Why did the Germans use rifles that had to be pulled back and put back to fire a single bullet?
354298
At that time, the most reliable and accurate rifles were the bolt action where a shell was brought up out of a magazine incorporated inside the rifle. There were many different types of rifles used by the Germans as well as the Brit ts, Canadians and yes even the USA when they entered the fight. The USA used the Springfield 1903-A3; a very reliable and stout piece of equipment. During the war the M-1 was introduced. It was a semi-automatic rifle. It was used all through Korea as well. The bolt action rifle even today is far more rugged and reliable than even the M-16 which gave the military fits for jambing in Viet Nam at first.
484
A gas-operated firearm operates on a similar principle of a car engine. When a round is fired, expanding gases propel the bullet out of the barrel, along with most of the gas. But a small portion of the gas is siphoned off into a seperate gas tube either above or below the barrel and forces a piston backwards, which in turn pushes back the bolt carrier, ejects the spent brass, and is pushed forward again by a recoil spring, stripping a fresh round out of the magazine and pushes it into the chamber to be fired. A blowback- operated firearm is comparatively simple. When a round is fired in a blowback-operated firearm, the bolt is forced back by the recoil energy of the spent brass itself, eliminating the need for a piston. The downiside to the simpler design is increased recoil, since not all of the expanding gases in a gas-operated firearm actually exit the barrel, there is less gas pushing the muzzle up and back. the blowback system is often found on smaller weapons, such as pistols and sub-machine guns, because it is simpler and requires fewer parts, which allows a weapon to be small and lightweight.
297984
Actually the answer is quite simple. At the end of the first world war (1918) the Germans and their allies, but especially Germany was punished by the nations. They were not allowed to have an army, they had to give up certain parts of Germany, and the Germans in general but especially those in the Army felt so humiliated that it was almost sure that sooner or later, somehow the Germans would try to build an army again, just a simple matter of pride.\n\nHitler gave them that kind of pride back, although most people followed out of fear, just like many Iraqi's lived in fear under Sadam.\nSince the other leaders of Germany, like the chancellor, didn't know how to deal with the problem, they were easily set asside.\n\nWanna discuss more about this with me, let me know
385805
That kind of weaponry, to be sure, is no joke. That gun can stop any beast in its tracks!\n\nI've never fired one myself- the closest thing may have been an old .45 revolver that my uncle Bob owned. It was, evidently, from WWI or WWII. It was a very solid and formidable gun. It used unique shells- rim-fire .45 shells. Anyone who would have dared to enter his castle in a hostile manner would be in for .45 caliber brain surgery!!!!!!!!!!!!\n\nIt sucks that the government is taking away our rights to bear arms. The second amendment hardly matters anymore. Have you noticed that guns are becoming very scarce? I used to shop at lots of sporting goods stores, and guns were available just about anywhere. But apparently, the government mistrusts its own people. Wal-Mart is going to stop selling guns (but will continue to sell ammunition, for now, at least), too. I want to get a few long guns soon, before they become contraband in the "land of the free"!
670592
I believe it started with the French and British back in the castle age. The French would capture an enemy solder and cut there middle finger off so they couldn't fire a cross bow. So before battle they would flip off the other to show the other side they could still shoot a crossbow. I am pretty sure it was one or the other.
297567
OK nevadog, if you cant tell the differance between a SAW firing, and anything that the Iraqi's or insurgents fire, AK 47, RPK, or PKM, you are an IDIOT. If you can tell, why did you duck when you heard a SAW firing AWAY from you?  I simply say this to let everyone know that you are trying to write a colorful story about something that may or may not have happened. Regardless, you have the wrong perspective. If that story really happened. The soldier who did the firing was trying to protect his own life and yours. Overzealousness is better than overcautiousness .
