WW1 era bolt
action rifle evaluation proposal.
It was a
little over a hundred years ago that WW1 began. Being a firearms enthusiast, at
the start of 2014 Voland began collecting WW1 main battle rifles. It will be
interesting to systematically examine the designs, of these rifles, and through
them get a feel for the Era. A great deal of inspiration for these series of
post was from visiting two museums, The Deutsches
Museum in Munich Germany and the Heeresgeschichtliches
Museum in Vienna Austria. Seeing the manufacturing machinery, tools, and
working conditions of the Industrial revolution in the first, and in the second
seeing the morbid and fascinating exhibit dedicated to WW1.
Rational: The purpose of this
experiment is to evaluate WW1 era bolt action magazine fed rifles with an unbiased
and quantitative approach. It is proposed that the Finnish M39 WW2 bolt action
rifle is used as a reference standard for the evaluation. The rational for use
of the M39 rifle is as follows: The original design is from 1891, as such the rifle
represents WW1 era design and machining capabilities. The M39 rifle is of
exceptional quality, fit and finish. The M39 rifle cures many of the defects of
the M1891 Mosin Nagant, and represents a refined finished product. The idea is
to use a post WW1 rifle as an external reference standard.
Criteria for
evaluation: The M39 will have a score of 5 for all of the categories, for a
total score of 25. Each category has 5 evaluation criteria. A rifle feature that
is worse than the M39 gets a -1, same gets 0, better get a +1.
1) Overall
characteristics
a. Weight
b. Length
c. Comfort
(I.E. grip, carry, sharp edges)
d. Sling
points
e. Mud
(I.E. how easy is it to get mud inside the action)
2) Bolt
a. Locking
b. Speed
of manipulation
c. Safety
d. Re-cock
capability
e. Gas
escape
3) Firing
a. Sights
b. Trigger
c.
d.
e. Gloves and gasmasks (Use of the rifle with both)
4) Disassembly
a. Tools
b. Ease
c. Number
of parts
d. Reassembly
e. Parts
to lose (Can we send a spring flying)
5) Manufacturing
a. Complexity
of components
b. Costs
c. Cartridge
d. Repairs
e. Total
number of parts
Note: Accuracy is absent as a criteria. It is
impossible to accurately ascertain the accuracy potential in an unbiased and
universal fashion. Rifles will be ~100 years old, and there is no way to
account for wear. Also ammunition of original quality is no longer available.
As such accuracy will be briefly considered as part of manufacturing criteria.
Note: Bayonets
will not be evaluated. Maybe at a later date.
Addendum 1; Recoil has been removed as irrelevant. Use of rifle with Gloves and or gasmask has been added. A far more important aspect of rifle use.
Addendum 1; Recoil has been removed as irrelevant. Use of rifle with Gloves and or gasmask has been added. A far more important aspect of rifle use.