JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
In Normandy if you didn't know who was hiding in the next hedgerow, you'd fire a shot over their heads.

If you got mortar fire back they were Americans.

If you got machine gun fire they were Germans.

If you got massive accurate rifle fire back they were British getting up to 15 aimed shots a minute out of their bolt actions.

You can work a bolt very fast when trained up.

In WWI the first contact between Germans and British at Nimy bridge on the Mons canal, the Royal Fusilers engaged with rifles at 1000 yards with such rapid fire that the Germans reported the bridge was held by a machine gun battalion.

Bolt rifles are nothing to discount.
This engagement gave birth to the legend of "The Angel of Mons" where some claimed to have seen angels fighting on the side of the British. Typical Brit propaganda. That said, I've heard the SMLE called many things, but rarely an "angel"...;)
The Enfield rifles are definitely the fastest bolt battle rifles I have used in my life, tho not necessarily my favorite- that accolade goes to the Mausers..
 
Last Edited:
French MAS 36
A very underrated and powerful rifle though the MASses have been told differently. Currently being used in Syria. The cartridge performance feels very much like the 30.06. Sights were fixed so offset accurising (is that a word?) can be seen on the rear aperture.

D1C85C2A-0EC2-4648-B2EE-9603AF5DD47A.jpeg AC365852-CF88-499B-871D-324BFBFC7E44.jpeg 313360FF-1742-4E95-8E6F-D1ACB5A550A5.jpeg 5874EC5A-7EF2-4EEF-BA73-407D0233DCFA.jpeg BB7A8686-5617-4C81-BECE-22463260A3D7.jpeg A8B7F166-B3C1-4508-B193-2E12ABE05A8C.jpeg 9BC7532D-0A53-4DC6-9A88-10E593C08416.jpeg
 
Last Edited:
WW1 rifles.

Austrian M1895 Mannlicher Steyr. Long rifle and short version. The long rifle is dated 1917, the short rifle was rebarreled in Bulgaria circa 1939 so no date but made no later than 1919. Both upgraded to 8x56R cartridge, long rifle has Steyr receiver and short one has Budapest. Owning these is my third go-around. First one I owned 1966-69. Then I owned several around 1999-early 2000's. When I let the last of those go, I said, "Never again."

Then one day several years ago, I stumbled upon over 900 rounds of 1938-39 8x56R ammo on clips, very cheap.

At that time, i didn't have an M95 rifle to shoot the ammo in. So I went to the next gun show and got the short rifle. Not too long later, at another estate deal I found the long rifle for $100. Now I have several lifetimes of shooting with these at the current rate of consumption.

View attachment 625991

Bayonets. I'd never bothered previously to get a bayonet for M95's but this time around I did.

View attachment 625992

This bayonet cost a pretty penny off ebay. It's a scabby looking thing but it has a unit marking on it. I like the unit markings that were put on imperial German and Austrian arms. Anyway, this one has markings that trace it to the 8th Pioneer (Engineer) Battalion of the WW1 Austrian common army. Note the edged side of the blade faces up, the fuller faces down. This one has a rifle sight attached to the crossguard, supposedly to regulate the short rifle sights for close-in shooting. The M95 rifles and carbines have notoriously short front sights to accommodate long range shooting. I have replaced the original front sights on both of these so as to medzu-medzu get point of aim/impact coordinated at 100 yards.

It's pretty amazing but these days, the M95 bayonets are worth more than the rifles.

I've got a couple of WW2 rifles, an M1 Rifle and a Czech VZ24 made after the German occupation so either used by them or sent off to Romania in a sale.

When the Germans took over a country, they took the military arms of whatever place. In the case of Austria, they incorporated Austrian divisions into the Wehrmacht and gave them standard German equipment. Therefore, the Austrian M95 rifles were surplus. They arranged a deal and sold many of them to Bulgaria. My two came from that stash.

Re. the case of my Czech CZ24. It was made in April, 1939 originally intended for the Czech Army which no longer existed. However, CZ had an existing contract with the government of Romania for this design. The Germans simply filled out the rest of the Romanian order with surplus Czech rifles. They were very practical and thrifty about it.
Is there any truth to the rumor that the M95's kick like a Russian mule? Ive been given to understand that the recoil is brutal, esp. with the carbines.. Im used to the Mausers, Enfields, Springfields etc, how do they compare?
 
Is there any truth to the rumor that the M95's kick like a Russian mule? Ive been given to understand that the recoil is brutal, esp. with the carbines.. Im used to the Mausers, Enfields, Springfields etc, how do they compare?

