New Russian Rifle

Just picked this up.  Man does it kick.  But it will also reach out and touch someone from a long way away. 

Here are the stats:

Mosin-Nagant Infantry Rifle Model 1891, Russia. Caliber 7.62x54mmR.

M1891 and M91/10 infantry rifle	M1891 and M91/10 Dragoon rifle	M1891/30	M1891/38	M1891/44
Caliber	7.62x54mm R
Action	manual operated, rotating bolt
Overall length	1306 mm 1738 mm with bayonet	1234 mm 1666 mm with bayonet	1234 mm 1666 mm with bayonet	1020 mm	1020 mm
Barrel length	800 mm	730 mm	730 mm	510 mm	510 mm
Weight	4.22 kg 4.6 kg with bayonet	3.9 kg 4.28 kg with bayonet	3.8 kg 4.18 kg with bayonet	3.45 kg	~3.9 kg with non-detachable bayonet
Magazine capacity	5 rounds in integral magazine

The Mosin-Nagant rifle, known in the Russia as a "Vintovka Mosina" (Mosin Rifle), was developed under the government commission in the late 1880s and early 1890s, and was officially adopted for service by the Russian Tsar in 1891 as a "Trechlineynaja vintovka obraztsa 1891 goda" (three-line rifle, system 1891; three line means caliber of three lines; one line is an 0.1 inch, so it's an .30 inch, or 7.62mm). Along with the rifle, a new, small-caliber cartridge was adopted. This cartridge had a rimmed, bottlenecked case and a jacketed, blunt nose bullet. The rimmed case design, which at that time already started to became obsolescent, was inspired by the low level of the Russian arms industry, and also as intention to keep the price of the rifle as low as possible, since the rimmed case, which headspaces on rim, allows for much looser chamber dimensions, unlike the rimless ones, which required headspacing on the case shoulders, so chambers must be machined much more precisely (that means - on better machinery and for much money). This decision, while probably worked as a savings measure, caused a major PITA for Russian small arms designer, since for different purposes this obsolete, rimmed cartridge is kept in general service with Russian army for more than 110 years!

The history of the development of M1891 rifle is somewhat shady and controversial. During the official trials, two designs were selected for final - one by Russian army captain Mosin, and another, by the Belgian designer Nagant. Final design, adopted by the Commission, utilized features from both, and Leon Nagant was paid for his part for some very serious amount of money. Mosin received a rank promotion and worked on the Sestroretsk arsenal, trying to set this rifle for production. The exact amount of influence of each designer is still unclear for me, so at this moment I'll leave this for further research.