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9/10/2019 1:10:23 AM
 
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Section 9: Military Weapons Subject: Krag Action Msg# 1055613
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The Spanish Mauser caused not only the US to upgrade to the Mauser-style Springfield M1903, but also caused the British--facing the Mauser-armed Boers in South Africa--to begin to upgrade from the SMLE to the Mauser-style Pattern 14 rifle, which would have been chambered for the .276 Enfield. WWI put stop to the British program and the P14 fizzled out, despite it being an excellent rifle, second only to the even better U.S. model of 1917 as one of the most fabulous bolt-action battle rifles of all time.
It is a sad commentary on the slowness of bureaucracy at work in the British war department even compared to the American processes of the same type at almost a similar time, as the US managed to identify a need and actually adopt a new rifle a dozen years before the British. There but for the Great War the UK may have fielded a 7mm cartridge long before the major powers (US, USSR) were ready to drop the .30 calibers (notwithstanding adoption of the 6.5mm by many of the smaller world armies back in the 1890s). |
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For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: Yeah, I am aware of the single locking lug, that's what Herb was telling me all those years ago now. He noted that was what accounted for the smoothness and what hindered the growth of stronger loads for the action and what ultimately led to its short adoption and use. He handloaded all the ammo for his rifle. The short life, the smooth bolt, and the weird history of this rifle all appeal to me. I want one of these as well some day. Just never found one I liked. The gun it fought against, the Spanish Mauser, had enough admirers that even after being defeated, it caused a country that lacked the will to upgrade from a Single Shot Black Powder Rifle for a lot of its forces to completely re-vamp its main small arm. |
