I have never heard of a "dust cover guide rod" or a "dust cover disconnect" until today. The French probably cut holes in the chauchat magazines for material to make the lebel dust covers.
SCANDAL! The german dust cover is missing the matching serial number to the rifle it is attached to! How the hell did this slip through quality control? It should never have been given out this way, an oversight like this this is not excusable!
Sorry Ian, but you're wrong. the device on the Gew98 is something called a "Notfall bratwurst halterung" it's emergency storage for your bratwurst in case Tommy attacks your trench while you're mid-bratwurst. just flip it open and secure, the brilliantly (German)engineered placement even allowed you to continue eating in between shots. jokes aside i can't wait for the next vids on these if you decide to do them :)
French dust cover- 1 screw one single piece of stamped metal German - 2 pieces of metal with more complex shapes, guide rod, turning latch We Germans never change do we?
Hey! Now I know why my Lebel's bolt screw looks that way! As for the Chauchat magazines, I presume it's because the magazines were kept in pouches and bags so they were already protected. And of course, the cuts in the magazine helps you load the magazine.
Seems strange that Germany and France decided to design and fit dust covers to their rifle bolts yet Britain, who's Lee Enfield originally had them, never got around to refitting them.
They took them off so they could fit charger guides to use stripper clips on the SMLE so I guess designing a dust cover that worked around that would’ve been too much hassle
The 2 more 'common' dust covers encountered are from the Japanese Arisaka, and the Japanese produced Siamese Mauser. (And yes, I've heard all the Siamese Mauser jokes, a play on the pseudo-homonym of 'mouser' or 'meowser' referring to a Siamese cat, so responders don't think you're so creative and witty, others have all ready been there-ad nauseum.)
Supposedly the Japanese dust cover rattles, I have not been able to confirm that myself as it is a common thing that people threw away.(The Japanese soldiers too) In the book Shots Fired in Anger by Lt.Col. John George he tells a story about a Japanese soldier being pinpointed by the dust cover rattling between shots.
I wouldn't call it a proof mark. Ian, like a lot of gun people use the term rather loosely when it really should only cover a prooving. This is just an acceptance or inspection mark.
The British MLM and MLE series .303 rifles and carbines had dust covers from inception, and all 20 years before the French and Germans. The MLE was still in use in WW1 (second line), and the SMLE that replaced it didn't need it.
Ian, I feel I must point out that mud is presumably something those rifles have seen before. I admit I'd be hesitant to try it as well, but I swear that as a kid cleaning my dad's GEW 98 after getting it, it still had mud in the stock and it's managed to hold together for all these years. We used to joke that cleaning out the mud would ruin it's accuracy because the mud was in all of the tight corners and almost resembled bedding compound.
If I had to guess, I'd assume that the German dust covers were considered too bulky and inconvenient for the average soldier to willingly deal with. Not to mention that any damage to its guide rod would interfere with the shooter's ability to quickly cycle the bolt.
Then that means it didn't happen. InRange's use of dust-cover equipped Arisakas do not necessarily reflect the effectiveness of these particular dust covers.
Some people are saying they don't want you to get the rifles dirty. I'm going to have to disagree. 1917 was a hundred years ago today. I think it would be fitting to get dressed in period appropriate gear, get in a muddy foxhole, and try to shoot while peering down the dirty mica goggles of a gas mask. To get a better understanding of what it was like trying to keep your rifle clean when you're really trying to deal with everything on the field and on yourself. It would be nice to get an appreciation not just for the guns, but for the men who had to use them too.
Hey Ian, the makers mark on the German cover is also a patent marking. DRP stands for 'Deutsches Reichs-Patent'. Maybe the German patent office has more on this.
I wonder how well that locking tab on the Mauser would hold up to vigorous manipulating? It doesn't look all that sturdy - nor is there much keeping it closed.
IIRC, the reason dust covers weren't more prevalent in WW1 is because the French and Germans didn't see any reason to fight while knee deep in mud. The Germans in particular were on the defensive for most of their time on the western front, and build excellent trenches on higher ground and with good drainage and even installed wickerwork walls and duckboards to retain the dirt, so their trenches weren't particularly muddy. The Brits, on the other hand, were stubborn and didn't want to give up an inch of ground, even if moving back a few hundred yards would get them above the water table. They also saw their trenches as "temporary" refuges while building up for the next big attack, and so didn't want to waste time and resources improving them any more than was strictly necessary. The attitude was more or less, "why worry about mud when you'll be moving on soon?"
