Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Very, very reliable rifle. I'd get it, but I have five of them already.

Once you learn the trick of working the bolt, you can fire almost as fast as a semi-auto. The Brits had something called the "mad minute" where they put as many rounds in a 100 yard target as possible in 60 secs. A trained infantryman could really put the lead out.

A Brit made Gunny Ermey look slow and clumsy with an '03 Springfield . . . of course the gunny got him back with the Garand, but it just goes to show how fast the rifle will shoot.

Ballistically it's about the same as a .30-40 Krag, a little less powerful than a .308.

One thing you want to do if you're going to shoot it is run it by a gunsmith and check the headspace. Since the lugs lock at the rear that measurement is critical, and if somebody's replaced the bolt along the way they can be dangerous.

13 posted on 11/04/2009 2:21:32 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary - (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: AnAmericanMother

I’m just totally NOT surprised that you like Enfields.


15 posted on 11/04/2009 2:22:54 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies ]

To: AnAmericanMother

I had read that what made the SMLE rifle so fast-firing was that the bolt rotates only seventy degrees, and the cock-on-closing action actually speeds up the reload cycle.

It was said that in 1914, when the British infantry consisted of seasoned veterans, their rate of fire was so fast that the Germans thought they were equipped with self-loading rifles, and called this “contemptible” and unfair.

So the “Old Contemptibles” they became, wielders of the dealy Enfield. But the trench warfare that followed decimated their ranks, and the raw recruits who took their place could not replicate that murderous rate of fire.


16 posted on 11/04/2009 2:30:45 PM PST by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies ]

To: AnAmericanMother; HuntsvilleTxVeteran
The Brits had something called the "mad minute" where they put as many rounds in a 100 yard target as possible in 60 secs. A trained infantryman could really put the lead out

Bolt action record: In 1914 Sergeant Instructor Snoxall put 38 hits onto a 12" target at 300 yards in 1 minute.

44 posted on 11/04/2009 4:11:05 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (Levi Johnston: because Joey Buttafuco is so last century)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson