Russian Mosin-Nagant 7.62 mm 3-line M1891 rifle, 1919 (c)

Inscribed on receiver band, magazine, receiver ring and bolt with serial number, '20850'; inscribed on butt in white ink: 'Russian Carbine Used by Bolshevist Forces at Riga 1919'.

This rifle was developed in the 1880s and adopted by the Russian military in 1891. It was used extensively in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and in World War One (1914-1918).

During World War One the Russian government, faced with an unprecedented demand for firearms, contracted American arms companies Westinghouse and Remington to manufacture over three million Mosin-Nagant rifles. Nearly half a million rifles reached Russia before the Russian Revolution in 1917 led to production being halted. More of the rifles were supplied to Tsarist forces fighting in the subsequent Russian Civil War (1919-1922) and were used to equip Allied expeditionary forces despatched to Russia.

This rifle was part of the Middlesex Regiment Collection. During the Allied Intervention in North Russia in 1919 soldiers from the regiment served as part of 'Syren Force', based at Murmansk.