Would like to see a Berthier dust cover in action, also they had a problem with the Berthier dust cover being weak during wartime production and cause the rifle to jammed. They were subcontracted to a Spanish toy company.
The German one looks like it would interfere with the stripper clip guides, seems like you'd have to load the rounds individually if you didn't disconnect it from the bolt head first which isn't feasible to do mid combat
So the french made a screw with a larger head and shaped a piece of sheet metal to fit. The Germans made two pieces of shaped sheet metal, one requiring a spring temper, guild rod, guild tube, latching system, and proof marked them. How very German of them, and they wounder why all their resources were gone in short order.
So, how much resources did the Tiger tank projects take up, and how effective were they again? Bad ass tank with a great gun, takes so many resources they only made a handful instead of the other totally viable, more practical tank designs already in production. Oh, throw two Maus tanks on top of the wasted resource pile, and whatever else useless that steel went too.
Jesse Sisolack And how many T34 had to outrun their infantry to get close enough to effectively fight back against a single Tiger and then got gunned down by PaKs, Pz. IVs and infantry held AT? Theres a reason why everyone built heavy tanks. And theres a reason why the Germans as well as the UK and US built ridiculously oversized monster-tanks, size related problems show up there before they occur in your mainline models...
Who wins is always the main side of the story, because if you go to war - you do that to win, otherwise you are an idiot. And the fact that allies won shows that, eventually, quanity tops quality, hovewer sad that may sound.
I have a leather-and-canvas rifle action cover, kind of a ''gun-puttee.'' A skinny leather strap goes thru a series of brass hoops thru grommets to keep it snugly secured over a bolt action. Not an exact fit for a LeeEnfield Mk4. Possibly French or Swiss?
I have a question (maybe for a future Q&A) : I have seen brazilian police using 7.62 nato Madsen machine guns and other "exotic" weapons ... Why not using more recent (= cheaper, handier, more reliable, using easy to find parts and accessories), using the same caliber ? Or why not simply switching to 7.62x39 (/x54) and using "AK type" guns ?
it looks like the Mauser's mud cover might not come back far enough to use a stripper clip and you would have to release the lever under the bolt handle after opening the cover to be able to use a stripper clip
"The German dust cover is a bit more complex" - there's a shock!! There is a German adage (my wife, who is German tells me) - "why do something the easy way if the hard way also works?"
What is the french equivalent of ebay you mentioned? Interesting video. You'd indeed wonder why simple dust covers were not more common on bolt actions, since you still find analogous parts on service rifles to this day.
Hi Ian...at one time Numrich Gun Parts sold a reproduction Dust Cover Assembly for the GEW98. Part Number 1129970 $59.15. They were marked: WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER A-G. OBERNDORF A/N 1918. I've contacted them several times over the years about when they might get more of these and always the same answer. "At this time this item is not available." Perhaps, you have some pull? You might be able to find out where they purchased them or had them made in the past. We could they pool an order together for WWI rifle collectors.
My immediate question: as the Kar98 was still in service during WWII (new production, at that), where did all the dust covers go? It would seem sensible to me that (at least at the beginning of the war) new rifles would have been issued dust covers, if not all of them. Did the Nazis just not see the point? Did the production capability get lost? Was it determined to have not worked by the end of WWI, or during the interwar period? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hi Ian?, brilliant vid very interesting and well explained sir.Any ideas where I could get a dust cover for a nice mk1lee metford the one with the safety at the rear of the bolt.kind regards nigelkavanagh.
Germany was so short of fabric that they couldn't make tiny bags for soldier's guns? Jeeze, that's absolutely desperate. I think that is pretty solid proof against the stabbed in the back myth!
Why didn't the bolt action rifles in ww2 have dust covers? You'd think they would learn from ww1 and make them a standard. Except Japan, no body else seems to have em.
Trench warfare was a far dirtier affair both morally and literally than later wars, sure guns still got dirty/muddy etc. but you weren't constantly sitting in trenches 7-8 ft deep in some places and covered head to toe in filth, living and working in the same 200 meters of trench network for months at a time.
