While American generals seem obsessed with gender etiquette. ..go figure.
Posted on 04/05/2022 8:55:38 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Russian conscripts are being given 19th century rifles, made to drink from ponds filled with dead frogs and ordered to draw enemy fire, they have revealed.
Soldiers in the Russian-backed Donbas region have spoken of how they have been sent to fight Ukraine's forces with no training, a lack of food and water, and inadequate equipment - as Moscow's armies continue to suffer heavy losses.
-snip-
The Donbas armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers but are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops they send into combat.
Several Donbas draftees have been issued with a rifle called a Mosin, which was developed in the late 19th century and went out of production decades ago, according to three people who saw conscripts from the separatist region using the weapon.
Images shared on social media, that Reuters was not able to verify independently, also showed Donbas fighters with Mosin rifles.
-snip-
The same source said some conscripts were issued with the Mosin rifle from reserve stocks that date back to the Second World War.
The student conscript said he has seen fellow fighters using the rifle: 'It's like we're fighting with World War Two muskets.'
A soldier in the Russian armed forces who is fighting near Mariupol told Reuters he had seen soldiers from the Donetsk separatist military carrying Mosin rifles. A video posted on social media on Tuesday by Russian military journalist Semyon Pegov showed a man who said he was a Donbas draftee brandishing a Mosin rifle.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Isn’t the Mosin Nagant a sniper rifle, from WWII?
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Not at all! It is an old Tsarist design from end of 1800ties.
Rather lousy gun for run of the mill soldiers.
Used heavily in WWI! Also In Russian civil war on both sides and by Stalinists for executions.
It was still a main Soviet gun in WWII (those Russians do not innovate too much!)
They even exported some to the US. I saw it here for sale for ~$50 about 20 years ago.
Cheap, badly made, unreliable!
While American generals seem obsessed with gender etiquette. ..go figure.
The '91 Mosin-Nagant is the Russian equivalent.
Ya outta take this article to the field and point it out to those Ruskie soldiers.
Mosin? Great sniper rifle. If my MOS were a sniper, I would gladly mount up with it.
Drink from a pond without chlorine or filter, everyone ends up on sick call.
Doesn’t look like those Russians in the pictures need a diet?
5.56mm
Weren’t the Turks using German arms?
Mosins are good rifles. I have a couple of them. Built to last.
They didn't want to risk a coup.
A strong military would overthrow the government. So they kept the military weak. FSB and Police agencies are all higher rank than the Russian military which is manned mostly by peasants.
Inexpensive and cheap are not the same thing. When the Soviet Union fell, a lot of Mosin-Nagants were exported to the US. They had been rearsensled, and we’re ready to issue. Very capable rifles. The design was regarded as “soldier-proof,” and had to be functional in the hands of farmers.
The propaganda is getting into kray kray territory. 😆
One - wearing a Russian army helmet too big for his head - points to himself and says, 'I'm 18 years old.'He then holds up his AK-47 machine gun - first issued to Soviet soldiers in 1947 - and complains, 'We've been given automatic rifles to take on Grads, artillery, mortar shells. We're asking you to spread this.'
Anyone know what "Grads" are?
I have no problems with the design or use, but saying the rifles are from the 1800s is like saying the soldiers are being given 19th century bread, if eating a croissant in their rations.
And they still conscript so they have no incentive to treat their people as anything but cannon fodder.
Daily Mail, eh? I’m surprised they didn’t say there were piranhas in the ponds too.
A few determined defenders with bolt action rifles have been known to hold up entire Divisions for hours in WW2. The Mosin can really reach out and touch someone.
I disagree. None of those rifles is less than 70 years old. It was designed in 1890, adopted in 1891. It is unlikely any were built after 1950.
It is a credit to the design, but it is what it is.
I agree the Daily Mail means it as propaganda against Russia, but that does not change the reality.
Instead of quibbling about the age of the design, you might show the Daily Mail is clueless about firearms.
Simo Hayha used a Finnish version of a Mosin Nagant to great effect in the Winter War. With his rifle and a Lahti submachine gun, he managed to rack up 500+ kills up until he was severely wounded by a Soviet counter sniper.
So true!!
At the last military-rifle high-power match I competed in, on a cold and snowy February morning in Wisconsin, an open-sighted Mosin–Nagant outshot all of the AR15s and M4s. I would feel much better armed for the Ukrainian theater with an optically sighted Mosin–Nagant and a surplus 1911 Colt pistol than I would with a currently issued M4 and a SIG Sauer M17. Newer is often not better.
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