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Acknowledgements
I would like to
thank the following people for their contributions to and review
of this site's material:
Vic Thomas
Tuco
Terence Lapin
Karl-Heinz Wrobel
Each of these
great folks have established themselves as authorities on the
Mosin rifle and have either published their work in print or on
the web. They have provided direct contributions to this site,
assisted in research or directly mentored me in my search for
Mosin knowledge.
About Me
I guess a lot of websites include a little something about
the author/designer as sort of an opportunity for them to brag
on their web design abilities and to massage their own egos. In
keeping with the tradition but with a twist, I decided to do the
same thing. The twist is that I am providing a brief
introduction because the relationship that I have enjoyed over
the years with different collectors and forums users demands it.
When you share so much information and human stories back and
forth, it is only right that I tell you all a little bit about
me and how I came to be associated with the rifle Mosin.
I started collecting when I bought my first military surplus
rifle at the age of 12. Little did I know then, that I had
started down a road that would lead me here forty years later.
My first rifle was an Enfield that was followed by a whole
succession of Enfield rifles between the age of twelve and when
I entered the Army at as a young man 20 years old.
During my time in the army, my collecting activities
continued sporadically when assignments allowed. Unfortunately,
I spent the majority of my time assigned overseas which made
collecting and transporting firearms difficult. The upside was
that my assignments introduced me to a variety of small arms
(some of which are now on the C&R list) both NATO and communist
block related. So as it turned out I was never far away from a
milsurp of some type.
After I retired in 1993, after twenty years of service, I
started collecting again. I hauled my stash out of storage and
took stock. I had a large number of Enfields, a handful of
Mausers and one lone “Russian rifle” that I inherited from my
father who had since passed on. As time went on that “Russian
rifle” began to weigh on my curiosity. In the early days of the
internet, I began searching for information about it. I
discovered a guy who had a small website and discussion board
who seemed to be into the Finnish variety of these rifles, who
went by the name of Tuco. With his help and the help of Dan Z.
Johnson who also had a little website dedicated to these rifles,
I was able to identify what rifle I had and to learn a little
bit about its history.
By that time, I was settled down in civilian life with my
spouse and now, 18 year old daughter and working in the
Information Technology field. That meant that I had stability,
income and time to renew my collecting at a greater level. I
made the decision to refocus my collecting on the Mosin Nagant
rifle. I hit the web and libraries to soak up as much
information as possible about these rifles. At that time there
was precious little credible information. I traveled a lot in my
IT job so I had an opportunity to visit gun shows across the
country and meet and talk to other collectors of Mosin Nagants.
This added greatly to my knowledge. After consuming the
available literature, I decided that a website tailored to the
needs of the beginning Mosin collector was sorely needed. I
taught myself some basic web skills and with the help of Tuco
and Vic Thomas as well as Dan Johnson, this site was born. It
was about a year after Tuco started his site and we coordinated
both of our sites so that they would compliment each other in
terms of purpose and content. This has proven to be a successful
formula considering how much both sites have grown.
Since I started collecting Mosin Nagant rifles, my
collection has grown and taken different directions. At one
time, my spouse was concerned because it took up so much room
but since then, simple economics, and selectivity has moderated
the size of my collection. The greatest obstacle to building my
collection has been location. Upstate NY is not a fertile
hunting ground for military surplus rifles. However, with
patience and perseverance, I have done quite well in my
collecting activity. As my website grew, I have been fortunate
to come into contact with some of the best names in Mosin
research and benefited by their contributions to the site.
Terence Lapin and Karl-Heinz Wrobel have been kind enough to
share their work and contribute to the content of the site. Paul
Tamoney has contributed his unique knowledge of Russian optics
and translating skills as well.
Since starting this site, I have seen it grow and I am
grateful to all of the people that made it possible. So the
twist is that this is not really about me but about everyone who
has shown their kindness and support.
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