1011554
Assault rifles have selective fire (semi-auto, three round burst, and full-auto). The military M-16, AK-47, M-4.  Magazine fed\n\nSub-machine guns are full auto weapons that fire pistol ammo. Thompson or Tommie gun, MP-5\n\nThen there is the machine pistol which is a full auto pistol.  The Glock 18, \n\nThere are light machine guns such as the Squad automatic weapon (the gun that Zarqawi was trying to fire in that video) and the M-60.  They are full auto, belt fed.\n\nMachine guns are generally considered to heavy to shoot with out a tripod or being mounted on a vehicle the browning .50 cal for instance.\n\n"Long guns" are mainly deer rifles, the Barrett's .50 cal, and shot guns.  Long guns is really a slang tern rather than a classification.  The civilian versions of M-16 (AR-15) ect would fall under this category because with out the BATF stamp civilians can only own the semi-auto versions
823947
Fabrique Nationale, the Belgin national firearms group produced dozens of different military and civillian weapons from the late 1800's to this day.\nDe Guerre, means "for war" indicating that yes, this is a military weapon. \nThe caliber .30-06 narrows things down a bit. While F.N.       MAY have produced Mauser rifles in that caliber for some contracts, The definitly produced a semi-automatic rifle in that caliber, and It has considerable collector and shooter interest.\nIf you can't find it on the gunbroker page someone else suggested, Try going to security arms photo archive and scrolling down to F.N. guns and looking for one like yours.\nHollar back and let us know what you found!
1112506
There are some revolvers in mass production that use rifle rounds in them.  While they are firing a 45-70 rifle cartridge they are still hand guns and give repeat shot capability.  Link below will give you more info on this gun.
723494
It is because America used nuclear weapons and everyone realized the devestation that people are reluctant to use them.\n\nIt is the same reason chemical and germ warfare are considered as evil.  Both sides used it in WW I.  Why don't we take those weapons away from the Europeans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Iraqi's and Iranians, just to name a few.
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None that I know of make direct comparisons/contrasts.\n\nI can help you out a lot more than TheWiseOne, as his answer contains many inaccuracies.\n\nContrary to what the WiseOne stated, the M1 Garand was adopted as the standard US Army infantry rifle in 1936 and was standard issue when we entered the war.  The USMC still had a predominance of '03 Springfields, as they didn't receive new equipment until after the Army.  I find it odd that the WiseOne denigrates the Springfield for being "obviously dated and had been used in World War I.".  That's funny, because the standard infantry rifle the Germans used during WWII, the K98k, was simply a newer, shorter version of the Gewehr 98, the Model 1898 Mauser rifle, developed before and used during WWI (the Springfield used the same action as the Mauser by the way).  Both were fine bolt-action weapons, but couldn't compare with the M1 because of their slow rate of fire (the US was the only army in WWII to have a semi-automatic rifle as it's standard infantry weapon).\n\nThe primary sub-machine gun of the US Army during WWII was the M1928A1, M1, and M1A1 versions of the Thompson sub-machine gun.  A fairly heavy weapon, accurate at short ranges, and it had a lot of stopping power due to the fact it was chambered for the .45ACP round.  From 1944 onwards it was slowly phased out and replaced by the M3 Grease Gun.  It was cheaper and far simpler to mass produce than the Thompson.  Contrary to what the WiseOne states, both used 30 round box magazines (although 20 round was available for the Thompson).  The German MP-40 (the famed Schmeisser, although Schmeisser had no part in it's design) was chambered for 9MM Parabellum.  It was lighter and had a slightly lower cyclic rate than the Thompson (but a bit higher than the M3).\n\nComparing the MP-44 and the BAR is like comparing apples and oranges.  The MP-44 is the ancestor of the modern assault rifle, and was used as such.  The BAR is analagous to the M249 SAW that the US Army currently uses.  The MP-44 was a good weapon, with decent accuracy and range, and a cyclic rate high enough to provide fairly heavy firepower.  Very useful in urban fighting.\n\nThe BAR was a great weapon, heavy, but provided very good, accurate firepower for platoons.