The Return of the Mosin-Nagant
Its Use in Ukraine Is Not What You Think
The media is reporting on Russia's use of the Mosin-Nagant in Ukraine as a symptom of equipment problems. While the Russian military has plenty of equipment problems, there is no way they are running out of AK-47's and AK-74's. Something else is going on—and that something else is, most likely, the quality body armor that Ukrainian soldiers wear.
I think they are issuing the Mosin because its 7.62X54 rounds have 2/3rds more kinetic energy than the AK-47’s 7.62 X 39 round and more than double the kinetic energy of the AK-74’s 5.45x39 round. Notice that the US army, afraid of the high-quality body armor Chinese soldiers are likely to have, has decided to develop and issue a new battle rifle, the M-5 Spear, in .277 Fury, a much more powerful round than the current standard 5.56 NATO.
The energy of the rounds respectively is (there can be some variation depending on the exact composition of the round):
1) Mosin's 7.62 x 54 : 3,593 J
2) AK-47 7.62 x39: 2,108 J
3) AK-74 5.45x 39: 1,328 J
4) Sig M-5 .277 Fury 3,653 J
5) 5.56 NATO 1,755 J
Notice the similarity between the kinetic energy of the M-5's .277 Fury and the Mosin's 7.62x54 (though it should be pointed out that the .277 Fury is smaller and faster than the 7.62x54, which should make it a better body armor buster).
The AK-47 and AK-74 simply don’t cut it any longer. If you don’t believe this, consider the following video posted by a Wagnerite (A note on gun safety, don’t charge your weapon until you are pointed at the target; this guy does it somewhat too early):
Some other factors to consider are that, insofar as Russia is utilizing human wave tactics with convicts, it might make sense to provide them with a rifle you consider to be as expendable as the man carrying it. Furthermore, insofar as some soldiers are carrying out support functions that don’t really require they be issued a rifle at all, a Mosin is as good as any other rifle they would also not put to use. Lastly, the Mosin’s longer range may be more useful when defending trenches that already have machine gun emplacements. Longer range, aimed fire may be more useful than some additional full auto fire.
Please disagree if you have another explanation for this. But running out of AK-47's just can't be the answer given the ease with which Russia could acquire them from foreign sellers and the vast numbers they must have in storage as well as the ease with which they can be produced. The AK-47 was designed to be simple to manufacture: No economic sanctions would affect their ability to produce this Stalin era technology.