Mostly you never really needed a dust/mud cover. You never ever walked around with the bolt to the rear. And if your weapon got covered in mud you were expected to be smart enough to wipe the thing down a little before you opened your bolt.
You would get a pretty severe bollocking for allowing your weapon to become in an unserviceable condition. The wrath of the Sergeant was probably best avoided..
the answer to my question may be painfully obvious since I'm not seeing anyone else but here it is the action of the arisaka 99 is copied directly from the gewer 98, as was a lot of other guns. is their something unique to the way the Japanese copied the action that made it easier to engineer and mass produce dust covers than Germany?
Unfortunately I'm not a patreon so I can't ask this in a Q&A from the Jesus himself, but maybe someone here has an answer: If they came up with mud covers in late WW1, how come none of the WW2 rifles either country had used kept the things? Particularly interested in the French since they believed WW2 was going to be just more WW1 hence the whole Maginot line.
The Japanese still had them on their rifles. Most didn't really see a need. The maginot Line was to prevent a stalemate like WWI! The line was there to hold up an invasion while the reserves are sent in to counter attack. You had 80,000 men on the line, which sounds like a lot, until you consider the 2 million men that were held in the center of France to counter attack. In essence, the Maginot Line worked perfectly in May and June of 1940 it just that the French and British fell for the Germans deception and got surrounded in Belgium.
+Szalami I have the same question - why covers were not further improved and mass produced during interbellum period? However, I may imagine French thinking there will be no need for them exactly because of Maginot line - it's made of concrete bunkers, not muddy trenches.
Japanese Arisaka Type 38 has a dust cover and was developed before WW I, and the dust cover continued on Type 99 which came into service in 1939. For the people who want to know how well they worked, just go check out InRange, they did a mud test on Type 38 with dust cover on.
Actually dust covers predate the war by many years but very few armies actually adopted them (Japan is just about it for a major producer). Most nations figured out that they are usually not worth the trouble and that probably is why the ones Ian is showing here never really persisted. Covers have to be made tight and strong or else they don't work to start with and if you dirty a gun with the action open, which is much of the time as you are loading and cycling the weapon, that cover may actually end up trapping more crud than not. Most armies figured it was wiser, and certainly cheaper, to just train soldiers how to limit the risks of dirtying their guns. Japan's covers were very well-made and worked very well, but if you got a mismatched one, one not specifically fitted to the rifle in the factory, then they often rattle and will let some crud in, making them a liability rather than an asset. Hope that helps!
I have never heard of a "dust cover guide rod" or a "dust cover disconnect" until today.
The French probably cut holes in the chauchat magazines for material to make the lebel dust covers.
Or their wanted to quickly see the amount of Ammo left.
@@JackAkaJCK You responded 5 years late and missed how they were joking too...
The German one was more complex, color me shocked.
There is a German adage (my wife, who is German tells me)" - "why do something the easy way if the hard way also works?
"Warum soll man es einfach machen wenn man es so schön kompliziert machen kann" - why make it simple when you can make it beautifully complicated
canicheenrage
The FK 96 and the 75 mle 1897?
Is the 75 really that much more complex?
And then we have the swiss one which includes hydraulics and fourteen sprockets. (JK)
French engineering > German engineering
SCANDAL!
The german dust cover is missing the matching serial number to the rifle it is attached to! How the hell did this slip through quality control? It should never have been given out this way, an oversight like this this is not excusable!
Better no dust cover for Hanz than a mixed-serial one!
44WarmocK77 not even a serial number on the screws, tsk tsk
44WarmocK77 just throw away the rifle at this point, it might as well be unusable
It doesn't meet the teutonic standard for minimum perfection! Guter gott! nein! nein!
No wonder Germany lost the war!
Sorry Ian, but you're wrong. the device on the Gew98 is something called a "Notfall bratwurst halterung" it's emergency storage for your bratwurst in case Tommy attacks your trench while you're mid-bratwurst. just flip it open and secure, the brilliantly (German)engineered placement even allowed you to continue eating in between shots.
jokes aside i can't wait for the next vids on these if you decide to do them :)
RebSike ROFL! You sir win the internet. Congratulations! 👑🍺🏆🎗🍗
French dust cover- 1 screw one single piece of stamped metal
German - 2 pieces of metal with more complex shapes, guide rod, turning latch
We Germans never change do we?
