Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Tim you have to stand on something tall to take a picture like thatf Nice rifle. riceone

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....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

From what I've heard the Imperial Marines averaged from five ten to six feet or better. One old Guadacannal veteran said on a history program that he'd expected little squinty eyed shrimps like you saw in the movies but the Japs he faced were all built like Little Abner.
The shorter regular Army troops felt they needed the extra reach.

The Long rifles and extra long bayonets were a holdover from fighting Calvary. They needed the extra length to bayonet men out of the saddle and to discourage horses by using the bayoneted rifle like a pike. There were still plenty of calvary around in WW1 and early in WW2, especially in China and Korea.

When the Brits went to the SMLE there was a lot of controversy about the rifle being too short to use against Calvary. Same with our Springfield at first. Thats why WW1 rifles carried such long bayonets.

The Japanese practiced a style of Bayonet fighting developed from the Japanese style pike which was made like a sword mounted on a long shaft.
The practice weapons used in this art are more like a spear than a training rifle.
In combat the pre War US Navy was considered to be the best in the world at Bayonet fighting, superior to even the Japanese. Navy instructors passed along this skill to our marines. Centuries of training for shipboard fighting had made US sailors super deadly at close quarters with any bladed weapon. Cutlasses were still issued well into the 1950's.

....after holding the TK '99 with the Type 30 Bayo attatched that I recieved from Frank which he brought back from WW2-even lil' ol' me was suprised how loooooong the reach was with that thing-and I'm not short...and neither is HE

_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....