Not a rumor. Look at the picture, see the bottom piece, the carbine. Note the slip-on recoil pad. It's there for a reason. These rifles aren't as heavy as a typical service Mauser. I've read that they used special steels to be able to reduce the size of forgings and therefore reduce weight. At the time of the First World War, most Europeans were of smaller average stature than now. Likely it was nice to have a lighter rifle but the downside was the recoil.

Just today I was out to a range with the M95 long rifle. Recoil in it is more tolerable than the carbine with the same ammo. Today I was shooting regular 1938 service rounds. For a while, I was taking some of those cartridges apart and reducing the charge by 10%, then putting them back together again. Lee makes a factory crimp die for 8x56R which enables this without resizing the entire case. This makes shooting the carbine more tolerable but I don't do this for ammo I shoot in the long rifle.

I also have some modern Boxer primer 8x56R cases and contemporary bullets but I figure why use them while I have to much factory ammo to blow off.

Which reminds me, I have to get downstairs and clean that long rifle. Corrosive priming, you know.
 
Finnish M28 - 1928
Privately funded mostly by Finnish woman's 'Lotta' groups with only 33K produced. This was part of the first 10K order and used Swiss Sig barrels made in Bern - stamped 27'. About 10K if these were upgraded to the 28/30 configuration later making these originals fairly uncommon. Somehow this specimen missed getting the usual military absorbed SA stamping.
Simo Häyhä is known to have used an iron sighted M28 or 28/30 as his go to rifle. Later in life he was not sure which one.

878E49B9-0E02-4B0B-A6F5-D6479210D7CD.jpeg 1CB9A0EC-0B53-4077-9519-B7BBC08FC13D.jpeg 8E575BBD-9736-40D8-B70A-7FAAB72890ED.jpeg 8BC01530-D5F6-4F2F-B8C5-808AD043F63A.jpeg 7C99B45B-A247-4204-ADE6-6D6FF8E69669.jpeg
 
Last Edited:
Finally picked up one of my "grail guns" today, a Finnish M39 by Sako...

View attachment 631837
Congrats you'll love your rifle. These rifles prefer a heavier and slower moving bullet than the typical Russian surplus but can use that for sure.
You may probably already know this...
If you hand load do you want to create the D-166 load. IV888 created a great video on YouTube.
Or purchase something like in this rifle chair video.
 
Last Edited:
Oooooohkay so I'm late to the party here. I've got more pics at home but here's me incorrectly using my 1943 Lithgow (don't have a WWI era SMLE) to portray a soldier in the 27th infantry attacking the Hindenburg line in WWI. The 27th was attached to the British and used British equipment. The reenactment was two days and by the end I learned to hate rimmed ammo with a fiery passion. Yes, I know if you load the chargers correctly they shouldn't rimlock but after going over hill and dale with me they often shifted resulting in a lot of cursing and single loading. Great opportunity to practice loading and working the bolt under pressure!
74591414_10100423622998189_357279830930096128_n.jpg IMG_3026.JPG
 
Also, I see a number of people on this thread have experience with M95 Mannlichers. I'm looking for one but cannot find a single long rifle for sale. Anyone got any leads on one of these? I need it to complete the WWI collection.
 
Oooooohkay so I'm late to the party here. I've got more pics at home but here's me incorrectly using my 1943 Lithgow (don't have a WWI era SMLE) to portray a soldier in the 27th infantry attacking the Hindenburg line in WWI. The 27th was attached to the British and used British equipment. The reenactment was two days and by the end I learned to hate rimmed ammo with a fiery passion. Yes, I know if you load the chargers correctly they shouldn't rimlock but after going over hill and dale with me they often shifted resulting in a lot of cursing and single loading. Great opportunity to practice loading and working the bolt under pressure!
View attachment 637848View attachment 637851
You just need a mustache to complete your look!
 
Try the Oregon Arms Collector show in August, granted not many enfields there the last few years. More focus was on German pistols and American semi auto rifles.
You'll probably find some there, or at least see some awesome collections.
 
I'm looking for a British WW2 era Enfield too, but not many people want to give them up :D o_O
Too bad. I sold a nice Jungle Carbine on here earlier this year. It's shown in post #113. As much as I'd wanted one and no matter how "cool" it was, it was just going to sit and was one of the first on the chopping block when I decided it was time to get some other obligations paid off. I always thought this was the gun that inspired Jeff Cooper to develop his scout rifle concept.
I also have the green box, scope and (unfortunately) sportered No4M1T shown in post #70. That one was Dad's. I've never shot it. Yet. ;) Because it has a removable mag it just might be the ticket to getting a Rifleman patch with a bolt action.
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top