Hi all,
Thought I would share with you all my fledgling WWI collection. I started this side of my collection about two years ago, and it has been slowly growing since.
My main interest at the moment is the long rifles/main issue rifles of WWI. Eventually I want to get into carbines and revolvers, however for the moment (and likely next while) I plan on focusing on the long rifles. The reason I find this time period so interesting is that it is a amalgamation of ideas and technology from different eras. On one hand you have tactics which haven't been updated in a hundred years ignoring (or just as likely not realizing) modern advances in technology, and in the other hand you have technology which has advanced significantly farther and faster than people could adapt to it.
My starting goal for my collection was just to gather one firearm from most major nations then flesh it out from there. I almost have most major nations counted for (just missing Russia and Austria-Hungary) and since there won't be any additions for a bit, it felt like a good time to share it. In this photo I decided to do the Entente weapons (France, Russia, Britain, Italy etc.) at the top and Allies (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, etc.) weapons at the bottom. In this photo I also worked it so the more modern designs were at the top and older designs were at the bottom (yes I know the M1907/15 is more recent than the M1904 or P14 but the action is based off the 1890 Berthier). As you can see from the photos the older the basic design the longer it is.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...n8t9bvhy-1.jpg
From the top down we have a British P14 (the volley sights are still intact)
Portuguese M1904 (this is one of the rifles given to the UDF in South Africa to go fight the Germans under Von Lettow-Vorbeck, a great read, sounds like something out of a fairytale)
French M1907/15 (updated to Balle 'N', 1916 manufacture)
Italian Carcano M1891 (1918 Terni manufacture, 1954 refurbishment)
Bulgarian Puska M1903 (a Steyr M95, this example is still in the original 8x50r, and is all matching except for the bolt, which is a correct contract bolt, here is a article on it if you would like to read more https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...rian-M03-Rifle)
and finally a Commission Gewehr 88/05 (made in 1891 at Loewe), I am using this to represent Germany and the Ottomans for the moment.
Collecting WWI firearms is actually a fairly difficult task unlike WWII firearms. The reason being is many were eaten up in WWI and the wars that followed as well as refurbishment programs which would modify them to more modern standards (for example it is next to impossible to find a Bulgarian 'M95' in the original 8x50r as pretty much all of them were converted to 8x56r, or a Portuguese M1904 as most were converted to M1904/39s).
I am a bit behind in bayonet collecting, but hopefully over the next year I catch up on that. Having shot all these rifles here (except the Gewehr 88/05) I can say the one I enjoy shooting the most is actually the M1907/15. It might not be the best rifle there (some glaring issues like needing a screwdriver to remove the bolt and only a 3rd magazine) but it is actually pretty fun to shoot (and accurate, I achieved a 1" group at 100m with it).
As I add to the collection I will update this thread. Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated. If you have any WWI era rifles feel free to share them.
