This is a crop from IWM photo BU 3938 A sniper from the Seaforth Highlanders takes aim from behind a carrier as 15th (Scottish) Division troops deal with German resistance in Uelzen, 16 April 1945. I don't recognise the rifle what is it? Is it a captured German one?
My guess is that it is a sporting rifle turned to a new kind of "game." Note the foresight with its ramped rise to the sight itself which might be a covered post sight and the lack of "lumber" on the stock.
My first thought was a sporterised No.1, but the photo really isn't good enough, and might be reversed as there's something that could be a bolthandle on the nearside. Regards, MikB
and might be reversed No it's correct way around as in the full picure everything else is right way around. So it's a "liberated" hunting rifle then. Cheers.
Not necessarily "liberated", though it might me. There are many documented cases of UK sporting rifles being used as sniper weapons at the front. Doc
That rifle im sure is a Holland And Holland 0.375 In. 1912......i will scan in a pic for you all to see...... Edit: here is the pic....it was considered one of, if not the best big game rifle of the period. Regards, Donnie
375 H&H is a hell of a round to be using for sniping, and I'd think very prone to betraying the shooter's position from the amount of dust the muzzle-blast would raise. But really, any hunting rifle with a similar action would look much the same, and it's not easy to identify a long action from that picture. Scope mounting doesn't look quite right. Regards, MikB
"375 H&H is a hell of a round to be using for sniping" Some of the soviets used AT rifles for sniping so I wouldnt discount anything on size
"375 H&H is a hell of a round to be using for sniping" Some of the soviets used AT rifles for sniping so I wouldnt discount anything on size The AT rifles had very high velocities and flat trajectories over long distances, whereas 375 H&H doesn't have particularly high velocity and gets its high energy primarily from bullet weight. Most sporting rifles - and most especially big-game rifles - are designed for short to medium range use up to maybe 300 yards, often very much less. A rifle like that shown in an urban landscape like that shown would be much better in standard 7 - 8mm calibres at moderate ranges and could be a positive liability in 375. The Soviet AT rifles also had long enough barrels to swallow much of the muzzle blast from their powerful rounds, whilst any sporting rifle always represents a compromise with easy portability. Unless the bloke's just posing with it, I'd say a practical weapon would be more likely to be in 7x57, 8x57, 303, 318 or one of the other medium-calibre sporting rounds. Of course, from the ammo supply viewpoint, anything other than the middle 2, or 30-06 US, would probably be difficult to keep fed. (Afternote:- looks like I was being too generous to the PTRD; just found this in Wikipedia:- "A major weakness of the PTRD was that it was a single shot weapon that gave off an immense muzzle flash, thus giving away the units firing position." So if Soviet sniping teams used it, it was at levels of risk western snipers might not've found acceptable.) Regards, MikB
