28mm Wargames Atlantic Great War Brits assembled and ready for paint

[Dubar]

No problem.  I also read that the recoil of the launcher was 3X the amount of recoil felt from just firing the regular Enfield .303 round.

[JBaumal]

That’s quite some recoil. I’ve fired many variations of Enfield rifles and always marveled at the kick, especially the shortened paratrooper / jungle model when firing a couple hundred rounds of .303 in a couple of hours.

[Dubar]

I only have 1 but like you, I'm amazed at the recoil and weight of the rifle.  But as far as "punch" goes...my Romanian M44 Mosin is like putting a 12-Pdr up to my shoulder!

And with the bayonet in place.

[anton ryzbak]

Dubar, does your M-44 wander all over the place with the bayonet folded, but shoot straight with it extended? My Russian one has about an 18" group at 100 yards with the bayonet folded and about 4.5" with it extended (shooting surplus Syrian MG ammo from 1970s).  As far as recoil goes the two worst I've experienced are the 8mm Austrian Steyr M-95 carbine and the 8mm Lebel carbine, absolutely brutal! The sweetest in my M-1917 (of course it weighs a TON)

[Dubar]

Dubar, does your M-44 wander all over the place with the bayonet folded, but shoot straight with it extended? My Russian one has about an 18" group at 100 yards with the bayonet folded and about 4.5" with it extended (shooting surplus Syrian MG ammo from 1970s).  As far as recoil goes the two worst I've experienced are the 8mm Austrian Steyr M-95 carbine and the 8mm Lebel carbine, absolutely brutal! The sweetest in my M-1917 (of course it weighs a TON)

It does wander a bit with the bayonet folded, and I have read that they were designed to shoot better with it unfolded (more balanced?), but then again it could be operator error on my part!!!

She sure attracts attention when the trigger is pulled, EVERYBODY on the range stops and looks, usually someone will come over and ask what the heck is that thing?!?!?!

I have a rubberized butt plate to cushion the blow and usually throw on a Limbsaver recoil pad to prevent damage to my titanium should that was installed 3 years ago.

I can see why they get young men to fight wars, I would hate to lug any of the bolt-action rifles I have around a battlefield or 3, but I enjoy shooting them over semi-autos any day of the week.

I have a bolt-action from every major player except France with the last purchased being a M1903 Springfield.

[anton ryzbak]

Dubar,  I was told that the barrel harmonics were best with the bayonet extended, not sure if the USSR was really that concerned. I have a copy of every major Great War nations guns (I even managed to get my hands on a Mosin-Nagant dated prior to the Russo-Japanese war). Smaller countries are much tougher, I have only once seen the Greek Mannlicher Schoenauer Model Y1903/14 in the flesh and the price was twice my mortgage payment!!! It's good to hear that you shoot yours as well, I get bawled out by collectors for shooting mine but, to my mind, that's what they were made to do. Recoil is abominable on most (and all the worse when I consider that most soldiers weighed about 170lbs and I tip the scales at 280) the Steyr M-1895 carbine is absolutely brutal and incredibly loud. I have the same reaction from others at the range, their little plastic guns go "pew-pew" and the antiques go BOOM!

[Dubar]

Yeah, I doubt the Russians put a whole lot of engineering into the recoil of anything!!!

I\My prized possession is a P08 Luger, 1942 model.  I have always wanted one and got a good deal on it, half the going price at the time, maybe because it was a police weapon.

Still I shoot it, not frequently but I do shoot the thing.  That's what they're for.

My Welsh grandfather was in the Royal Machine Gun Corp, private, not sure what he did (only met him once) but I imagine him behind a MG blasting away!!!