I received the following picture and text in an email this week. I thought it made some interesting points. However I also removed the trailing political commentary. My interest is in the rifle.

 

A hundred and fourteen years ago, in 1907...our great grandparents were first able to buy the rifle pictured. The semi-auto Winchester Model 1907.

This is a gun they could buy from a Sears catalogue and have delivered via US Post. It was/ is a semi-automatic, high powered centerfire rifle, with detachable, high capacity magazine.

About 400,000 semi-automatic rifles were produced before WW2. Civilians had hundreds of thousands of these for 40 years, while  US soldiers were still being issued old fashioned bolt action rifles.

The 1907  fired just as fast as an AR15 or AK47 and the bullet (.351 Winchester) was actually larger than those fired by the more modern looking weapons. The ONLY functional difference between the 1907 and a controversial and much feared AR15 is the modern black plastic stock.

The semi-auto so-called "assault rifle" is 114 years old. It isn't new in any way.

The semi auto rifle was not a weapon of war. The government MADE IT a weapon of war 40 years after civilians had them.

The semi-auto can be safely owned by civilians. The proof is that literally 3 generations of adults owned and used them responsibly and no one ever even noticed.
 

I like it…but that’s a standard capacity magazine, since that’s what it shipped with.  And 5 generations of gun owners have used such guns responsibly. 
 

Considering a shoulder stocked broomhandle Mauser extends the argument all the way back to 1896. 

There is something very Browning-esque about that rifle.

Believe it or not the Winchester Rifle did end up going to war in France during WWI, albeit in limited numbers.  It's more proof that anything can be a "weapon of war" if you will it (I guess we should ban shovels since they were used extensively in trench raiding)

 

 

outstanding

Browning’s Remington model 8, then 81, was released in the same time period. It was no slouch.  
 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-remington-model-8-a-look-back/

 

 

 

2 hours ago, FairbanksRusty said:

Browning’s Remington model 8, then 81, was released in the same time period. It was no slouch.  
 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-remington-model-8-a-look-back/

 

 

 

I could swear i read that mk used this for his AK

4 minutes ago, RUTGERS95 said:

I could swear i read that mk used this for his AK

Browning built this before MK was born. JMB was a genius. 
 

1 hour ago, FairbanksRusty said:

Browning built this before MK was born. JMB was a genius. 
 

Lol. Reread what i wrote. 

24 minutes ago, RUTGERS95 said:

Lol. Reread what i wrote. 

I did. I liked your post. 

While the internet is full of speculation, Kalashnikov never admitted to such when pressed for comment. I can’t imagine a Russian admitting they copied something from an American. It’s no secret that many design features were copied throughout firearm history. However, very few rifles used a long recoil, rotating bolt system like Browning’s Model 8. 
 

The Soviet AS-44 had a similar safety switch, a weapon design that came before MK’s AK. 
 

55 minutes ago, FairbanksRusty said:

I did. I liked your post. 

While the internet is full of speculation, Kalashnikov never admitted to such when pressed for comment. I can’t imagine a Russian admitting they copied something from an American. It’s no secret that many design features were copied throughout firearm history. However, very few rifles used a long recoil, rotating bolt system like Browning’s Model 8. 
 

The Soviet AS-44 had a similar safety switch, a weapon design that came before MK’s AK. 
 

Gotcha and agree, they'd never admit but its uncanny and especially given the design submissions at the soviet arms works at the time.  I think he ripped off us Americans lol