Official Soviet Mosin-Nagant Sniper Rifle Manual, The

The Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle is the most basic of the Russian and Soviet small arms. Before being replaced by the snayperskaya vintovka Dragunova (SVD) in the 1960s, the selected, scoped version of the rugged Mosin-Nagant was the principal sniper rifle of the Soviet army and of many Eastern European militaries. It is still used in many conflicts because of the large numbers in which it was produced. This manual, available in English for the first time, is entirely devoted to the sniper version of the 1891/30 Mosin-Nagant rifle with PU scope. It covers disassembly and assembly, cleaning and lubricating, and other general technical information, but its real value lies in the sniper-specific tactics it contains. Instructions and illustrations are included for the following topics: sniper firing positions; battlefield observation points; range estimation; how to fire at stationary, fleeting, moving and aerial targets; two ballistic tables; and much more. This is a must-have reference for Mosin-Nagant rifle and sniper enthusiasts. The author is a retired U.S. Army officer who served as an enlisted infantryman (1966 69), armor officer (1974–83) and Soviet foreign area officer (1984–91). Gebhardt fought in Vietnam, commanded a tank company in Germany, performed military duty in the Soviet Union, and escorted numerous Soviet scientific, military, and diplomatic personnel on U.S. military installations in the United States. He is a respected military historian and translator of Russian-language military texts. 124pp.