The Roshchepei rifle (Cyrillic: Винтовка Рощепей Vintovka Roshchepei) was a Russian prototype self-loading rifle designed by Yakov Roshchepei.
History[]
Yakov Roshchepei, a Russian Army engineer, developed this prototype rifle and submitted it to military trials in 1905. It was tested at Oranienbaum, but proved unreliable and was rejected. The weapon is currently on display in the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[1]
Design[]
The Roshchepei rifle was a blowback-operated modification of the Mosin-Nagant. It had a strong recoil spring but did not feature a breech locking mechanism, which resulted in common extraction failures.
Gallery[]
A sketch of the Roshchepei.