Twice in the twentieth century, the German Army marched eastward, where it engaged in brutal combat against a determined foe. It could be argued that the record for the German military was one-to-one—as it essentially defeated the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, but was utterly destroyed by the Soviet Red Army a generation later.

Notable is the fact that the primary weapons employed by each side in the two conflicts were bolt-action rifles that had evolved only slightly. A case could also be made that it was German engineering and design going against Russian ruggedness and reliability.

The First Showdown: The Mauser Gew98 vs. the Mosin Nagant Model 1891

"Mauser" and "Mosin Nagant" are practically synonymous among collectors and firearms enthusiasts for Germany's and Russia's respective rifles of the two world wars. But the devil is truly in the details.

Both stories can rightfully be described as "complicated."

From the Gewehr 88 to the Gewehr 98

The Mauser-made Gewehr wasn't actually the first German-made military bolt action rifle, as that distinction goes to the Gewehr 88—also known as the Model 1888 commission rifle. Of course, a case could be made that the Dreyse needle gun was a German rifle, but it was designed in the Kingdom of Prussia before the unification of Germany.

By the early 1880s, the Dreyse was outdated, and that led to the development of the Gewehr 88, which was adopted in 1888 as the result of an arms race between Germany and France. It was not developed by Mauser; instead, it was the result of the German Rifle Commission. Notably, Mauser was also one of the few major German arms makers that didn't produce any Gewehr 88s.

However, Paul Mauser continued to refine his design and patented a bolt-action design as the Mauser Model 1895. It was soon adopted by several nations in South America—and was later purchased by Spain, which used the rifle during the Spanish-American War, where it helped influence the design of the American military's Springfield Model 1903.

Berlin saw that it was quickly becoming outclassed by a German-made rifle employed by other nations, and that led to the development of the Gewehr 98.

As stated by Robert W.D. Ball in his epic tome Mauser: Military Rifles of the World, the Gewehr 98 was adopted on April 5, 1898, and it was truly the finest in German engineering at the time. Ball noted that the first troops to receive the rifle were those of the East Asian Expeditionary Force, followed by the Imperial German Navy and three premier units of the Prussian Army Corp. The Gewehr 98 had its baptism of fire during the Boxer Rebellion (1898-1901), and then in the colonial conflict/genocide in German Southwest Africa against the native Hereros.

In 1904, contracts were placed with Waffenfabrik Mauser for 290,000 rifles and with Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for 210,000 rifles. Total production of the Gewehr 98 by the end of the First World War exceeded five million.

Enter the Mosin Nagant Model 91

While not as common as even a decade ago, it is hard not to find a Mosin Nagant at the local gun show. As one of the most produced rifles of all time, vintage rifles from old Soviet stocks were commonly sold for little over $100, and oftentimes with Cold War-era ammo pouches or other accessories.

However, those were the later models, and the story of the Mosin-Nagant dates back almost half a century. While it was a firearm that was almost ideally suited to the Russian peasant, it wasn't a wholly Russian design. It incorporated designs and features from two different designers: Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, a captain in the Imperial Russian Army, and Belgian gun designer Leon Nagant. Each submitted their rifles for testing, and while Mosin's rifle was selected, the modified version featured key details of the Nagant design including the fixed box magazine and the magazine spring.

The first fight involving the rifle wasn't even on a battlefield but in the courts—both legal and in the Russian Imperial Court of the tsar. To sum up a complicated situation, Nagant claimed patent protection despite borrowing the idea from Mosin, who couldn't file a patent as he was an officer in the Russian Army, making the design property of the government and a military secret. In the end, Nagant was paid off and continued to design weapons for the Russian military, notably the Nagant M1895 revolver.

Moreover, in addition to incorporating design aspects from the Belgian maker, the first 500,000 rifles were produced by the French arms factory, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault. It wasn't the only time the most famous of Russian rifles was produced in a foreign land.

The Mosin-Nagant entered service officially as the Russian 3-line rifle M1891, and domestic production began in 1892. The gun fired the 7.62x54mmR cartridge, a round that remained in service for more than 130 years!

Russia's new battle rifle first saw combat during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), and by that time some 3.8 million rifles were already in service. Its combat results were mixed, but gun historians say a larger part of this is that the infantrymen were not properly trained with this new weapon.

Millions more were made during World War I, and in another unique twist, the Russian demand far outpaced the supply, so much so that 1.5 million rifles were ordered by the Russian government and produced by Remington Arms in the United States. An additional 1.8 were further produced by New England Westinghouse. Many of these rifles didn’t make it to Russia before the Revolution and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and thus were never delivered to the Russian government. Some were supplied to American and British expeditionary forces sent to Russia in 1918 and 1919, but many were later used by U.S. National Guard and ROTC units.

The Rifles Compared

As Terence W. Lapin described in his book The Mosin-Nagant Rifle, the Russian-made weapon "is not an attractive firearm. It has none of the elegance of, say, the 1903 Springfield, nor is it particularly arresting in appearance. The venerable rifle is, however, robust, dependable, and reasonably accurate." That could also sum up the differences between Russia's peasant army, and the more refined German military.

Yet, from a cursory glance, the rifles are quite similar. Each weighs around nine pounds empty, holds five rounds, and is chambered for similar cartridges—the 7.62x54mmR for the Mosin-Nagant and the 7.92x57mm round for the Gewehr 98 (in post 1903 versions). With similar effective ranges of about 500 meters (550 years), it is hard to suggest one is better than the other.

Mauser fans will certainly disagree, and fair competition is challenging as many of the Russian rifles sold as surplus have been reworked and certainly used and abused. Those who favor the Mosin-Nagant will argue it can take a bit more punishment and keep working.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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