What is your favourite 1950's built rifle?

[breacher]

For me it is hard to choose, the practical side of me says the Heckler and Koch G3 however I also marvel at the build quality and accuracy of the swiss Sturmgewehr Stgw57 (despite its weight). Despite having shot them both I don't think I could choose, in an ideal world one would have both. One major thing they have in common is the marvelous delayed roller blowback principal.

As far as I can remember, the G3 had two seperate ways of releasing the magazine - a push button on the side of the magwell and a lever in front of the trigger guard.

Anybody know why ?

[zanes]

For me it is hard to choose, the practical side of me says the Heckler and Koch G3 however I also marvel at the build quality and accuracy of the swiss Sturmgewehr Stgw57 (despite its weight). Despite having shot them both I don't think I could choose, in an ideal world one would have both. One major thing they have in common is the marvelous delayed roller blowback principal.

As far as I can remember, the G3 had two seperate ways of releasing the magazine - a push button on the side of the magwell and a lever in front of the trigger guard.

Anybody know why ?

At a guess, push button a later mod for standardised magazines?

[bradaz11]

mp5 is the same i think. the lever acts on the push button. i'd assume its to make it more user friendly

[450 Martini]

Call me traditionalist but I do like those 1950's built No4 Mk2 rifles. They were well built with all the bells and whistles of peacetime rifles and because they were held onto by the military for a long time they are normally found in excellent condition with all matching numbers. If you are patient and anoint the wood with various oils and hand rub the stock copiously you will end up with wood that would not look out of place of a decent sporting shotgun from one of the respected names.

[froggy]

Sadly can't have one in the UK mais Sacre bleu it would be a MAS 49/56 ... Bien sur


(net photo)

[legs748]

I would have thought most of us on here would own or at least have plenty of experience of the classic BSA Martini International!

[Kungfugerbil]

I think folks have mentioned the key players above. I suppose if we were talking 'iconic' then the Uzi should be on the list, even though it's an SMG and a nasty one at that.

Seeing as I've gone off on a tangent, my favourite weapon of the 50's is probably this:

[dave_303]

In terms of rifles designed in or just before this time period and entered production during it I've only really used 2 in original form, the StG 57 and VZ.58,
Have shot SLRs but in Straight Pull so not a fair comparison really.

Loved both the 57 & 58 but the 57 for some reason is my favourite, hard to pin down why, it's heavy and ugly, maybe its something I have with Swiss guns, I adore the Schmidt Rubin series and the K31 and the StG90 was one of the most excellent rifles I've ever used. The quality of the StG57 and the combination of the GP11 round is just amazing along with a straight-line stock, nifty winter trigger and excellent sights.

[Browning_grrl]

Another vote for the M-14. It was my service rifle back-in-the-day, and to this day I still favor the .308 for hunting, over everything else. :)

[DW58]

For me it is hard to choose, the practical side of me says the Heckler and Koch G3 however I also marvel at the build quality and accuracy of the swiss Sturmgewehr Stgw57 (despite its weight). Despite having shot them both I don't think I could choose, in an ideal world one would have both. One major thing they have in common is the marvelous delayed roller blowback principal.

Ditto that.