\n\nI don't know what "tiny Walther pistols" WiseOne is speaking about.  The standard German sidearms of WWII were the Parabellum-Pistole (popularly known as the Luger) and the Walther P-38.  Both were chambered for the 9MM Parabellum round, and both were fairly accurate.  The P-38 was easier and cheaper to make, and more tolerant of various environmental conditions.  The M1911A1 Colt .45 was a fairly good pistol, not particularly accurate, but the .45 ACP round provided good stopping power, and it was fairly reliable.\n\nThe German MG-42 was an excellent weapon, the best of its' class during the war.  It was the basis for the postwar design of the US M-60 machine gun.  I don't know what the WiseOne is speaking of when he mentions "and other lamer machine guns" when speaking of the US.  The primary US light machine gun was the .30 Browning.  It's sustained fire rate wasn't as good as the MG-42, but nevertheless the air-cooled version was a more than competent, if not very good weapon.  The standard heavy machine gun of the US was the Browning M2 .50.  This was an excellent weapon, best in it's class, and is still in use today by many countries. The M2 was just as accurate as the MG-42, and had greater power and ranger. Then again, pretty much any weapon designed by John Browning turned out to be excellent.\n\nThis following statement is absolutely wrong:\n\n"American planes were better than German planes by the time we entered the war, as the RAF killed off many of their better planes."\n\nThe best American fighters of the war at the time of our entry were the P-40 and F4F.  Neither one was anywhere near as good as the
1080398
"Swords to plowshares"\n\nAfter the war Germany was under US-martial law. The Allies dissolved the German Army on August 20, 1946.\nAll military were disbanded an (almost) all equipment was molten and made into materials to rebuild Germany and surrounding countries.\n\nRailroads and bridges needed to be rebuilt. Then there was the Marshal-plan.\n\nAlso many tanks were used by their captors. France used some German Panther tanks as late as the late 50's.
714102
the answer is in the army files of every nation that ever had a war.\nmachine guns spit out bullets very fast. Or I suspect the old Tommy gun in the 20s' was the one. Gangsters perhaps in Chicago.\n\ngl
369401
The rifle with the helmet have been symbols of fallen soldiers since WWI. The rifle was stuck in the ground with the dog tags so the soldier could be located and identified at a later time. The boots were left so if another soldier came along and needed a pair then he could trade out boots.
482198
That's a tough one; infantry tactics underwent a major paradigm shift after the introduction of the Maxim Machine Gun at the close of the 19th century.\n\nPrior to that, it was essentially (and this is VERY simplified) fire volley, fire volley, advance in a line, and bayonet everything not running away.
258078
After the "great war", the war to end all wars (WWI), no one wanted to get drawn into another big conflict. They thought the best way to stay out of a war was to avoid confrontation and let Germany do what it wants to.\n\nAccording to the treaty of Versailles, a whole host of restrictions were placed on Germany,.... they couldnt have an airforce, they couldnt have a very big navy, they couldnt put troops in a certain area near France, they couldnt build U-boats, ....\nWhen Hitler came to power, one by one, Germany broke pretty much every single stipulation of the treaty (and wasnt even very secretive about it).  Other countries didnt want to get into a war, so they looked the other way while all this was happening.  Germany decided that it wanted to annex the sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, so they did and other countries let them (Czechoslovakia wasnt too pleased though).\nGermany's invasion of Poland was the last straw and is commonly used to mark the start of WWII in Europe.\n\nEngland's prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, is known for his policy of appeasment.  Other countries looked on while Germany was doing all this, hoping to avoid another war when in reality it let Germany get away with way too much.
884934
Three MOST MAJOR points:\nIt was first gun to fire without reloading. \nIt had more firepower, so it was more powerful.\nIt also had interchangeable parts (you could assemble it from different individual parts-even if one part is missing, it can be replaced by another). This was an influence in the automation of machinery.