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

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

    I've been collecting Mosin accessories for some time now and over the next little while, I'll post some information for those who want to collect the essentials to go with their Sovieticon Mosin firearms.

    For now, let's cover with the Ammunition Pouches that were in use during the Soviet WW2 era and beyond. There are earlier pouches that are all but unobtainable except as reproductions, and we'll skip those.

    When war began in June 1941, the Soviet Army was equipped with the Model 37 ammunition pouch. There are multiple variations of this pouch, and all of them are rare today. The example I'm showing was acquired in eastern Europe in Jan 2017 for 104 euros and that was a bargain (!) compared to what they are selling for typically. These leather pouches were used until they fell apart in large numbers during the war, and production effectively ended in 1941 shortly after the start of Operation Barbarossa, in favour of models that could be produced cheaper and faster. This means that few examples survived, and even fewer survived post-war service.

    The basically universal characteristics of the Model 1937 include 2 compartments, leather construction and a ring on the backside to clip to the shoulder y-straps of the soviet combat uniform. They are generally found in a shade of brown. These pouches can be sewn constriction, riveted, or a combination of both. The front tongue can be solid, or Y-shaped with a central cutout. There is also a very rare Kirza (rubberized canvas) version, but only a few relic condition examples are known to collectors, and they don't resemble the post-war kirza pouches discussed further below.

    The depicted example is 1939 production, solid tongue strap, riveted construction, and has a nice clear 1939 production date stamp.





    As Model 1937 production wound down, the soviets quickly introduced the Model 1941 Unified Pouch. The idea behind this pouch was to have one pouch that would replace both the Model 1937 Mosin Pouch and the Model 38/40 SVT pouch with a single issue that could store either charger clips or magazines. These pouches were also made in multiple variations and are made of leather, Vinyl leather, canvas or kirza. Similar construction variations exist as with the Model 1937, in that they can be riveted, sewn, or a combination of both. These can be found in many different colours as the Soviets used whatever suitable material they could find during the darkest days of the war. You see them in black, grey, brown, green, un-dyed leather, burgundy, etc. As of 2017, these are selling in the $60+ range for a decent example.

    The interior of the pouch contains a divider allowing two wedge-shaped cardboard boxes of 7.62x54R ammunition to be stored, or this divider can be folded out of the way and one SVT magazine and 2 chargers can be inserted, separated by a lengthwise divider. A leather pull tab is included to make the magazine easier to remove from the pouch. These were made until early 1942, though most production stopped in October 1941.

    The unified pouch did away with the back ring for the Y-straps and was simply worn on the equipment belt. The example I'm depicting is a black leather version made in 1941 with sewn construction.





    As the pressures mounted on the Soviet forces and things like beaver-chewed M91/30 receivers started to appear, the manufacture of ammunition pouches was cheapened further to get more materiel into the field against the germans. This resulted in the Model 1941 Simplified Pouch, introduced in October 1941. This was the most numerously produced ammunition pouch in WW2, the Soviet produced over 26 million of them, though most no longer exist today. Presumably as production normalized after WW2, and the model 1937 pattern was re-introduced (more on that later), most of the leftover "simplified pouches" were scrapped.

    The Simplified Pouch is characterized by a single pocket with no dividers. It has 2 simple belt loops on the back and either a button or stud closure on the front. First hand accounts show that this over-cheapened pouch was NOT popular with the troops, and few pictures exist of them actually in use. More commonly, people relieved soviet or german dead and wounded of nicer patterns of ammunition pouch at first opportunity for somewhat obvious reasons. These pouches can be had in the $30-60 range in 2017, depending on the model, construction materiel, condition, and relative rarity.

    The most common simplified pouch is made of simple canvas or fabric material like this first example. Belt loops can be leather, kirza or canvas. Although hard to make out, this one is dated 1944.





    The next most common is the leather construction variant, and the rarest is the Kirza pouch. Externally they look the same, but internally, the kirza pouch resembles canvas. Here is a rare kirza variant, sewn construction with a stamped metal closure stud. Although the date stamp is too worn to read, it's from the 1942-1944 period.





    These pouches would generally all have been worn in pairs, but at times the soldier needed to carry additional ammunition. For this reason, the "Additional Pouch" was issued. Only one of these additional pouches was meant to be worn, on the left side hanging below the standard ammunition pouch. These were always produced in canvas and could also fit an SVT magazine, but were meant for riflemen carrying a mosin nagant. There are some variations in the type of closure device and the color of the canvas, but there is not as large a variety to these as for wartime primary ammunition pouches.

    Most of these have no date stamps, but they were only made during WW2. The few that are dated are usually stamped 1941.




    That covers all the major variants produced prior to VE day.

    In late 1945, domestic production on model 1937 ammunition pouches resumed, but most often made of kirza, not leather, though some leather post-war examples are also encountered. Some 1945 dated examples are found from time to time, and this pattern remained in production, largely unchanged until the late 1950's when the equipment strap ring was eliminated (exact date not know to me).

    Here are both variants of the post-war kirza model 1937 ammunition pouch, the leather ones are identical but made of leather (obviously). This is the ammunition pouch that was most commonly encountered when the bulk of M91/30 refurb rifles started to appear in North America in the 2000's. These are the pouches the soviets packed with the rifles after their large refurbishment program and most are unissued, as the SKS45 and AK47 were primary issue arms when the pouches were made. These were meant to arm conscripts in the event of WW3 or as foreign aid to budding communist nations.

    The bottom variant is an earlier pouch made in the late 1940's or early 1950's that retains the equipment strap ring. The date stamp is too worn to read. The top pouch is made in 1960 and no longer incorporates the ring on the back. These post-war pouches can be found for under $15 a piece in 2017 due to the sheer numbers that were imported.





    In 1950, the DDR (East Germanyicon), as part of war reparations, was pressed into making very nice leather Model 1937 ammunition pouches for the Soviet military. These are well made and were sent to the Soviet Union where they were both issued, as well as stored, in large numbers. They can be found for sale online pretty easily and are more expensive then post-war kirza pouches, but not expensive compared to wartime pouches. You often see them in the $25 range and they are often used by re-enactors as they look like a common variant of the pre-war pouches when worn.





    Lastly, we have perhaps the last pouch variant made for the Mosin Nagant before the former soviet states began disposing of their mosin nagant rifles. This pattern resembles somewhat the Model 1941 unified pouch, except that it is configured with a permanent divider suitable only for 7.62x54R ammunition on charger clips. An SVT mag cannot be inserted. One source I read claims these are meant to be interchangeable for the Mosin and SKS and that production was begun in the 1950's. That said, I have never seen one dated earlier than 1978 and I can't make an SKS charger guide fit in this pouch correctly. I don't know the official model designation of the pouch and I haven't yet seen it published. My example is dated September 1979.





    So that about sums it up, though I have read that a wooden pouch, that copied the pre-1937 stiff leather pouches of imperial design, was also made briefly during WW2. I don't have an example and they are exceedingly rare. There may be a few other very rare variants that none of us are likely to encounter also
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    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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