A study in Soviet Mosin accessories for the collector that can't stop at the rifles.

[Claven2]

Next I'm going to cover some of the cleaning tools issued with the Mosins. I like the screwdriver tools personally, and there is a tremendous variety of styles and markings on these. I'm only going to cover some of the major variations.

The original mosin screwdriver was a multi-tool blade set in a wooden handle. These date back to the advent of the imperial mosin and were made up until around 1930. The only real difference between the imperial versions (1918 and earlier) and the Soviet versions (1919 and later) are the markings.

Here, I'm showing an imperial era Remington-made screwdriver a soviet era Tula-made screwdriver. The Remington versions are a bit unique in that they had walnut handles while most other variants are birch. As an aside, the Finnish forces favored this pattern of screwdriver tool, and when they ran out of Russian ones, they made their own with Finnish maker markings, but that's another story!




In about 1930, the Soviets switched to a tubular-style self-contained cleaning kit and screwdriver to roughly coincide with the modernization of the M1891 Dragoon into the M91/30 infantry rifle.

These have a knurled outer surface and the body becomes the screwdriver handle, or the cleaning rod handle, and a muzzle cap for protecting the rifling from the cleaning rod. Inside the kit was a nylon brush, a blade screwdriver, and a cleaning jag. You find the blades both with firing pin protrusion gauges and a simplified version without the gauge notches (like the one I pictured). All versions have a firing pin wrench notch for adjusting pin protrusion, regardless if a pin gauge is provided.

There are also a couple patterns of tube housing. The Tula-made version I'm showing here has a depression in the larger tube that locks into the notch on the smaller diameter tube section, but there is also a pattern with protruding tabs that clip into notches on the other half of the tube.

These are really quite rare and when they are located, are often missing pieces. Production ceased in 1941 in favour of a simplified tool kit, roughly around the time the Soviets started making manufacturing shortcuts to deal with the German invasion.





In 1941, a much easier to produce stamped screwdriver was introduced that required no hand assembly, and no wooden handle. These were stamped out with pressing does in great numbers, but some versions were short lived and are harder to find.

I've depicted some of the versions collectors will encounter. From top to bottom:

- Early version with the GO and NOGO pin gauges on opposite sides of the blade. These were only made for a very short period in 1941 and are hard to find today. Most seem to be in relic condition, but this one is not.
- Typical 1942 or later Izhevsk-made screwdriver. The factories generally shipped the rifles with a sufficient quantity of tools, so a good many Izhevsk and Tula marked screwdrivers are still around.
- The original factory screwdrivers were easily lost in the field, so the GRAU facilities (depots) started manufacturing screwdrivers to make up the losses. These typically have no Izhevsk or Tula markings, but will have a GRAU facility identification stamp on them. (The box with vertical line is not yet associated with a specific GRAU facility)
- 1950 (post-war) East German made screwdriver with no pin protrusion gauge notches.
- Post-war alternate type screwdriver with no notches (more on this below)



Regarding the "alternate type" screwdriver - prior to Alexander Yuschenko's book M91/30 Rifles and M38/M44 Carbines in 1941-1945, it was commonly though screwdrivers of this shape were not made for the Mosin Nagant. Conventional gun show wisdom was that these were either made for captured K98k rifles, Lend-Lease Thompson SMGs, or were made for PPSh41 SMGs. This is likely because all of these guns recently were sold from the former soviet arms caches and imported to the west with random mosin accessories. Yuschenko shows three versions of this screwdriver that basically put this discussion to rest. The earliest versions of these had Mosin pin protrusion gauges on the side of the blade section, though all known examples are in relic condition. Later, only the pin wrench notch was machined into the side of these screwdrivers. The last version, like post-war East German made reparation screwdrivers, include no notches at all, only the screwdriver blade tip.

I've depicted the last style made, but I also have a pin wrench notch version that I can't find at the moment (it's in storage). I'll post a pic when I dig it up.

Now I'm going to briefly cover the wartime cleaning kit. When the tubular kit was replaced, the new kits were more than just a screwdriver. The kits were issued in a simple pouch with a wrap string or or wrap ribbon. The pouches were made from heavy canvas or artificial leather. These pouches are typically not dated, and were made identically during the war and post-war, as I write this, I don't know how to ID which are truly wartime.



A complete kit will contain a cleaning brush, a simplified screwdriver (usually the triangular type with pin protrusion gauge notches), a cleaning jag, a swivel collar and handle assembly for the end of the cleaning rod, and either a long muzzle cover (for the 91/30) or a short muzzle cover (for the M38 and M44 carbines). Both muzzle covers are depicted here, but an issued kit would have had one or the other, not both.

Most of the kits currently floating around are missing the cleaning brush and the pouch itself. Lately you get the screwdriver, a cleaning jag, a swivel collar and handle assembly and either a muzzle cover in a vacuum sealed plastic bag. The original cleaning brushes are getting harder to find.



The Russians also issued an oil bottle, and several versions were used over the years. The earliest bottles were a single chamber circular bottle with the imperial eagle pressed into one side of the bottle, and "CO3" pressed into the opposite side. These are rare/expensive and I don't have one yet to show here. After the start of the soviet era, a basic round oil bottle (single chamber) with no markings was issued (see lower left in the picture).

Some time in the 1930's (exact date not known to me), the Russians switched to a rectangular 2-chamber bottle (upper left in photo). These are marked W/H, pronounced shchalok and neft, which means alkaline solution and oil. This is the version generally used throughout WW2.

In the upper right of the picture is the 2-chamber oil bottle that ships with most refurb mosins these days. This is generally thought to be a post-war bottle. In the lower right is an Izhevsk made oil bottle, thought to be post-war. these were issued with Mosins, the SKS and early AKs.



The post-war oil bottles will sometimes come in an artificial leather (vinyl) case. These vary in color but are basically all the same design. During the war, the oil bottle does not appear to have had a special covering and was just carried in a soldier's pack.