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mauser action v/s bolt action
s_wooten77
Member Posts: 4 ✭✭
I know this is probably a very elementary question, but what is the difference between mauser and bolt action? I have always been around firearms but i just dont know much about them in the sense of which is better. any helpful input would be appreciated.
Comments
Not all bolt actions are Mausers, but most Mauser's are bolt actions.
Bolt action is just a term applied to a wide swath of firearms that operated by manually manipulating a turn bolt of some type. There are literally hundreds of different bolt action designs. The Mauser model of 1898 is one of the more influential and common types of bolt action guns. Mausers use of an internal box magazine, controlled round feed via a large claw extractor, one piece bolt, and the use of stripper clips/chargers to reload seems to have been his most influential contributions.
No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
Hunter S. Thompson
In other words, in 1920, the main battle rifle of dozens of countries was the Mauser. This includes Mexico, Brazil, Persia, Sweden, and many other countries.
Many of the Mausers were made at the great Mauser factory in Oberndorf, Germany.
In other cases, the Mauser company would license production of the rifle, and the country would set up their own factory, under supervision of the Mauser company. Sweden was one of the countries that made their own Mausers. Spain also had a Mauser factory.
The United States carried the Krag Jorgensen rifle into the Spanish American War in Cuba, and went up against 7mm Spanish Mausers. The US was so impressed with the Mauser that they decided to copy it. The US govt paid the Mauser company around $200,000 for patents in order to make the 1903 Springfield, which is primarily a copy of the Mauser.
With the advent of the AK47 and other auto and semi auto rifles, the era of the Mauser as a main line battle rifle ended soon after WW2.
But, up through WW2 the Mauser was the most influential bolt action rifle in the world. Some 103 million military Mausers were made.
The other primary bolt action rifle of the era was the Russian Mosin Nagant.
I have Mausers and Mosins, and the Mauser is a much more elegant and smooth action, and it has a much better safety.
The meaning of bolt action becomes clear immediately.
Mauser didn't invent the bolt action but he certainly had one of the earliest in 1869; this design would culminate in the 98 action, still manufactured today. Contemporaries were the aforementioned Mosin, as well as the Enfield, Krag, Lebel, Arisaka, Springfield, Mannlicher, and Carcano. Of those, the Arisaka and Springfield are basically mauser actions.
I have a Mauser made in 1873, and a number from the 1889-1948 date range. All of them still work perfectly. A very well thought out action and while perhaps not the best combat rifle, as a whole package the best bolt action weapons system ever made.