tark
Member
This should start a good brawl. Here are the rules:
1) "Pretty" counts for NOTHING!! Cosmetic beauty is NOT to be mentioned or considered.
2) Was it rugged and reliable? Did it "Possess the highest degree of mechanical reliability known to exist in a mechanism of its type?" ( Jeff Cooper quote. )
3) Was it accurate enough and powerful?
4) was it easy to use and train raw recruits on.?
5) Was it simple, easily to manufacture and also relatively inexpensive to build? This is a very important point.
6) It must have been actually IN a war. ( sorry, you Swiss lovers )
I will serve up as my entry...The Japanese Type 99 Arisaka. Yes, I know, some of you are regurgitating right now... but consider: It meets every single criteria... better than just about any other bolt action milsurp I can think of. It is enormously strong, powerful, accurate enough, able to stand abuse, easy to use and cheap to make.
I will place the No4Mk1 Enfield as second on my list. Those ten rounds in the mag are nice, but it takes twice as long to load it... And I still get an occasional rimlock.
And now for the icing on the cake...the one thing the Arisaka has that none of the others have, that chrome lined bore. In the era of tropic climates and corrosive primers, this feature gave the type 99 a big advantage over all of the others....
I stand ready to receive your arrows, hurled bricks and epithets...
1) "Pretty" counts for NOTHING!! Cosmetic beauty is NOT to be mentioned or considered.
2) Was it rugged and reliable? Did it "Possess the highest degree of mechanical reliability known to exist in a mechanism of its type?" ( Jeff Cooper quote. )
3) Was it accurate enough and powerful?
4) was it easy to use and train raw recruits on.?
5) Was it simple, easily to manufacture and also relatively inexpensive to build? This is a very important point.
6) It must have been actually IN a war. ( sorry, you Swiss lovers )
I will serve up as my entry...The Japanese Type 99 Arisaka. Yes, I know, some of you are regurgitating right now... but consider: It meets every single criteria... better than just about any other bolt action milsurp I can think of. It is enormously strong, powerful, accurate enough, able to stand abuse, easy to use and cheap to make.
I will place the No4Mk1 Enfield as second on my list. Those ten rounds in the mag are nice, but it takes twice as long to load it... And I still get an occasional rimlock.
And now for the icing on the cake...the one thing the Arisaka has that none of the others have, that chrome lined bore. In the era of tropic climates and corrosive primers, this feature gave the type 99 a big advantage over all of the others....
I stand ready to receive your arrows, hurled bricks and epithets...
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