Really bad weapons...

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Morthrai

(Still catching up on things here)
I see the Ross rifle has already been mentioned. I recall my uncle, who was a British tank driver right through WW2, mentioning that he went ashore at Juno Beach on D-Day supporting the Canadians. The weapons that were issued to those tank crews were Ross rifles, the idea being that more No. 4 .303s were freed up for use by the Canadian infantry. During the course of the assault, a couple of .303s and Stens found their way into the tanks and the Ross rifles got left behind before they even had to be used.

As a hunting rifle, the Ross is a fairly decent weapon, the problem with it is that it was never designed for combat use (and how many times have we heard that description?). A lot of stories from WWI tell how the bolt would get so gummed up with dirt/carbon that it would often take two men to work it. So as a combat rifle the Ross is on the list for bad weapons.

Other horrible rifles would include the French Lebel and Berthier rifles. With their 3 round magazines and akward bolt design they are often described as "little more than a musket more useful to hang a bayonet from."