin wire cutters

Notice the two M91 rifles with captured wire cutter attachments

Turkish soldiers in Chodorow, Galica

1916

Russian 12th Howitzer Detachment in Galicia

Russian 12th Howitzer Detachment

Żołnierze na stanowiskach. Z lewej wał ziemny, z prawej karabiny ustawione w kozły. Siedzący żołnierz owija stopę onucą

Bulgarian soldiers at camp

Finnish solider with two Nagant Revolvers

Austro-Hungarian soldier poses with his M91 rifle

This photograph features an M91 with an early pattern stock with no escutcheons

339th Infantry training in Russia

American troops of Company H, 339th Infantry, N. Russian Expeditionary Forces shooting on rifle range, Onega, North Russia

American soldier with M91

Outpost guard, railroad front, North Russia

Contractor for New England Westinghouse parts

Airplanes - Parts - Universal joints for military trucks; triggers and sears for Russian rifle and aircraft turn buckles manufactured by Baker Gun and Forging Co., Batavia, N.Y

Russian soldiers horsing around during the Russo-Japanese War

French soldiers near Archangel Russia, 1919

United States National Guardsman with M91

Jeremiah "Jay" Milton Morrow of the 12th Battalion US National Guards. This is taken in Washington D.C., probably during 1919

Captured Mosins at Fushun

A cache of captured Mosin Nagants in mainland China after the Russo-Japanese War

General Kuroki shooting Russian M91

Taken around the time of the Russo-Japanese war

Armenian Fedayi, 1896

Colored picture of fedayees under the banner of the ARF, picture taken during the late 1800s, around 1890-1896