Nope. We definitely won't. ^^
Dan Schneider i think i'm not the only one who thinks that german always made something complex but really clever :v
Swiss: 75 intricately machined parts. Beautifully smooth action and costs slightly more than an average house.
hairyneil You wouldn't be talking about the Swiss rifles? They aren't THAT bad.
Given, they can be as complex as your watches but still...
Amir Butcher, not the rifles, just the dust covers ;)
Hey! Now I know why my Lebel's bolt screw looks that way!
As for the Chauchat magazines, I presume it's because the magazines were kept in pouches and bags so they were already protected. And of course, the cuts in the magazine helps you load the magazine.
It helps the loader (lying on the right of the shooter) control how many rounds left until he has to reload.
Seems strange that Germany and France decided to design and fit dust covers to their rifle bolts yet Britain, who's Lee Enfield originally had them, never got around to refitting them.
They took them off so they could fit charger guides to use stripper clips on the SMLE so I guess designing a dust cover that worked around that would’ve been too much hassle
The 2 more 'common' dust covers encountered are from the Japanese Arisaka, and the Japanese produced Siamese Mauser.
(And yes, I've heard all the Siamese Mauser jokes, a play on the pseudo-homonym of 'mouser' or 'meowser' referring to a Siamese cat, so responders don't think you're so creative and witty, others have all ready been there-ad nauseum.)
lol owned
Siamese Meowsers? Dude you made my day. I talk to my siamese cat, now we can justify to buy a plate carrier for him ^^.
Yeah, I like the Type 38 dust covers better.
Supposedly the Japanese dust cover rattles, I have not been able to confirm that myself as it is a common thing that people threw away.(The Japanese soldiers too) In the book Shots Fired in Anger by Lt.Col. John George he tells a story about a Japanese soldier being pinpointed by the dust cover rattling between shots.
You should check out C&Rsenal's episodes on the Type 30 Arisaka and Type 38 "Not really an Arisaka but actually a Nambu" rifles. And the carbines.
The Japanese Type 38 had a well fit, effective dust cover before WWI and it was matched to the rifle with a serial number.
at 7:38 is it just me or is there a smiley face cut into the lebel? if so, what mad lad wielded that mighty weapon
I love his expression at 11:14
He's really curious and wants to know if they'd help/work, but really does not want to mud up those old gems.
The Germans proofed their dist cover... Of course they did. :)
I wouldn't call it a proof mark. Ian, like a lot of gun people use the term rather loosely when it really should only cover a prooving. This is just an acceptance or inspection mark.
They actually went as far as stamping the lock screws on K98k floor plates with WaA stamps. We Germans are insane at times.
.rzr because us Germans write everything down
A proof they were dustproof.
Makes me proud to be German
The British MLM and MLE series .303 rifles and carbines had dust covers from inception, and all 20 years before the French and Germans. The MLE was still in use in WW1 (second line), and the SMLE that replaced it didn't need it.
Definitely getting to some interesting topics over on Forgotten Weapons
That guide rod for the G98 might need a dust cover.
Who else saw the smiley face at 7:33 ??
Boris Rozsnyo yep, this rifle shoots krauts with a smile! =)
yep, this is what happend when gun jesus touch a gun
The operator's emblem was a smiley. That's why it's there. ;)
Remium Qualit He can touch my gun any day. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
That was a Comedian's rifle.
Ian, I feel I must point out that mud is presumably something those rifles have seen before. I admit I'd be hesitant to try it as well, but I swear that as a kid cleaning my dad's GEW 98 after getting it, it still had mud in the stock and it's managed to hold together for all these years. We used to joke that cleaning out the mud would ruin it's accuracy because the mud was in all of the tight corners and almost resembled bedding compound.
Very helpful....explains the larger screws I run into on Lebels and Berthiers. Makes perfect sense but just never thought of it, cheers.
I'm so glad that I found this channel, History channel used to show stuff like this but doesn't anymore!
Right, I need one now! I've just noticed that my Lebel bolt head screw has the step and wide head for a dust cover.
If I had to guess, I'd assume that the German dust covers were considered too bulky and inconvenient for the average soldier to willingly deal with. Not to mention that any damage to its guide rod would interfere with the shooter's ability to quickly cycle the bolt.
