The Mosin Nagant Pistol, or Obrez pistol, emerged during World War II when the Soviets had more rifles than pistols.
The Mosin Nagrant rifle is one of the best rifles ever made. So when the soldiers needed a short range weapon, they looked to their trusty rifles. They would convert the rifles into pistols by cutting down the stock and barrel of a Mosin Nagant rifle. That’s how the makeshift Mosin Nagant pistol was born.
Since this “pistol” is literally just a Mosin Nagant rifle with a short barrel and stock, it uses the same caliber round as the rifle. That mean it packs a serious punch and sounds like a cannon.
The Mosin–Nagant rifle is most famously chambered in 7.62×54mmR, a rimmed Russian cartridge introduced in 1891 alongside the rifle itself.
- 7.62×54mmR is the standard chambering for the Mosin–Nagant and one of the oldest military cartridges still in service today (used in PKM machine guns and Dragunov sniper rifles).
- The “R” stands for rimmed, meaning the cartridge has a protruding rim at the base.
- Bullet diameter is actually about 7.92mm (.311–.312 in), slightly larger than the .308 in NATO rounds.
There are also rare Mosin–Nagant variants chambered in other cartridges (mostly post-war conversions or experimental runs), such as:
- .30-06 Springfield: U.S. conversions for Lend-Lease rifles.
- 7.62×39mm: Finnish designation for their version of the same cartridge. It’s essentially dimensionally identical to 7.62×54mmR, but Finnish surplus ammo was sometimes loaded to slightly different pressure specs. Functionally, the rifles and ammo are interchangeable.).
- Modern sporting conversions: Gunsmiths have re-barreled Mosins to calibers like .308, .300 Win Mag, or even odd wildcats, but these are custom jobs, not factory military issues.
But if someone says “Mosin–Nagant,” they almost always mean 7.62×54mmR.
Mosin Nagant Pistol Obrez Test Firing
Enjoy the fireworks in this video demonstration of this unique gun that looks like something Jack Sparrow would fire from the crows nest.
Here’s a questionable photo of this Mosin Nagant obrez that seems like it could be photoshopped.
Anybody have better documentation on this thing? Know of any other rare or unique guns that we should investigate? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
References
- Mosin Nagant rifle on wikipedia[1]
