The bolt-action rifle was the premier weapon of the early 20th century. With virtually every country in the world using an Arisaka, Lebel, Mauser, Mannlincher, Enfield or Mosin designed box fed weapon, the foot soldiers of every continent stood neck and neck in the small arms race. Once the balloon went up in August 1914 and World War one erupted, these bolt guns suddenly could not be upgraded and modified fast enough to compete with a modern battlefield controlled by belt-fed machine-guns.
The British, with a professional pre-war army built on long serving regulars, had already adopted the Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) whose 10-round detachable magazine doubled their rate of fire. Germany responded by retrofitting large “Trench” magazines to their Gewehr 98 Mauser rifles. Holding 25-rounds in a steel box, it replaced the standard factory installed five round internal magazine and hung from the bottom of the rifle prominently. The downside was that the rifle could no longer be fired in a true prone position, but this was not a problem on the trenches of the Western Front.
See the rest at my column at Firearms Talk.com http://www.firearmstalk.com/entries/Extended-Magazines-for-Bolt-Action-Rifles.html
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About laststandonzombieisland
Let me introduce myself. I am a bit of a conflict junkie. I am fascinated by war and warfare, assassination, personal protection and weaponry ranging from spud guns and flame throwers to thermonuclear bombs and soviet-trained Ebola monkeys. In short, if it’s violent or a tool to create violence it is kind of my thing.
I have written a few hundred articles on the dry encyclopedia side for such websites as History Times, Firearms Talk.com, GUNS.com, Suite 101 (where I am the contracted Feature Writer for Military History) and Combat Forums; as well as for print publications like England Expects, and Strike First Strike Fast. Several magazines such as Sea Classics, Military Historian and Collector, Mississippi Sportsman and Warship International have carried my pieces. Additionally I am on staff as a naval consultant and writer for Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine.
Currently I am working on several book projects, including a section in the upcoming Mississippi Encyclopedia (to be published by Ole Miss this summer), an alternative history novel about the US-German War of 1916, and a biography of Bennett Doty. My first novel, about the coming zombie apocalypse was released this Spring by Necro Publications and can be found at Amazon.com.
In my day job I am a contractor for the US federal government in what could best be described as the ‘Force Protection’ field. In this I am a certified Firearms, and less-than-lethal combat instructor.
