History: Mosin-Nagant M44 Carbine

The Russian Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifle is well known to both arms historians and gamers alike; it has the distinction of being the oldest military rifle design still being used in active conflict and has appeared in countless WWII movies and in video games.

Like most military rifles, the gun went through numerous iterations and variants — including a carbine model, which has an interesting history in its own right and is the subject of this article as a result.

Mosin-Nagant M44 Carbine — A Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine with its bayonet extended

When first adopted by tsarist Russia in 1891, the 7.62x54R calibre Mosin-Nagant Model 1891 “Three-Line Rifle” had a 73cm (28.7in) barrel and an overall length of 130cm (51.25in)

With a fixed bayonet, the rifle’s overall length was 1.73m – essentially the same height as the soldier carrying it, which was a bit unwieldy, especially in confined spaces.

The Model 1891 rifle’s overall length was shortened a bit in 1930 to 124cm (48.75in) as part of the changes to create the M91/30 rifle, and a carbine version of that rifle – the M38 – was developed in 1938 for issue to people like artillery crews, radio operators and engineers.

The M38 had an overall length of 101.6cm (40in), but could not mount a bayonet – something that combat experience in WWII proved important.

Therefore, in 1943, the Soviets developed the M44 rifle, which was essentially the M38 with a permanently attached folding cruciform bayonet mounted on the righthand side of the barrel.

Initial production began at the Izhevsk Arsenal in 1943, with 50,000 rifles produced for infantry trials. The trials were a success – the shorter rifle with attached bayonet proved quite effective for close-quarters fighting.

As a result, full production began in 1944, with the rifle’s designation matching that year.

Production was briefly expanded to the Tula arsenal, near Moscow, which produced another 50,000 rifles in 1944 before production was shifted wholly to the Izhevsk arsenal, where the M44 remained in production until 1948.

About 7.5 million M44 rifles were manufactured before the design was replaced by the SKS and AK-47.

The overwhelming majority of M44 rifles made by the Russians were produced in 1944-45,accounting for about 7 million rifles.

THE CHINESE TYPE 53

The Russians were not the only ones who produced the M44 carbine – Poland (as the wz.44), Romania (as the 48.M) and Hungary (made by FEG) also made the design. These rifles were produced in the early- to mid-1950s and are essentially the same as the Russian rifles.

The other major manufacturer of M44 rifles was communist China. Looking to standardise it military equipment after its 1949 victory in the Chinese civil war, the communist Chinese government did a deal with fellow-communists the Russians to produce the M44 carbine.

The Russians went so far as to provide schematics, machinery and technical advice on making the design.

In 1953 production of the rifle, designated the Type 53, began at Chungking (now Chongqing). The first production run ended in 1956, and a second run was produced in 1960; it’s thought about 50,000 Type 53 rifles were produced before production switched the Type 56 (a copy of the SKS).

The Type 53 was relegated to a reserve or militia rifle, but the Chinese still had large numbers in storage and began exporting them, most notably to Vietnam and Africa.

The Type 53 rifle saw service during the Vietnam War with the North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong, and both the M44 and Type 53 rifles were provided to various Communist Bloc and third world countries from the 1960s onwards.

They were also supplied to insurgent groups in places such as Angola and Mozambique during conflicts there in the 1960s and 1970s.

The easiest way to tell the difference between a Soviet M44 and a Chinese Type 53 is to check the action markings — if they are in Chinese, it’s a Type 53.

SHOOTING THE M44 CARBINE

The M44 Carbine is essentially a shorter M91/30 and operates in the same way. It is a bolt-action rifle loaded via five-round chargers of 7.62x54R ammunition, and has iron sights graduated to 1000m. The front sight can be adjusted for windage with simple tools.

The trigger pull on M44s varies considerably, but is typically in the 6-8lb (2.7-3.6kg) range. Recoil is often considered heavy by modern shooters – not helped a steel buttplate – but is comparable to other carbine rifles of the era.

More notable is the flash of flame that sometimes emits from the barrel when fired with hot loads. Unlike the Lee-Enfield Jungle Carbine, the M44 does not have a flash hider.

Both the M44 and Type 53 were imported into Australia in useful numbers, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, but many of them were used as scrub guns for pig hunting and subsequently worn out (no mean feat for a Soviet firearm!); many others were acquired by collectors.

The 7.62x54R cartridge is similar in performance to .303 British and very effective for hunting (and target shooting) as a result.

While many M44 and Type 53 rifles have had their bayonets removed, some rifles are still found with them in place and they’re fairly straightforward to use. The spring-loaded collar on the bayonet is pulled back, the bayonet folded out, and the collar is slotted over the barrel to fix it in place. The procedure is reversed to put it away again.

While a lot of the rifles imported into Australia in the 1990s and early 2000s were refurbished by the Soviets after WWII and essentially “as new”, a lot of those rifles have seen hard lives as scrub guns (or weren’t refurbished prior to import) and the barrels are in … variable condition as a result.

As with many old military rifles, handloading is the most effective way to get optimal performance from the M44 carbine.

Nick Harvey’s Practical Reloading Manual 10^th Edition suggests 7.62x54R loads approximating the WWII service ammunition of between 40.5-46.5gn of AR2206H behind a 150-155gn projectile.

Both the M44 and Type 53 rifles are rugged, reliable and effective guns with a lot of history behind them.

Whether you’re chasing pigs and goats in the bush, using it at the range, or enjoying it as part of a firearms collection, it’s easy to understand why the design still has a place in gun cabinets even today.