[tahunua001]

milsurps.com is a good site but they are a forum just like this one but without the very large community here it may be difficult to get a lot of information from them. they are more specialized which can really come in handy if you know what questions to ask but if you just ask them "what english rifle is a good one?" then you are going to get sensory overload. I'll give you a very broad but basic rundown of most 20th century C&Rs.

US arms by model.
Springfield 1903. good rifles, chambered in 30-06. there were a number of variants made.
1903 was the first, it was made by springfield and rock island armory. they used a very primitive production process which rendered some of them very brittle and prone to explode, a general rule of thumb is any springfield with a serial number lower than 800,000 and any rock island with a serial lower than 285,000 are unsafe to fire. they have the maker stamped right on them like a billboard.
1903 MK1 was designed to accommodate a device that turned the springfield into a semi automatic rifle that fired small 30 caliber pistol sized rounds. the device was top secret and was scrapped after WWI to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. they have a small oblong hole cut in the left side of the receiver. they aren't exactly rare or more desirable, they are just there.

1903A1, this was made by springfield and remington they were the same as the 1903 except they had a pistol grip style stock instead of the straight stock that most came with.
1903A3, this was made by remington and smith corona, they updated the springfield to be easier, and faster to produce. they used a lot of stamped parts rather than milled. they are easiest to spot because they do not have a hinged floor plate like the A1 and earlier and they have a peep sight on the receiver rather than leaf sight forward of the receiver. they are generally the easiest to find and considered by some to be better shooters.

1903A4, this was a sniper variant. even though they were stamped 1903A3 on the reciever the writing was offset rather than centered over the top of the receiver so that you could read the serial number with a scope mounted to it. they were only made by remington and in very small numbers they are very expensive and very hard to find in original condition.

model 1917. 30-06. this was the most common rifle of WWI. it was based on the 1914 enfield made by remington for great Britain prior to WWI. it has a dog leg bolt and long "ears" on the rear of the receiver which the rear peep mounted to. is was a cock on close design meaning that where most bolt actions of the era and most modern bolts today cock when you lift the bolt handle but these were cocked by pushing the bolt closed giving it a bit of a spring loaded resistance the last inch or so. the brits favored this style because they felt it increased their rate of fire, whether this is true or not I don't know but I personally like cock on close rifles. it is the only US service arm that is cock on close. it is commonly debated whether war hero Alvin York used a M1917 or a M1903. by wars end it was made by eddystone, remington and winchester.

M1 garand. 30-06. lots of info on this one. too much to give you without making your head explode. the main points are that they are cheapest if you buy from the civilian marksmanship program(CMP) they are a non profit gorup that get their guns straight from US storage so they are able to sell for less than everyone else. the main wartime production makers are springfield and winchester with a few very rare and expensive international harvester and H&Rs made post war. they require ammo specifically loaded for the M1, most modern 30-06 has been rumored to damage the M1's gas system.

M1 carbine. I won't even touch this one. there have been dozens of makers over the years and I'm not sure which are real and which are repros. they are chambered in 30 carbine which is similar to a pistol load(ruger even made a revolver in 30 carbine for a while).

british rifles.
enfield number 1. chambered in 303 brit. this is generally the most common I see around. they have a stock that runs the entire length of the rifle with a large muzzle cap at the end. they have a 10 round detachable mag which makes the enfield the highest capacity bolt action rifle of it's era. they have a leaf sight mounted just forward of the reciever. the enfield no 1 is cock on close.

pattern 1914 enfield. it's almost identical to the US model 1917 except it is chambered in the standard 303 brit cartridge. it was a short lived design. the brits were caught up in an arms race with the rest of europe and with most nations switching to mausers, british brass felt that this may be a way to go so they commissioned remington to make them a rifle resembling a mauser and the result was the 1914. however with WWI in full swing the brits decided that it would be best to just stick with what they had on hand so very few P14s were built and used. like the enfield number 1 and US 1917, it is a cock on close design.

enfield number 4. this is the updated WWII era version of the enfield NO1. the stock does not run the entire length ofthe rifle but instead ends about 4 inches shy of the muzzle and is held by a large band rather than an end cap. the bolt is slightly modified as well as the magazine though it remained detachable 10 rounds. also a cock on close rifle. many were actually made by savage arms in the US to aid the brits while america was still pretending to be neutral. they were technically "loaned" to the brits and were stamped US PROPERTY. my very first milsurp was a savage no4 and is still one of my favorites.

Japanese rifles.
there are a number and I don't know the whole story behind all of them. they were all cock on close rifles but unlike the brits and americans they all had a straight bolt handle which some people don't like but which I have no problem with. I love jap guns and are the only rifles which I've bought more than one of in the same caliber just because I wanted more than one particular model. they all came with a sheet of metal that ran over the top of the receiver to keep dirt out of the rifle. many were lost or discarded during combat. they were stamped with a chrysanthemum which meant that they belonged to the emperor of japan. at the end of WWII the mums were ground off of all surrendered arms. finding one with the mum still intact means that it was taken from a battlefield before wars end.

type 30, was fairly short lived and was only used for 9 years. it was chambered in 6.5x50mm. a number were sold to england in the early 1900s but nobody seems to know what became of them.

type 38, 6.5x50mm, served all the way until the end of WWII. it was a long rifle compared to springfields and most mausers but it served well.
type 38 carbine. not sure how long these were made and in what numbers but they were essentially just a shortened 38.

type 44. 6.5x50mm. designed for cavalry. they are short, stocky, and have a flip up bayonet. I love my type 44 and it is currently the most accurate milsurp I own. I killed my first black bear with it. the sights are reminiscent of mausers which I was not a fan of at first but they actually help accuracy a lot for such a short gun.

type 99. 7.7x57mm these were made during WWII, they were very much like the type 38 with a longer hand guard and a few more doodads. they had flip down anti aircraft sights and a monopod which were usually discarded by the japanese that used them because they really served no practical purpose. finding a type 99 with the AA sights, monopod, mum, and dust cover is quite uncommon but not unheard of, I got mine with everything but the dust cover.

type I. 6.5x50mm. these were made in italy for the japanese navy. they are much longer than other jap rifles and use the italian carcano rifle action and bolt but still use the japanese style stock and magazine. it is the only japanese arm that was not cock on close.

man I haven't even touched italian, french, german, russian and swedish rifles... well I may come back and post on them later.