This is like the only known visual example of a Lebel dust cover. Those things are stupid rare!
I await the day these dust cover-equipped rifles get subjected to an InRange mud test...
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Edmond Kwan already happened. I think they used an arisaka rifle
Then that means it didn't happen. InRange's use of dust-cover equipped Arisakas do not necessarily reflect the effectiveness of these particular dust covers.
Some people are saying they don't want you to get the rifles dirty. I'm going to have to disagree.
1917 was a hundred years ago today. I think it would be fitting to get dressed in period appropriate gear, get in a muddy foxhole, and try to shoot while peering down the dirty mica goggles of a gas mask. To get a better understanding of what it was like trying to keep your rifle clean when you're really trying to deal with everything on the field and on yourself.
It would be nice to get an appreciation not just for the guns, but for the men who had to use them too.
Hey Ian, the makers mark on the German cover is also a patent marking. DRP stands for 'Deutsches Reichs-Patent'. Maybe the German patent office has more on this.
I'm not even into guns but I love history and engineering feats, thanks for the content
I wonder how well that locking tab on the Mauser would hold up to vigorous manipulating?
It doesn't look all that sturdy - nor is there much keeping it closed.
I used to keep my M-203 in a cellophane dry cleaning bag. In a pinch you could operate through the bag...long enough.
Could Mauser rifle be loaded via stripper clip when dust cover is mounted??
ruclips.net/video/8LfzlTqgTbc/видео.html yes you can see the stripper guides here
An excellent segment of firearms history Ian. I really enjoyed this. I look forward to more.
"The German dust cover is a bit more complex" who would have guessed. It's pretty slick though, on all the examples you have.
I can't be the only one that noticed the happy face above the magazine, just to the right, or in front, of the bolt handle. You can see at 7:41
IIRC, the reason dust covers weren't more prevalent in WW1 is because the French and Germans didn't see any reason to fight while knee deep in mud. The Germans in particular were on the defensive for most of their time on the western front, and build excellent trenches on higher ground and with good drainage and even installed wickerwork walls and duckboards to retain the dirt, so their trenches weren't particularly muddy. The Brits, on the other hand, were stubborn and didn't want to give up an inch of ground, even if moving back a few hundred yards would get them above the water table. They also saw their trenches as "temporary" refuges while building up for the next big attack, and so didn't want to waste time and resources improving them any more than was strictly necessary. The attitude was more or less, "why worry about mud when you'll be moving on soon?"
Would like to see a Berthier dust cover in action, also they had a problem with the Berthier dust cover being weak during wartime production and cause the rifle to jammed. They were subcontracted to a Spanish toy company.
good info
Wow if that German dust cover doesn't scream German Engineering.
The German one looks like it would interfere with the stripper clip guides, seems like you'd have to load the rounds individually if you didn't disconnect it from the bolt head first which isn't feasible to do mid combat
So the french made a screw with a larger head and shaped a piece of sheet metal to fit. The Germans made two pieces of shaped sheet metal, one requiring a spring temper, guild rod, guild tube, latching system, and proof marked them. How very German of them, and they wounder why all their resources were gone in short order.
You can do something right or you can take a turd a spray it golden. In 75% of all cases, us germans choose the first option.
The Pandora Guy yeah but it kinda fucked u guys over in the end
So, how much resources did the Tiger tank projects take up, and how effective were they again? Bad ass tank with a great gun, takes so many resources they only made a handful instead of the other totally viable, more practical tank designs already in production. Oh, throw two Maus tanks on top of the wasted resource pile, and whatever else useless that steel went too.
Jesse Sisolack And how many T34 had to outrun their infantry to get close enough to effectively fight back against a single Tiger and then got gunned down by PaKs, Pz. IVs and infantry held AT? Theres a reason why everyone built heavy tanks. And theres a reason why the Germans as well as the UK and US built ridiculously oversized monster-tanks, size related problems show up there before they occur in your mainline models...
Who wins is always the main side of the story, because if you go to war - you do that to win, otherwise you are an idiot. And the fact that allies won shows that, eventually, quanity tops quality, hovewer sad that may sound.
I kind of want to homemake one for my Lebel now.
the british actually had dust covers on the mle but it was removed on the smle
Mud covers in ww1?.........
