From Michael Z. Williamson, SF author and editor at large at survivalblog.com (no link as the blog {arthurshall.com} he originally posted this on had racist posts that were not pulled. He could not allow his name to be sullied)
“#9 of 10 Manliest guns
#9: Mosin-Nagant M44
Speaking of guns without safeties, here’s the Mosin-Nagant M44 Carbine from Russia.
The Mosin was used by the Russians against the Finns, the Finns against the Russians,
the Estonians against the Russians, the Russians against the Russians, and the
Russians against the Germans. It does, in fact, have a safety, but it’s quite hard to
engage. But this is not a complaint one would ever voice in the Red Army. Your
officer would reply, “Safety? Safety? Is gun! Meant to kill! No warrior should know
he has safety on gun, because he should be killing enemies of homeland! Safety make
loud click to aid enemy in locating warriors! No safety!” while pounding his fist on
the table.
And the Mosin can kill enemies of homeland. The muzzle blast will vaporize green
growth within a few feet of the muzzle, and even if you miss, the enemy will be
reduced to shouting “WHAT?” to communicate. You’ll need a recoil pad or shooting
jacket. Ordinarily, this might be considered unmanly, but this rifle has a short
stock for using while wearing several layers of wool for a Russian winter. It is
acceptable to wear padding to fire a Mosin.
Of course, there are also M38, 91/30 and other variations of Mosin-Nagant and all are
cool. All, also (except the M38), come with a bayonet. Russian doctrine held that the
bayonet was mounted except while traveling in a vehicle, because the Russians
understood that an empty rifle could still be a pointy stick—a Viking spear. The
Russians loved to spear Turks. So, coincidentally, did the Vikings. This rifle sounds
better all the time, doesn’t it? The Finns used the Mosin as a sniper rifle during
the Winter War, and their greatest Sniper was Simo Häyhä, who had 500 confirmed kills
in 100 days. This is a man the Finns describe as “modest” and “self-effacing.” It’s a
good thing the Russians didn’t run into a Finn who was proud and arrogant. They’d
have been wiped out.
It fires a 7.62X54R (for “Rimmed”) cartridge, about as powerful as .30-06, and holds
the distinction of being in service from 1891 to the present, longer than any other
military cartridge. It is still used in Dragunovs, PKMs and other Russian weapons.
It’s cheap in quantity. So are the rifles, because they were built for (all
variations) over 70 years, by Russia, Finland, Poland, Romania, even the US. As I
write this, arsenal-new M44s are $55 to $200. At that price, you should have several,
so any guests you have during the Collapse can be outfitted as they receive
Enlightenment. Then they can rape, kill, sack and loot with the rest of the men who
secure a new Dark Ages to hasten the new renaissance. It will be a manly duty.”
ps. he emailed me one time that he had 13(!) Mosins
LOL. It should almost be required. I took my 91/30 to the range Saturday. When I fired the first shot, I quickly realized I had left the recoil pad in another gun bag at home. Only fired 30 rounds, but my shoulder looks like a giant purple plum!