From: Robert Bastow <"teenut"@ hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: New Magnum "Mauser" Actions
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 03:39:07 GMT

I think you have got right off the point Greg..Which is that the Smellie, as it
has been AFFECTIONATELY called by several generations of British and
Commonwealth soldiers as well as shooters, (From SMLE..Short Magazine Lee
Enfield..get it?) is argued by many with greater expertise than me, to be the
finest bolt action BATTLE RIFLE ever put into the hands of troops.

No one disputes the superiority and strength of the Mauser as a SPORTING rifle.
It is a classic of design..but like so many other German weapons..the Luger for
instance..it is just too finely fitted for use in the grit and mud of a
battlefield.

Yes the Smellie is ugly..beyond ugly..but it handles and points like a best
grade shotgun.  Its short stroke, slick action, allows an expert to fire 30
AIMED rounds a minute.  Its misbegotten handle was designed for bayonet fighting
and its two piece butt makes a wonderfully tough trench club...try that with a
Mauser 98 and you have a long barrelled, mud choked pistol!!

Pretty it isn't, accurate and reliable it is..like a Timex they took a licking
and kept on ticking..some of them for almost fifty years in front line service.

(Cheap shot about my "alleged" plans to build Mauser replicas will be ignored
for now..I just plunked down several hundred thousand dollars to by the means
and today spent another couple or more  hundreds on applications for a BATF "Non
Destructive Devices" Manufacturing Licence, an FFL and a PCP..They actually LIKE
the idea of me carrying a concealed personal defense weapon when I might be
working late hours in an "Arms Factory"!!!!)

As for accuracy...How come the Queens Prize at Bisley..which is open to all
comers with a current military issue rifle, was never won by a Mauser or a
Springfield??  What would have happened if the National Match had been opened up
to "Smellies"

Trust me, in the 600 to 1200 yard ranges they STILL take a hell of a lot of
beating!

Respectfully
teenut

Bray Haven wrote:
>
> T. Nut says,
> >You are entitled to your opinion..humble or not Greg.  But you are wrong..and
> >that makes you appear not just misinformed, but silly too!
> >
> >I suggest you go do some serious research before opening up half cocked
> >again.!
>
> Whatever you say, Tee. Try to be more specific though.  What did I say that was
> wrong? I guess the master gunsmiths of the world are wrong.  I've been a
> gunsmith for over 40 years.  Have shot competitively for 30 some odd. Been a
> weapons instructor. Been an infantry officer in combat and hunted big game on
> several continents.  Was an outdoor writer and editor for many years, on and on
> etc. but you're (alledgedly) going to build mauser actions and that makes you
> an authority on the design of bolt action rifles.  I thought you were building
> mausers.   Why not build up sized SMELLIES if they are so damn good?  I've
> worked with many great gunmakers who build the truly fine custom guns made in
> the US today and they ALL share my opinion. Your credentials to call me
> uninformed and silly are somewhat reversing the insult.  Why is my opinion
> "wrong" and yours "right"?  I think you are just still mad at me for saying
> unkind things about public smoking :o).  As the legendary philosopher, Josh
> Billings once said, "it aint ignorance so much as folks knowing a lot that just
> ain't so" OWTE.
>
> Greg Sefton

From: Robert Bastow <"teenut"@ hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: New Magnum "Mauser" Actions
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 03:00:49 GMT

The Mauser is indeed artistry in design..But if I had to go to WAR with a bolt
action rifle, I would pick the Lee Enfield every time...It proved to be far more
suitable for rapid fire and simply shrugged off the mud of the trenches that
bought mausers and springfields to a grinding standstill.

Horses for courses!

teenut



foxeye wrote:
> The Mauser was a piece of work before its time, and still
> remains so. Pity the americans had nothing in their arsenal at the
> time that was even equal to it, and the Brits never came close.

From: Robert Bastow <"teenut"@ hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: New Magnum "Mauser" Actions
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 03:17:04 GMT

James Paris Lee...Invented the generally accepted best Bolt actioned BATTLE
RIFLE.

Cock on opening was specifically chosen by the British in both the Lee Enfield
and the P13 (P14 and US model 1917)

This was because the absolute first requirement of a battle rifle is
reliability...and that includest the feeding and EXTRACTION of the fired
case..This becomes progressively more difficult with dirty, low quality war time
ammo and especially so during rapid fire.  The cock on closing concentrates ALL
the effort of lifting the bolt handle into primary extraction.

BTW the Enfield Model 1917 equipped the MAJORITY of US Doughboys during the
First world War, Sgt Alvin York carried one, plus a Colt Model 1911 during his
famous exploit (NOT an 03 Springfield and a captured Luger as portrayed in the
movie!!)

The Us Army found the Enfield FASTER and MORE accurate than the Springfield and
pressed for its adoption in place of the Springfield after the war.  Only the
Political incorrectness of adopting a foreign design kept the Springfield in
production.

teenut

Gary Coffman wrote:
>
> On Mon, 24 Jan 2000 16:02:29 +0000, Lou Boyd <boyd@apt2.sao.arizona.edu> wrote:
> >JMartin957 wrote:
> >>
> >> >Mauser, Browning, and Kalashnikov are considered the premiere small
> >> >arms designers of the 19th/20th century. They designed or strongly
> >> >influenced the design of the small arms used by most of the world's
> >> >armies throughout most of the 20th century.
> >>
> >> Don't think too many would object if you added John Garand to that list...
> >
> >Or Eugene Stoner.
>
> Both gentlemen produced good small arms designs that were adopted for
> US service, but they didn't produce the wide range of designs, or have the
> large influence on other designers all over the world, that the gentlemen I
> listed did. They deserve to be on the list, but there are others I would list
> ahead of them.