Why are 73's so hard to find

I have been looking for an early 73 for two years and have had no luck.. The short wristed guns are easy to find but the long wristed guns seem to have vanished.. Al can't even find me one=)
Thanks Kurt

They're scarce because the wrists were too weak. They repeated the same mistake with the Krags.

One of the Ordnance Notes is on damaged guns returned to Rock Island Arsenal. At least I remember it being an ON - might have been something else. Broken stocks were pretty much the biggest problem they witnessed. Care to guess the #1 cause for the broken stocks?

Ran over by a wagon wheel. Lots and lots of stocks sacrificed to wagon wheels.

Metal lasts, wood doesn't.

I'm too lazy to dig out the numbers of spare parts stocks they made.

You mean, like this one?

PictureTrail: Online Photo Sharing, Social Network, Image Hosting, Online Photo Albums

Fox Wood, Just courious, What kind of flag is that you use as your Avatar?

Well Iboos, since I'm no longer in the US military, it is the only united states flag that I can officially use!
The flag with it's thirteen stripes vertical is the civillian version of the flag of the united States of America, as opposed to the military version with the horizontal stripes! (Nice of you to notice. Not many people do!)
For more information on this, check out the following website:

The Mystery of the Forgotten U.S. Flag

best regards,
Fox.

Fox Wood, Hate to be the one to tell you but that flag is not the flag of the United States of America. The common law flag had a white background with a Bald eagle with thirteen stars, Not a blue background with 50 stars, The common law flag might be a part of our history, But there never was a flag like the one you are showing with 50 stars.
There is only one US flag, And it don't matter if your still in the Military or not.
best regards,
lboos.:beerchug:

Hello Iboos,
I believe that you are incorrect sir. However I will research it further to find out.

Best regards,
Fox

"Farmers" is right. Those stocks were weak, so they broke and were replaced with stocks that weren't so weak, which is why the weak ones are hard to find.

Of course, many were broken by being run over by a wagon wheel, since it was pretty common when a wagon got bogged down in mud or snow for the troops to throw their rifles under the wheels, sort of a improvised "corduroy road." Silly to sacrifice a rifle that way? Not when the wagon contained the unit's food supply.

Oh, and by the way, US Code Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 1 specifies the Flag of the United States. It doesn't specify any civilian or military versions. Of course, other organizations, official and unofficial, have their own flags, and anyone is entitled to use or fly any flag he wishes (though discretion suggests that some flags and some venues might not be compatible).

Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim K

Of course, many were broken by being run over by a wagon wheel, since it was pretty common when a wagon got bogged down in mud or snow for the troops to throw their rifles under the wheels, sort of a improvised "corduroy road."
Jim

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Darn it Jim, I was having a hard time figuring out why so many were broken by wagon wheels. As soon as I read your post I remembered an account from the Battle of the Bulge where they used Garands in exactly that fashion to assist some tanks in moving out.

One would think I should have related the two but I guess that takes more brains than I muster.

Thanks.

The other problem with finding correct early Trapdoors is that all of them below SN 50K were called in and broken down for parts after the low arch breechblocks and wider receivers came out. The early guns were considered weaker, so were pulled from service. The pars were sold off and a lot of them reassembled by hte likes of SH&G, Bannerman, Stokes-Kirk, et al, but the survival rate of genuine, un-fiddled 73s is very low.

It sounds awful to us today, but they also used rifles as handspikes and pry bars to move field guns and Gatlings around and to remove boards from houses and barns for bridges and lining trenches. And many an unlucky chicken was treated to a campfire roasting on the end of a bayonet. (Took the temper out of the bayonet, but I doubt hungry soldiers worried overmuch about that.) Bayonets also served as tent pegs, hitch pins, digging tools and pry bars as well as deadly weapons.

After WWII, in which the bayonet played a minor role, the army undertook a review of its usefulness. They decided that in any case, they would have to issue a general purpose utility knife, and it would not cost much to make it to fit on the end of the rifle. So we still have the bayonet.

Jim

The old socket bayonets make great candle holders too.

I enjoyed the flag discourse more than the rifle discussion. This forum is always interesting.