The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - question about older military rifle stocks

tahunua001 · October 31, 2013, 10:28 PM

it's all a matter of progress. many military muzzle loaders had wood that ran most of the way to the muzzle, this served to give a sturdy place to put your ram rod ad gave you something more solid to hold onto should you have to switch to hand to hand combat.

when bolt actions started coming out a lot of generals still had the muzzle loader mindset(as late as 1900 there were still phalanx charges) so as bolt actions were developed they had a lot of the same design features as muzzle loaders. but since smokeless cartridges tend to heat barrels more soldiers would be prone to burn their hands on hot barrels during charges or hand to hand so they started placing wood over the top of the barrel as well(hence the name hand guards).

you also need to understand that many of those rifles(except the garand) are either mausers or based on mauser designs. the M1917 is loosely based on the 1896 mauser while the M1903 springfield was loosely based on the 1898 mauser. many features of those rifles carried over to the rifles they were based on, much like the arisaka which where also loosely based on early mauser designs.

modern bolt actions don't have these because they are worthless for civilian or modern military application. all they do nowadays is add weight.

October 31, 2013, 10:28 PM	#2
tahunua001 Senior Member Join Date: July 21, 2011 Location: Idaho Posts: 7,839	it's all a matter of progress. many military muzzle loaders had wood that ran most of the way to the muzzle, this served to give a sturdy place to put your ram rod ad gave you something more solid to hold onto should you have to switch to hand to hand combat. when bolt actions started coming out a lot of generals still had the muzzle loader mindset(as late as 1900 there were still phalanx charges) so as bolt actions were developed they had a lot of the same design features as muzzle loaders. but since smokeless cartridges tend to heat barrels more soldiers would be prone to burn their hands on hot barrels during charges or hand to hand so they started placing wood over the top of the barrel as well(hence the name hand guards). you also need to understand that many of those rifles(except the garand) are either mausers or based on mauser designs. the M1917 is loosely based on the 1896 mauser while the M1903 springfield was loosely based on the 1898 mauser. many features of those rifles carried over to the rifles they were based on, much like the arisaka which where also loosely based on early mauser designs. modern bolt actions don't have these because they are worthless for civilian or modern military application. all they do nowadays is add weight. __________________ ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar. I never said half the stuff people said I did-Albert Einstein You can't believe everything you read on the internet-Benjamin Franklin Last edited by tahunua001; November 1, 2013 at 10:22 AM.