Statistical history suggests that many soldiers never even fired their rifles in combat during WWII. These surviving storytellers instead focus their successes on much more important phenomena: battle strategy, bravery and luck. In all these conversations, I have never heard how any particular rifle was more responsible than another for saving or taking human life, or for winning or losing a battle. IT HAS BEEN MY HONOR to personally listen to tales of heroism and horror from World War II vets who have experiences ranging from retrieving the bodies of their fallen comrades on Utah Beach to fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, the final Nazi Germany offensive. I have watched one of the Chosin Few, a US Marine Corps division who fought in the Chosin Reservoir, wipe tears from his face as he divulged only a small part of his experience in Korea a friend and firearms instructor who is a Vietnam Marine shared with me the day he almost died, and now celebrates annually Purple Heart recipients from our recent wars in the Middle East have revealed acts of horror impossible to comprehend without experiencing them firsthand and in addition to America’s heroes, I have also heard firsthand from those who served in the Axis military. Speaking with veterans is an opportunity neither of us will ever turn down. Neither of us has served in the military, but the conversation thankfully extends beyond the theoretics of our living room to those who have first-hand experience to tell it how it is, or was. Our passion for rifles and history often leads to a great deal of research and conversation. A discussion ensued, and we were not talking hunting – we were discussing war. “I‘ll take a semiautomatic rifle any day of the week over a bolt action, and twice on Sunday.” That’s what my husband told me when I confessed my love of the Mauser M98 bolt-action.
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