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A modern American rifle made by the Hoffman Arms Co.—Note elegance 
of design and superior workmanship. 
Modern American Rifles 
The 
RITISH gunmakers have long had 
B an enviable reputation for turn- 
ing out superior sporting guns 
and rifles. This has been mainly be- 
cause from the very start they have al- 
ways catered to the well-to-do class of 
discriminating sportsmen who have de- 
manded the very best, and who by train- 
ing and antecedent expect superior 
ballistic performance, durability, fit, 
beauty, and individuality in their 
weapons. The older British sportsman 
takes pride in turning his old and well- 
used guns over to his grandson in his 
declining years. Our American arms 
factories have never been prepared to 
meet this demand, and indeed until 
lately there was a relatively small de- 
mand of this kind in America. Rather 
have our manufacturers organized on 
the basis of modern quantity produc- 
tion, looking for large sales and a small 
profit on each gun. They have catered 
almost entirely to the men of limited 
means and modest desires, their market 
has been mainly through the sporting 
goods and hardware stores. They have 
turned out good low-priced weapons, 
but everyone more or less alike, methods 
of manufacture being used which are 
conducive to economy of manufacture 
rather than elegance of outline and bal- 
ance. Made by quantity production, 
perhaps twenty-five thousand at a 
time, a certain tolerance in parts has 
been necessary to insure strict and eco- 
nomic interchangeability, and certain 
modification of design has been neces- 
sary to keep down cost. All of these 
militate against the highest efficiency 
and the fit, balance, and beauty which 
should pertain in really first-rate weap- 
ons. 
ECENT years have shown an aston- 
ishing development in rifles and car- 
tridges, and no less of an advance in the 
knowledge of how to manufacture arms. 
Our large arms factories have been un- 
able to keep pace with this development. 
The demand has not been sufficient to 
permit the entire revolution of the in- 
462 
American vs. the British Product 
By MAJOR TOWNSEND WHELEN 
dustry in design and methods of manu- 
facture which has been indicated. The 
changes in American sporting arms 
during the past ten years have been 
small and of relatively little importance 
or effect. 
NS a consequence we have seen more 
and more of our well-informed 
sportsmen going to British gunmakers 
to obtain a class of weapons which 
could not be obtained over here. Five 
years ago there were practically no pri- 
vate gunmakers in the United States, 
the general trade going to our large 
factories and the higher class trade to 
England. But as the developments and 
improvements came, and we became ac- 
quainted with these, and learned more 
of the design, ballistics, and methods of 
manufacture of rifles, we realized that 
the British gunmakers were by no 
means keeping abreast of the art. They 
were entirely too conservative, and they 
apparently knew nothing of the work of 
the leading American ballistic engi- 
neers. Their weapons were magnificent 
pieces of workmanship, but they were 
not up to date otherwise. Thus there 
was gradually created a decided Amer- 
ican demand for superior weapons 
which would conform to American 
development and ideas. 
HE great improvement in rifle 
marksmanship in the United States 
also created a demand for weapons of 
very superior accuracy, and we found 
that in the making of really accurate 
weapons the British gunmakers were 
hopelessly behindhand. We had been 
using very superior sights and a firing 
position which, with the aid of a special 
type of gunsling, permitted us to aim 
and hold for astonishingly small 
groups. English sportsmen still stuck 
to older positions and to plain, open, 
non-adjustable “V” sights which did 
not permit of that accuracy of aim 
which would bring out the capabilities 
of a really well shooting rifle. British 
gunmakers apparently knew nothing. 
about all this, and could not be educated 
beyond the standards and methods de- 
veloped many years ago. 
N the making of smokeless powder 
rifles they were and still are using 
standards and methods which were 
evolved when the .303 Lee-Enfield rifle 
was first produced about 1899. 
As a result of this demand for supe- 
rior weapons in America there sprang 
up lately a number of small, private 
gunsmiths who cater to the ideas of our 
modern sportsman as well as their lim- 
ited skill, equipment, and capital will 
permit. Generally, however, theirs is 
merely an attempt to convert, remodel, 
and improve existing arms, and to 
eradicate from them some of their more 
glaring faults. Military weapons have 
improved much more than _ sporting 
rifles, and much of this work of our pri- 
vate gunsmiths has taken the direction 
of converting military rifles into sport- 
ing types, with superior and individu- 
ally fitted stocks and sights. 
We knew that a well fitting stock 
was of even more importance to the 
rifleman than to the bird shooter, 
assuring the getting in of a well aimed 
shot quickly, and a steadier aim and 
hold, of primary importance to the 
rifleman because his weapon may be 
used against dangerous game. It is 
true that our large arms factories 
would make us a stock of special dimen- 
sions to order for an advanced price, 
but always on a certain design which 
they and not the customer determined. 
E knew that slots cut in the barrel 
for the cheap attachment of 
sights, forearm tips and mainsprings 
were inimical to the finest accuracy. 
Some of these slots we could eliminate, 
and some not. We knew that a certain 
fit between bullet and bore, and certain 
modern principles in the chambering of 
rifles, were necessary for the highest 
degree of accuracy, reliability, and 
barrel life, but we could not get these 
at all. We knew that a certain weight, 
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