Book Review: Rifles of the Snow

Today's book is really more of a pamphlet than a proper book, but it still serves well given its purpose. It is Rifles of the Snow by Doug Bowser and Powers Dunaway, and it is an introduction and basic handbook of Finnish military rifles - specifically Mosin Nagants. While Finland used a wide variety of rifles from many different countries during its wars with the Soviet Union, the bulk of its rifles were different flavors of Mosin Nagant. Finland never actually manufactured a Mosin receiver, instead using guns either purchased or captured. However, rather than using captured guns as-is, they typically overhauled and retrofitted captured Mosins to their own specifications. Between these and the pre-war purchased guns, the Finns have a handful of different models, which are easily confused by newcomers to the subject. Rifles of the Snow is a good quick reference to discern between the different models and interpret the markings which one will find on both pre-war and captured Finnish Mosins.