Posted on 08/14/2008 12:13:29 AM PDT by sig226
Before the invention of the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22, pretty much everyone who knew how to shoot was familiar with the bolt action .22 Long Rifle. They were single shots with peep sights and they were stupid accurate. A bored rangemaster told each gang of mini GI Joes about the features of the rifles we were going to use. As he described each part of the action, we thought, ‘Well, duh . . .”
Something that simple wasn’t simple to invent. The modern bolt action began in 1827, with a patent for a breech loading "needle gun" by Johann Dreyse. A patent is not the same as an actual model that works, and someone wants to buy. The Prussian Army adopted the Dreyse rifle in 1840.
Prussia.us shows the development of German military rifles. They were the leaders in the field, most notably Paul Mauser. His ideas are still used.
From the site:
Gewehr 71
An improvement from the prototype submitted by the Mauser brothers (Gewehr 67/69) for military field tests, this version underwent improvements and was adopted by the freshly created unified-Germany (1/18/1871) and christened the Gewehr M.71. It was a new design built as a bolt action rifle chambering a metallic blackpowder cartridge. The Gew 71 was not a converted muzzleloader like many other countries were employing. The unique attributes of the bolt offered groundbreaking stability and cartridge chambering along with what became the standard Mauser wing-style safety lever. The Gew 71 has a walnut stock, two barrel bands, a cleaning rod in the forearm, and a muzzle cap securing the barrel.
Gewehr 71/84
The Russo - Turkish War impressed upon European powers that a repeating rifle can have a significant impact in battle. The day of the single shot was waning. The Mauser brothers had been improving the Gew 71 design while fulfilling contracts with Serbia. By 1881 Kaiser Wilhelm I was shown a prototype of a Gew 71 that featured a magazine. Wilhelm I found it favorable and the Mauser brothers further went to work putting the finishing touches on the prototype resulting in the Gew 71/84.
This rifle had an eight round magazine that was underneath the barrel that was loaded while the action was opened. To help this adaptation of a magazine the nose of the 11 x 60R bullet was slightly flattened. The Gew 71/84 also had a lever on the receiver that allowed the rifle to be fired in a single shot mode.
The French began the real revolution with the 1886 Lebel.
Fusil d’Infanterie Mle. 1886.
The Lebel M-1886 is essentially a Mle. 1885 modified to use the new ammunition; changes included a new barrel, bolt head, and a new chamber. The M-1886 was forced to use round-headed ammunition by the tubular magazine feed (at the time, Spitzer (pointed-nose) bullets were quite unreliable in a tubular feed magazine, with the point of the bullet often setting off the primer of the round ahead of it in the magazine in the shock of firing the weapon). The bolt action had a massive, exposed receiver with a bolt handle that stuck straight out from the weapon. The peculiar bolt mechanism and the need for a large tubular magazine led to a long, heavy, and unbalanced rifle which took some time for shooters to get used to. The wooden stock was straight-wristed with a quite long length of pull. The magazine feed could be cut off, allowing for the feeding of single rounds into the rifle (French tactics of the time called for the shooter to feed single rounds into the weapon under most circumstances, using the magazine only to defend against incoming charges or when a large volume of fire was otherwise needed).
The British also adopted a bolt action military rifle, around the same time.
Lee Enfield
The Lee-Enfield (or what would become the Lee-Enfield) rifle actually began its tenure as Britain’s primary service rifle in 1888 when the British War Office adopted the Magazine Rifle MkI. This rifle originally designed by James Paris Lee a firearms designer who worked chiefly in the USA and Canada, incorporated a "cock-on-closing" bolt with rear locking lugs and a detachable 10 round magazine. RSAF Enfield married this action with a Metford rifled barrel chambered for the .303 British black powder cartridge and thus was the birth of the longest serving military rifle in history. Originally replacing the Martini-Henry in 1888, this rifle in various forms remained in the hands of front line troops until 1957 before being replaced by the FN FAL.>
Ferdinand Mannlicher
Mannlicher invented the en bloc clip made famous in the U.S. M-1 Garand rifle, also used in the Italian Carcano. Mannlicher also invented the rotary magazine and was the first to make straight pull bolts commercially acceptable.
