72-WW2-810 INFANTRY WEAPONS SOVIET UNION USSR

Mosin wz.1891 is a Soviet 7.62mm repeating rifle from the end of the 19th century, both world wars, and the inter-war and post-war period. The first prototypes of this weapon were made in 1889, and serial production was carried out in the years 1891-1965! In its course, over 35 million pieces of this weapon were created. The length of the Mosin rifle wz.1891/30 reached 123 cm, and the length of the barrel - up to 73 centimeters. The initial velocity of the projectile fired from this rifle reached 800-850 m / s, and the practical rate of fire, with a well-trained shooter, did not exceed 20-25 rounds per minute. It is assumed that the effective range of the shot was around 500 meters. Mosin wz.1891 was developed for the needs of the tsarist army by Sergei Mosin based on the rifle developed by Emil Nagant, as a successor to the Berdan 10.67 mm sniper rifle. Compared to the Nagant rifle, the Mosin wz. 1891 was less reliable, but it was much cheaper to produce and required less careful servicing by the soldier, which made it accepted into service in the Russian army. Of course, in the course of its very long service, Mosin wz.1891 underwent changes and modernizations, the main of which was the one implemented at the end of the 1920s, which led to the creation of the Mosin model 1891/30. This weapon had a slightly improved reliability, but also a clearly simplified design, which, however, did not affect the ballistic performance of the rifle. In 1931, a sniper rifle with a PU optical sight was also developed on the basis of this rifle. It is worth adding that such a sniper rifle was used by, among others, Vasily Zaitsev or Simo Häyhä, called the "White Death". Undoubtedly, the Mosin wz.1891 was one of the most important and most widely produced rifles of the Russian and Soviet armies in the 20th century.The Maxim PM M1910 (another designation: PM M1910) is a Russian, and later Soviet, 7.62 mm heavy machine gun from both world wars and the interwar period. The first prototypes of this weapon were made in 1909-1910, and serial production was carried out in the periods 1910-1939 and 1941-1945. The initial velocity of the projectile was up to 740 m / s, and the theoretical rate of fire - 600 rounds per minute. The weight of the weapon with the base is 64.3 kg. The PM M1910 is essentially a Maxim machine gun, but it has been recalibrated to the standard 7.62 mm caliber in the Russian army. This rifle was the basic machine gun of the Russian army during World War I and was widely used during the Russian Civil War of 1917 / 1918-1922. Many units of the Soviet infantry also used this weapon in the years 1941-1945, despite the fact that it was systematically replaced by the SG-43 Gorjunov rifle. The parameters of the weapon are decisive for the long life of the weapon - especially the good initial velocity of the shell and the rate of fire. The main disadvantage of the M1910 PM was that it was quite heavy, making it difficult to navigate off-road.PPSh-41 or PPSh wz.41 (colloquially: pepesh or pepecha) is a Soviet submachine gun cal. 7.62 mm from the period of World War II and the Cold War. The first prototypes of this weapon were made in 1940, and serial production continued in 1941-1948. In its course, over 5.5 million pieces of this weapon were created. The initial velocity of the projectile fired from this submachine gun was up to 550 m / s, and the theoretical rate of fire - up to 900 rounds per minute. The length of the weapon was about 83 centimeters, and the weight with a full drum magazine reached 5.4 kilograms. It is assumed that the effective shot range was around 125-150 meters. The PPSh-41 was developed for the needs of the Red Army by Georgy Shpagin, one of the best Soviet designers of small arms in the 20th century. The new weapon was to replace the too complicated PPD-40 submachine gun in the line. Compared to its predecessor, the new weapon had a very similar size and weight, but a slightly better theoretical rate of fire. On the other hand, it definitely dominated the ease of use, reliability and much lower production costs, which made it very suitable for mass production. Due to its advantages, the PPSh-41 quickly became the basic machine gun of the Red Army, used throughout the war with the Third Reich (1941-1945). It also entered the service of the Polish Army formed in the USSR. The presented submachine gun was also (after 1945) produced or exported in many countries around the world, including: Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary.