mauser vs. lee enfield?

[Beerhunter]

I am no fan of the NSDAP or its actions, but consider this: which otherwise civilized country was the first to use the concentration camp against civilians in modern times - a hint, the guards would likely have had 303 ammuntion on them.

I'm assuming that you don't mean the one that having deliberately starved political inmates to death, went on to expand the system to murder millions of innocent men, woman an children.

I'm no fan of concentration camps either.

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[enfieldman]

Hope this doesn`t become a political forum!
Collecting is just good sport and great fun..
Here`s something: My dad was an allied combat soldier during WWll, but for
all that he still admired his opponents` superb weaponry (K98), as do i.
I just admire Lee Enfields more!!

[Maxwell Smart]

Hope this doesn`t become a political forum!
Collecting is just good sport and great fun..

No, I wasn't looking to start a political debate.

I suppose that the point I was trying to make is that war is a dreadful business for all concerned, and we should not assume the "our" side was always good, while "theirs" was always bad.

[Beerhunter]

Hope this doesn`t become a political forum!
Collecting is just good sport and great fun..
Here`s something: My dad was an allied combat soldier during WWll, but for
all that he still admired his opponents` superb weaponry (K98), as do i.
I just admire Lee Enfields more!!

I agree with you and my post was an ill-advised reaction.

However I disagree about the Kar98k. (I own one of them, as well as my Lee-Enfields.) It's heavy, slow and has too small capacity. The Germans had an opportunity to produce something better in 1935 and, for what ever reasons, decided not to.

[Homer]

I agree with you and my post was an ill-advised reaction.

However I disagree about the Kar98k. (I own one of them, as well as my Lee-Enfields.) It's heavy, slow and has too small capacity. The Germans had an opportunity to produce something better in 1935 and, for what ever reasons, decided not to.

What was that?

[NRA]

What was that?

Sturmgewehr 44?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Originally Posted by Beerhunter I agree with you and my post was an ill-advised reaction. However I disagree about the Kar98k. (I own one of them, as well as my Lee-Enfields.) It's heavy, slow and has too small capacity. The Germans had an opportunity to produce something better in 1935 and, for what ever reasons, decided not to. What was that?

A Garand?

But seriously: Mag Fed made an excellent point - you tend to place a higher value on things you understand - whether it is a painting, a piece of music - or an old gun. And there is, of course, the effect that sellers will tend to set a higher value on something that they possess themselves than on an identical object possessed by someone else.

When my Mauser 1871 needed a higher foresight blade, to hit the black at 100 yards rather than 300, I simply fitted a K98k tall blade. No problems. The Mauser V-backsight plus "roof" foresight did not change from beginning to end. So what was OK in 1871 was seriously out of date when the K98k was introduced. The regular Enfield/Swedish Mauser/other Mauser match organized by the BDMP has produced clear statistics that the order of shooting accuracy is precisely that: Enfield/Swede/Mauser.

But serious Mauser fans can get very enthusiastic about things like rare date codes, and for obvious historical reasons, a Wehrmacht K98k with a pristine barrel is very much rarer than an Enfield in such a good condition, which in its turn is rarer than a Swede - they are almost always in good condition, and a lot in what most of us could describe as an excellent state.

[browningautorifle]

But serious Mauser fans can get very enthusiastic about things like rare date codes, and for obvious historical reasons, a Wehrmacht K98k with a pristine barrel is very much rarer than an Enfield in such a good condition, which in its turn is rarer than a Swede - they are almost always in good condition, and a lot in what most of us could describe as an excellent state.

Yes, but time and space...here in Canada, it's hard to get the kind of cash the same rifle may get elsewhere in the world. We don't seem to have the cash backed collectors that you see elsewhere. Maybe it's our laws...

[enfieldman]

That`s true Jim, but here in Canada the damned long gun registry did serious damage to the
collecting of these relics. What`s being sold through retail outlets here is priced too high for
what you`re getting. People gave them away for fear of going to jail or hid them in their closets, then rich collectors gobbled them up for next to nothing.
In the U.S. you can get anything you want at a reasonable price. No cross border shopping
though!!!

[Maxwell Smart]

I'm assuming that you don't mean the one that having deliberately starved political inmates to death, went on to expand the system to murder millions of innocent men, woman an children.

I'm no fan of concentration camps either.

Having been educated in a school system which still extolled the virtues of hard work and fair play, and still held British ideals in very strong favour, I was horrified to learn later in life of the tactics used to control the Boers. It was the beginning of my understanding that "our" side were not necessarily always the good guys.