All this led up to the adoption of the infamous Mauser 98k, a bolt action that featured a box magazine, aka double column. Yes, AR-15 and Glock fans, the guy who invented the high cap mag stuck it in a bolt action with a wood stock.
1898 Mauser
Paul Mauser designed many classic firearms, but his Model 1898 is the unquestioned benchmark used to measure any bolt-action rifle. The strength and safety features of the Model 98 action are legendary. Where most contemporary bolt actions employed locking lugs at either the front or rear of the bolt, the Model 98 has a pair of lugs in the front and a third safety lug in the rear.
Another safety feature of the Model 98 is the large gas shield at the front of the bolt sleeve to protect the firer’s eyes from hot gas and brass splinters in the event of a pierced primer or case-head separation. Oblong holes in the bottom of the bolt body serve the same purpose.
The U.S.A. got late into the game with the adoption of the Krag - Jorgenson and Springfield Model 1903 - A3 rifles. The Krag is most famous for service in the Phillippine Insurrection, the conflict that convinced the U.S. Army to get rid of its .38 caliber revolvers and adopt the .45 caliber Model 1911 pisotl. This was because the drugged up (opium) Mauro Tribesmen didn't fall down when they were shot with the revolver. Of course, they didn't fall down when they were shot with the .30 - 40 Krag rifle cartridge, either, but no one can claim that the firearms business makes any sense.
We were also busy inventing the Gatling Gun and the Maxim Machine Gun while the Europeans were perfecting the bolt action, so we get a pass. :)
Thank you!
NO! It's not. ;)
Lurker Jr has the Henry Youth Model. He's put an awful lot of lead downrange with that one.
L
My first was a Stevens .22/.410 over under from Stevens with the then revolutionary nylon stock. For the record, those new-fangled nylon stocks will hold up.
My first long gun was a Steven’s Favorite. It was already nearly shot out when I got it, and my brothers and sisters all learned to shoot with it, too. It was chambered for .22 LR, but also fired .22 short, and .22 CB caps. The barrel is probably worn to about .25 cal now. It was also my dad’s first long gun, and it has taken deer, squirrel, rabbit, many kinds of birds, tin cans and glass bottles.
I got my first gun for Christmas in 1960. It was a model 67 single shot .22, still have it.
These types of guns were extremely popular in Europe, particularly Germany. They're properly called "Drillings". A fairly common model would have a 16 or 12 gauge barrel and an 8 X 57LR mated to it.
With one of those one could take pretty much any game in Europe.
L
The introduction to firearms (after BB guns) was around age 8 with an old 16 gauge and the first rifle fired at 10 was a sporterized SMLE.
First firearm I ever shot. It was at Boy Scout Camp.
BUMP!
No it isn't. IIRC it has slightly more muzzle energy than the 30.06. The 8 X 57 round (correctly designated the 7.92 X 57, often referred to as 8MM Mauser) was chambered by the K98 Mauser, the famous rifle carried by German troops in both WWI and WWII.
Any WWII vet will attest that that round has more than enough power to do the job.
Not very popular in the US from what I can tell.
They never really caught on here, but there are a number of active collectors. A well made Drilling can command several thousand dollars, with some pre-war models going for well over $10,000.
L
The “gun club” articles have been fascinating. Thanks for running these. Please add me to the ping list!
Someone brought it over on return from the 2nd WW.
That's a fairly common (as least as far as Drillings go) story. Lot's of them were 'liberated' from German officers at the end of the war and brought home as trophies.
Here is an example of one.
L
I have never come across another side-by-side drilling since that time. The gun is now out of reach.
They seem to be quite pricey these days. It's not something I'm interested in, but there must be a market for them to be commanding the sorts of prices I've seen.
Best,
L
It’s out of the family due to a divorce. It was *borrowed* from my Granddad.
Got lucky and bought it for $1500 about twenty years ago at a Calif. gun show...
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