What is your favorite military bolt gun?

[texaswoodworker]

Thanks Gabby==any info on the star-in-crescent mark? Some arab or maybe Iraq property mark?

It could be a Turkish Mauser. Turkey was importing their Mausers up until the end of 1939. After that, they started making/assembling their own (K.Kale) since they did not want to get caught between Hitler and Stalin. They remained neutral until the end of the war when they joined the allies. I have a 1942 K.Kale Mauser.

BEAUTIFUL rifle BTW. Mine looks like it's seen a lot of use.

http://www.turkmauser.com/1938/

[Mgderf]

That's like asking which child is your favorite!
I only have a handful, of military bolt guns, not kids...but I digress.

I will not say which is my favorite because my house is too small, my safes too nearby, and I could be overheard.
I'm not going to hurt any feelings today.

Several years ago I "fell into" a deal on some vintage firearms, among them a couple of old war-horses.

I have a Lithgow No.3 Mk1 SMLE from 1945. I'm not sure, but it looks as if it had not been issued, or newly factory refurbished.
It shoots at least as good as I do.
I also ran into a type 99 Arisaka in 7.7x58 with an INTACT mum! It has a bright and shiny bore and has NOT been counter-bored, but this poor thing looks like it's been through 3 or 4 world wars! It has taken a lickin', but keeps on tickin'.
I also have a 91/30 Mosin, and a T53 (Chinese clone of the M44 Mosin).

I will NOT pick a favorite, but still, I've wanted to try the British "Mad-Minute" drill since reading about it.
Sounds like it would be fun, but also expensive since I don't (yet) reload .303 British...

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I have never believed straight-pull actions had much of an advantage, and few can be cycled in silence. But if the Lee-Enfield had been the salvation of somebody else's country, three of them would head my list.

One is the Austro-Hungarian M95 Mannlicher, which unlike the lovely little Mannlicher-Schoenauer actually does include major innovation of Ferdinand von Mannlicher's own. It is very strong and compact, and easier than most for a gunsmith to adapt to left-hand use. It stood an amazingly long torture test with no lubrication before adoption. I think the Hungarian round is the better of the two, if you can get the brass and bullets, but I have the NEI .330 247gr. mould, also excellent for the Kropatschek, although I bought mine for the falling-block Guedes.

Another favourite is the 6mm. Navy Lee, although mine, one of the even rarer sporters, is only a wall-hanger. Arguably it isn't a bolt-action at all, since the thing is square in section and lifts out of engagement, a system later to be much used in automatic weapons. But the best thing about it is the cartridge, which with improved powders and primers which weren't long in coming, could have duplicated the .243 Winchester before WW1.


My third, especially if I could be permitted a non-destructive modification, is Swiss, but nothing as modern as even the 1911. Mine is the 1889, with an almost ludicrously long action, but a mechanical gem which about equals the ballistic performance of the Krag. I bought a spare bolt plug from Numrich, and to it silver soldered a small Marble-Goss receiver sight. No original part has been even drilled, and it is far more rigid and more precisely adjustable than a cocking-piece sight. It really needs a cast or swaged bullet with paper patch, since the neck and throat demand considerably larger than groove diameter. The factory bullet had a slight heel (to prevent "finning" at the rear I think), but I believe as much could be achieved with a discarding aluminium disc inside the patch. I don't believe any modern military rifle has exceeded the rapid-fire accuracy of experts like Captain Otter.

Back to Lee-Enfields, my choice would be an early Long Lee Enfield, without the charger guide, especially if I could have one of the Parker or Parker-Hale micrometer peepsights, designed for use in target disciplines which didn't permit drilling and tapping. There is a single-stage trigger (abandoned in later Lee-Enfields), bore and chamber dimensions are usually true to specification, and the action has cleaner and more elegant lines. I don't believe the Krag could beat it for smoothness and silence. It was used, I think, in the only war in which the rifle has ever been the dominant weapon.

The P14 and M1917 Enfields are also excellent rifles, and were the first to bring really good, well protected aperture sights to the military rifle. All oher ideas of a favourite would be off if I could get one of the P13 trials rifles, for a .276 round much resembling a slightly shorter and fatter 7mm. Remington Magnum, all ready to win another Boer War with. Again primers and powders presented difficulties, but these were about ready to be beaten if some idiot hadn't started a war.

The Werndl is an interesting nomination, since you would feel a bit silly if you let it in by defining a bolt as a rotating cylindrical thing which doesn't move up and down. I have a disembodied late Werndl lock, the version with the hammer inside the back-action sidelock plate. Maybe someday I will make my own 8 bore single.

[badbob454]

yugo 24/47 mauser in 8mm

[gew98]

Had I to pick a "type"...yeah it would be the gew98 in general....wou'd a thunk it !.

[dps3006]

My Swedes, model 96 and 38. More accurate than I am and easy on the shoulder.