Why would we ever need that!
Why good sir would you sully your rifle so. that is not very sporting!
7:41 there's a smiley face in the stock lol
This only makes me want a Lebel MORE.
I have a leather-and-canvas rifle action cover, kind of a ''gun-puttee.'' A skinny leather strap goes thru a series of brass hoops thru grommets to keep it snugly secured over a bolt action. Not an exact fit for a LeeEnfield Mk4. Possibly French or Swiss?
One important reason to lift the german dust cover all out of the way is to load stripper clips, you kinda forgot that it blocks the way.
I look forward to the mud test.
How do you think they compare to the Arisaka dust cover? as far as usability or how they effect the smoothness of the action?
I take it these will be in the book
I have a question (maybe for a future Q&A) :
I have seen brazilian police using 7.62 nato Madsen machine guns and other "exotic" weapons ... Why not using more recent (= cheaper, handier, more reliable, using easy to find parts and accessories), using the same caliber ?
Or why not simply switching to 7.62x39 (/x54) and using "AK type" guns ?
it looks like the Mauser's mud cover might not come back far enough to use a stripper clip and you would have to release the lever under the bolt handle after opening the cover to be able to use a stripper clip
Anyone else see the smiley face under the bolt?
"The German dust cover is a bit more complex" - there's a shock!!
There is a German adage (my wife, who is German tells me) - "why do something the easy way if the hard way also works?"
😎👍🏼 Thumbs Up Ian Good Video 😀
smiley face at 7:33 is amusing af lol
6:00 I misheard that
What is the french equivalent of ebay you mentioned? Interesting video. You'd indeed wonder why simple dust covers were not more common on bolt actions, since you still find analogous parts on service rifles to this day.
I think I have seen pictures of Arisaka and or Carcano rifles with similar devices. Maybe, maybe not. I don't remember.
Those 2 flags in the thumbnail actually make a very good looking one!
could these make a failure more dangerous if a cartridge burst?
Hi Ian...at one time Numrich Gun Parts sold a reproduction Dust Cover Assembly for the GEW98. Part Number 1129970 $59.15. They were marked: WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER A-G. OBERNDORF A/N 1918. I've contacted them several times over the years about when they might get more of these and always the same answer. "At this time this item is not available." Perhaps, you have some pull? You might be able to find out where they purchased them or had them made in the past. We could they pool an order together for WWI rifle collectors.
They survived WW1 They can survive dunking in mud if they are cleaned without too much delay.
I am surprised that the German dust cover isn't more complex.
Anyone know if Ian actually got around to testing the covers? I tried looking for it but couldn't find anything
I couldn’t find it, either
they did not need the dust covers, because while running they held the rifle by its action
Hands don't get muddy?
0:39 Oh that better not be an original Gewehr 98
My immediate question: as the Kar98 was still in service during WWII (new production, at that), where did all the dust covers go? It would seem sensible to me that (at least at the beginning of the war) new rifles would have been issued dust covers, if not all of them. Did the Nazis just not see the point? Did the production capability get lost? Was it determined to have not worked by the end of WWI, or during the interwar period? Inquiring minds want to know!
can you still use a stripper clip with the mauser dust over? it doesnt look like it opens far enough.
Hi Ian?, brilliant vid very interesting and well explained sir.Any ideas where I could get a dust cover for a nice mk1lee metford the one with the safety at the rear of the bolt.kind regards nigelkavanagh.
more videos like this please
Would you consider redoing mud tests for these rifles with these dust covers on?
Does the dust cover on the Gewehr have to be flipped all the way open in order to take stripper clips?
Ian any chance of a lee enfield mud test so to compare it to the German mauser?
I think you should have had an Arisaka Type 38 Rifle.
I'm guessing the dust covers, for the 98 Mauser were not used during WW2?
French equivalent of ebay is ebay I think
"Ebay is ebay, they just call it le ebay."
Interesting.
Regarding the mud test, are these guns from your collection, or are they borrowed?
Germany was so short of fabric that they couldn't make tiny bags for soldier's guns?
Jeeze, that's absolutely desperate.
I think that is pretty solid proof against the stabbed in the back myth!
at least the japanese in ww2 did use their dust covers for their rifles in the pacific
Ian, what do you think of an SKS? Good rifles or trash?
