Oops, I did it again

[Charles Isaac]

.............................. bore was listed as "Fair".  Yep, fairly full of cosmoline!  This one'll make a great lead bullet shooter.

Outstanding job Sir!

We may have a guy you could carpool with too!

No, You think so? I bet you didn't tell him that I was nuttier'n  squirrel turds

[Pitspitr]

No, You think so? I bet you didn't tell him that I was nuttier'n  squirrel turds

Actually, we have a couple of guys  in your general area that seem to be interested in coming next year!

[River City John]

Charles,
hope to see you there.

I have a new Boer impression I've been working on.

RCJ

[Charles Isaac]

River City John! Great to hear from you, my RECRUITER!  What a fine bunch of shooters you recruited me in to!

I have a new Boer impression I've been working on.

That will be very interesting! I'm imagining a Martini carbine, or a Lee Metford carbine with slimmed "Boer modified" forend. A 7mm Mauser?

So many choices in Boer used guns!

[River City John]

1896 6.5 Swedish Mauser Short Rifle.  

And an 1892 Lebel revolver as sidearm.

[Charles Isaac]

Sounds good. I know some Boer Mausers had turned down bolt handles. You Have a straight bolt handle in that shooter?

Stripper clips are allowed now, correct?

[Drydock]

Yes.  All Milspec repeaters may be used as designed.  We found they need the clips to keep up with the Krags!  (Fastest overall time this year was in fact a Krag!)

[pony express]

A Hotchkiss from Charles and a Carcano from Drydock, seems like everyone needs to bring plenty of ammo to the next Muster, for lots of extra happy fire!. I never even looked at a Hotchkiss in real life. Drydock, did you get a carbine, or an infantry rifle? Cletus has(or at least had)a Carcano, and he never could get any cast load to work in the progressive rifling, I'm thinking it might need to be cast really hard to work.

So RCJ will be a Boer next, well, the Swedish Mauser is pretty much the same as the ones the Boers used, except for the caliber and the brass stock disk.

[Drydock]

Its a 91/41 "Fucile" or long rifle.  The 91/41 has constant pitch rifling, and should work better with cast, though I may reserve this one for long range jacketed loads.  I've got a Berthier Mle 1892 coming in as well, and look forward to working up some cast loads for it. 

I've become very interested in the siege of the Peking Cathedral during the Boxer uprising, the research I've done seems to indicate the 43 French and Italian sailors were armed with Carcano's and Berthiers. 

[pony express]

Not sure where I read it, but I read somewhere that the French had Lebels and the Italians were armed with Vetterli-Vitale in 10.4mm. Might have been somewhere here:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewforum.php?f=73

I've got a '91/41, too. Not quite the same as the earlier ones, without the octagonal section of barrel, and different sling attachments and sights(I think)

[pony express]

Did some more searching. The Italians at the Cathedral were naval infantry, and according to this thread(near the bottom) they would have been armed with possibly 2 types of converted 1870 Vetterlis, but not the Vetterli-Vitale. Italian Army troops would have had the Carcano. Didn't see anything on the French yet, except that they were also Naval troops, and it seems unlikely that naval troops woulf be carrying carbines, more likely Lebels, as carried by Foreign Legion and otherFrench in Indo-China, or French Navy Kropatcheks.

[Charles Isaac]

Its a 91/41 "Fucile" or long rifle.  The 91/41 has constant pitch rifling, and should work better with cast, though I may reserve this one for long range jacketed loads.  I've got a Berthier Mle 1892 coming in as well, and look forward to working up some cast loads for it. 

I've become very interested in the siege of the Peking Cathedral during the Boxer uprising, the research I've done seems to indicate the 43 French and Italian sailors were armed with Carcano's and Berthiers. 

Things are changing around here!

Is the Mosin Nagant 91/30 now allowed?

[pony express]

It seems to be, but it has to be a Hex receiver one. Theory is, they are virtually identical to an 1891 Dragoon, except for the sights.

[Drydock]

Carcano's must have adjustable sights.  IE the fixed sight M38s of any variant may not be used.

Mosins must have the Hex reciever.

Berthiers must be of the 3 shot magazine variation.

Basically, I get a LOT of questions about so many different rifles.  With these long lived systems, we try to identify one significant, easily identifiable characteristic, then limit usage by that factor.  This does allow the 91/41 to slide in, but as it was an attempt by the Italians to go BACK to a long infantry rifle, I let it go.

Same with the M-N. In 1930 the Soviets simply adopted the 1891 Dragoon for everyone, and gave it meter graded sights.  Then went back and resighted every older Dragoon in the arsenals. Rather than make folks change the sights, (an expense often greater than the price of the rifle!) we just went by the other significant change in that time period, the Hex reciver.

[Drydock]

http://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/theatres.html



http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?86602-*-Berthier-Carbine-and-Rifle-Information-*

[Drydock]

Remember too, navy's are different!  Army's want everyone to have the same weapon and the same ammunition.  New weapons are warehoused until there's enough, and the supply system is set up for support.

But an admiral goes to the arsenal and says, I'm sending 2 ships to the China Station.  I need 60 rifles and 12000 rounds of ammunition for shore partys.  Arsenal says, sure, we've got everything you need in the back room.  Make sure the paperwork gets filled out!

[River City John]

So here's an idea for a GAF side match. Everyone bring a couple of different rifles, with 20 rounds each. Everyone's name goes into one hat, the rifles in another.
A ten target mini-stage.
Choose long arm from hat A and then a trooper from hat B. Quick proficiency check to make sure you know how to operate the rifle, then send 'em out to engage the enemy.
Only modifier is you can't select your own rifle. Slip with your rifle goes back into the hat after you've picked another.



RCJ

And yes, Sir Charles, a straight bolt. Unfortunately also a Vastera sight, but Liberty Tree offers original sights I could back date with. Hmmmm,  .  .  .

[Charles Isaac]

So here's an idea for a GAF side match. Everyone bring a couple of different rifles, with 20 rounds each. Everyone's name goes into one hat, the rifles in another.

Choose one from column A and then a trooper. Quick proficiency check to make sure you know how to operate the rifle, then send 'em out to engage the enemy.
Only modifier is you can't select your own rifle. Slip with your rifle goes back into the hat after you've picked another.



RCJ

That's a great idea River City John. The only thing I would add was to make clear the rifle can't be of the same type as your rifle-like I shoot a Krag rifle and draw a slip with a Krag carbine. I have to draw until I draw something besides a Krag variant.

The drawn rifle not sighted in for you might be another factor.  Also, some people might not be able to shoot, say,  a full powered 577-.450 due to medical disabilities. What would you suggest in these situations?

[Niederlander]

Remember too, navy's are different!  Army's want everyone to have the same weapon and the same ammunition.  New weapons are warehoused until there's enough, and the supply system is set up for support.

But an admiral goes to the arsenal and says, I'm sending 2 ships to the China Station.  I need 60 rifles and 12000 rounds of ammunition for shore partys.  Arsenal says, sure, we've got everything you need in the back room.  Make sure the paperwork gets filled out!

And if the Marines don't like what he picked they're likely to steal....errr.....appropriate something they like better!

[Drydock]

Which is how Marines ended up with Gewher 88s in China I believe . . .

As for picking a rifle you can't handle, well throw the slip back in the hat and pick again.