Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Well I realized we don't have a greek rifle forum

Italy is the closest so............

Here's a pic of my 1903 Mannlicher Schoenauer Carbine

_________________

It's 5 o'clock and it's watermelon time.....................
because you can't drink beer & load rockets - TXPete

..... ....well make a Greek rifles section....sheeesh ... and you need to provide more info on this .....

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

I saw your write up on gunboards - a very interesting rifle! The Greeks used a lot of Italian rifles,too. Any Carcano with an E on the receiver ring was used by the Greeks post-war and has been opened up for the 6.5 M-S cartridge. Those rifles were used against Greek commie guerrilas in their civil war. SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!

Like your sig line Hogger,

Just finished up watching Branagh's Version late last night. Excellent film BTW...........if you ever want to watch it (if you haven't already).

".........This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."




Mario, It's a 1903 Greek MS carbine. First one I have ever seen. I have seen the rifles & the 1903/14's. Also have seen the commercial 1903 rifles.
Saw it sitting in a small shop labeled "1907 Steyr" apparently they had no real idea what it was. Almost along the same lines as when I got my original 1890 Turk in 7,65 that was labeled "Egyptian 8mm"

_________________

It's 5 o'clock and it's watermelon time.....................
because you can't drink beer & load rockets - TXPete

Agincourt was an exceptionally bloody battle in an era of bloody battles. For example, when French knights would fall in the mud, they were not able to get back up.

Common rabble - camp followers, cooks & so forth killed many of them by pounding daggers through the view slots of their helmets. The corpses were then looted and the armor & clothing removed to be sold.

One more Greek mark to look for on Italian rifles - "VVV". The v might be the Greek letter lambda. I haven't the specifics, but it's a Greek mark. I have a pic of that... at home. Can post tomorrow if any interest. SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!

Always intersted!

_________________

It's 5 o'clock and it's watermelon time.....................
because you can't drink beer & load rockets - TXPete

One of the know-it-alls on "another site" was shooting his mouth off that none of the 6,5 Vetts were EVER sent to East Africa. I can't find the thread now but have saved this pic if he makes that statement again.

This rifle is in Italy and is owned by a collector friend who likes to give his rifles a "facelift". Well, we may each play with our toys as we please. Quite a scarce rifle! The VVV is also visible near the AOI cartouche. I've heard this is a Greek mark but have no actual evidence.

Another mark to look for and honk me for a profit when you sell it! SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!

I want it send it to me I will give it a good home

The 03 MS has long been on my wish list.
A friend of a friend brought one over many years ago, back in the 70's, to ask if I could find ammo for it. The rifle, a long rifle version, had belonged to his father, who'd apparently picked it up during WW2 or shortly afterwards.
It was in fairly good shape, excellent mechanically though the finish was a bit crusty from long hard use, and the bore would have benefited from a good lapping. Probably still safe to shoot, not as bad off as some that were badly pitted by corrosive ammo and poor storage conditions.

I'd rate these as just about the best of the military actions of their era.
No doubt the vast majority ended up being turned into custom sporters, the actions were highly sought after and far too many were in bad need of rebarreling anyway.
The rotary magazine spindles would have to be suited to the specific cartridge, which would limit rebarreling or rechambering options.

Well hogger can always rebarrel to 6,5 Carcano

_________________

It's 5 o'clock and it's watermelon time.....................
because you can't drink beer & load rockets - TXPete

Yep! I gots a spare bbl!! SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!

I was going over some notes and find that some of the Greek rifles were made by Breda in Italy. And wouldn't I like to have one!

Oddly, Breda made MGs for the Italian military but no rifles. And a few other odd military items like this ground attack aircraft. SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!

...saw one of those MG's in Wright Patterson Air Force Museum...



ital mg.jpg [ 87.83 KiB | Viewed 7482 times ]




ital mg 2.jpg [ 95.39 KiB | Viewed 7482 times ]

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

Keeping the zombie thread alive! And on topic!

I recently scored this Roma M91 long rifle with E marking. The E shows it was used by Greek Nationalists in their civil war with communists post-WW2 in the civil war there.

The Brits & us poured in a lot of resources & the commies got the boot. The E also shows the rifle has been opened up to 6.5 Greek Mannlicher.

It will still shoot 6.5 Carcano but I think the brass would stretch too much to be reloaded. Kinda like the mastadon whacker loads for 30-30 my bro & I used for metallic silhouettes back in the day. Tossed about half after each match due to incipient head separations.

A good friend from Italy who is a die-hard Carcano collector has one of these with Brit markings. The theory is that the Brits donated many of these they had captured in N Africa. Greek armorers applied a chamber reamer & off it went to plug commies!

Oddly, I got this for $165 and no other bids! It never fails to amaze me how people will bid out their butt for outright JUNK and pass over an historical artifact like this.

I'm researching the Maltese cross mark behind the trigger guard. It might have religious significance. I've seen it on other Greek Carcanos. I have another but it's pretty deep in a stack right now.

Included are a couple pics of Greek partisans with Carcano rifles. SW

_________________
Slava Ukraini!!