"More questions than answers" :-So, what happens when the guide rod on the German cover jams in it's guide?
Did the Type 38 come with a dust cover right off the bat in 1905?
Why didn't the bolt action rifles in ww2 have dust covers? You'd think they would learn from ww1 and make them a standard. Except Japan, no body else seems to have em.
Many Japanese soldiers got rid of their dust covers in WW2. They rattled and were unnecessary since trench battles didn't exist anymore
Trench warfare was a far dirtier affair both morally and literally than later wars, sure guns still got dirty/muddy etc. but you weren't constantly sitting in trenches 7-8 ft deep in some places and covered head to toe in filth, living and working in the same 200 meters of trench network for months at a time.
won't the dust cover block the view through the iron sights?
It looks like the dust covers interfere with the use of stripper clips. Is that the case?
Interesting how the German's didn't look to the Type 38 Arisaka rifle for an effective dust cover solution.
Mostly you never really needed a dust/mud cover. You never ever walked around with the bolt to the rear. And if your weapon got covered in mud you were expected to be smart enough to wipe the thing down a little before you opened your bolt.
I reckon a concscript in the trenches getting spooked by an attack would forget about that.
So how will the Arisaka dust covers compare to those ones?
the lebel is probably close though
I suspect that removing the screw in mud had potential to fumble and lose it in mud thus making weapon useless.
Mike
You would get a pretty severe bollocking for allowing your weapon to become in an unserviceable condition. The wrath of the Sergeant was probably best avoided..
Burlats de Montaigne Not when he was sitting in a shelter dry while you're on guard duty for the night.
the answer to my question may be painfully obvious since I'm not seeing anyone else but here it is
the action of the arisaka 99 is copied directly from the gewer 98, as was a lot of other guns. is their something unique to the way the Japanese copied the action that made it easier to engineer and mass produce dust covers than Germany?
Any field solutions that soldiers came up by themselves?
whats'up Ian! How was your day?
No Enfield dust cover?
7:36 smiley face
Lebel mud test when?
Does anybody else think the combination flag for the title card looks really cool and should be an actual flag?
The Japanese arisaka: we have our dust cover first
Thanks for the video. Allowed me to find out that my duct cover is an original.
The German version has a proof mark. A proof mark for a dust cover. Tells it all.
Unfortunately I'm not a patreon so I can't ask this in a Q&A from the Jesus himself, but maybe someone here has an answer:
If they came up with mud covers in late WW1, how come none of the WW2 rifles either country had used kept the things?
Particularly interested in the French since they believed WW2 was going to be just more WW1 hence the whole Maginot line.
The Japanese still had them on their rifles. Most didn't really see a need. The maginot Line was to prevent a stalemate like WWI! The line was there to hold up an invasion while the reserves are sent in to counter attack. You had 80,000 men on the line, which sounds like a lot, until you consider the 2 million men that were held in the center of France to counter attack. In essence, the Maginot Line worked perfectly in May and June of 1940 it just that the French and British fell for the Germans deception and got surrounded in Belgium.
+Szalami
I have the same question - why covers were not further improved and mass produced during interbellum period? However, I may imagine French thinking there will be no need for them exactly because of Maginot line - it's made of concrete bunkers, not muddy trenches.
Maybe they wanted to save raw materials
Japanese Arisaka Type 38 has a dust cover and was developed before WW I, and the dust cover continued on Type 99 which came into service in 1939. For the people who want to know how well they worked, just go check out InRange, they did a mud test on Type 38 with dust cover on.
Actually dust covers predate the war by many years but very few armies actually adopted them (Japan is just about it for a major producer). Most nations figured out that they are usually not worth the trouble and that probably is why the ones Ian is showing here never really persisted.
Covers have to be made tight and strong or else they don't work to start with and if you dirty a gun with the action open, which is much of the time as you are loading and cycling the weapon, that cover may actually end up trapping more crud than not. Most armies figured it was wiser, and certainly cheaper, to just train soldiers how to limit the risks of dirtying their guns. Japan's covers were very well-made and worked very well, but if you got a mismatched one, one not specifically fitted to the rifle in the factory, then they often rattle and will let some crud in, making them a liability rather than an asset. Hope that helps!