WINTER WARS IV -- ADDENDUM
Winter Wars IV will have a new format. Instead of specifying what Battles will be competed, you can now Name Your War!
The following inquiry and reply pretty well sum up the parameters of these matches so, for convenience, this becomes the addendum:
“I'm a member of the association and will be bringing two friends for the winter wars match. Looks like fun. One of the friends is a member and the other we've nearly convinced to join.
“Just a practical question: I understand that the "battles" are firearm-specific. I wonder which types of firearms we might bring and use in the matches?
“I know that Garands, M1903s, Mosins, 98k's and the like are acceptable. But how about any of the following...are any of them NOT acceptable?:
“M1917
7.5 mm Swiss K-31
6.5 mm Swede
Yugo 8mm mauser
M1A
AR-15
Lee Enfield/SMLE
“Thank you, and look forward to the match.”
CD
All those you listed are acceptable.
In the past, we have specified which "battles" each match represented and thus what rifles qualified to win any particular match. But it was all very nominal and anyone could shoot any safe rifle in any match, they just couldn’t be match winner of the Battle of the Bulge with an AR-15, for instance.
This year is going to be "Name Your War". Pick any battle that the rifle you choose to use is appropriate to. You will just declare on your scorecard for each match what rifle you used and what "battle" you were competing in. I will declare a match winner for any battle that has a reasonable number of competitors (maybe 3 or more?). Each competitor will fire three matches and so can declare three different battles and up to three different rifles.
Ultimately this is just a bunch of fun in the middle of winter and a good excuse to fire the old milsurp rifles. There will probably only be a few battles with any serious competition and only a few truly serious competitors. For instance we have a few people that are quite competitive with M1s and '03 Springfields who will be declaring for the Battle of the Bulge or Wake Island and will be eyeing each others scores pretty closely. The rest of us will just be enjoying the gunfire and the chili!
Suggested new Battles for this year include:
Battle of the Falklands - This is an opportunity to exercise your FN-FAL or L1A1 look-alikes or maybe your Argentine Mauser or whatever you can make a good case for having been used at the real war in the Falklands. Remember, of course, that only semi-auto imitations of any full-auto firearms will be allowed!
Battle of the Neutrals - We've all heard how incredibly accurate those Swedish Mausers and Swiss Schmidt-Rubins are. We're just going to have to dream up a fictional war as an excuse to let the owners of those rifles battle it out to see which one is the better rifle (or better army?). I don't know what Sweden and Switzerland could have found to quarrel about or where they would have fought, but this battle will be at the 200 yard line at Bonfield!
So if you've got a rifle you want to shoot, pick a battle to suit your rifle and have at it. We've even had an inquiry from someone who wants to fire a tripod mounted, semi-auto Browning Model 1919 look-alike in .30-'06 caliber. Answer: Uhh, yeah, sure! Why not?
Here are sections of the addendums from previous years' Winter Wars match bulletins. Several different battles and associated rifles are described:
Winter Wars Addendum -- Qualifying Rifles
Any Safe Rifle: Any “safe rifle” may fire in this event. A safe rifle is not a magnum, does not have a muzzle brake, and will not be of a caliber over 8mm except for rifles originally chambered for blackpowder cartridges – which may use blackpowder or smokeless loads.
The competitor must be confident that the rifle fires and functions safely, either from previous experience firing the piece or from inspection by a competent gunsmith, including careful identification of the proper cartridge and loading for that rifle.
For a rifle to be safe, the user must be knowledgeable of the correct sighting and zeroing of the rifle, so that rounds fired will impact on the proper target.
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Rifles appropriate to the named battles, and therefore qualifying to score as match winner: This is easy in general but tough in the particulars. First off, this is a battle rifle match, not a sniper rifle match, so you may fire a scope sighted weapon, but you cannot attain match winner with one. If you disagree with the following classifications, please contact Claude Heale (above) to discuss.
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Battle of Stalingrad: We know the Russians primarily fired various models of the Mosin Nagant. The Model 44 and the various Finnish models were certainly not used, but will qualify in this inaugural year – until we get a better feel for where the competitors stand on this. The Czar once had quantities of the Winchester M1895 in 7.62x54, were they present at Stalingrad? I don’t know, but we’ll allow it this year. Simonov and Tokarev semi-automatic rifles? Absent further research results, I guess they could have been there. If you want to use one of them, how about doing a little research of your own to document it. That way we’ll have more to go on next year, too.
The Germans used 8mm Kar98Ks and similar weapons of Polish and Czech manufacture. Let’s make this easy and say any 8mm Mauser, at least for this year. Competitors who think that is too inclusive should speak up so that we can reconsider for next time. Although I have no reference to this, it seems likely the Germans would have fielded their semi-automatic rifles if they could. That makes the G-41 a shoo-in, but the G-43 is a question mark for a battle in Nov.-Dec. 1942. If you want to use a G-43, try to bring some documentation showing their use at Stalingrad. The Germans were accompanied by Rumanians and Italians, so any Rumanian Mannlichers or Italian Carcanos are acceptable.
We find no indication that American weapons were used by any side at Stalingrad. Also, various sub-machineguns were used by both sides but, even in semi-automatic guise, they do not seem appropriate to shoot at 200 yards.
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Battle of the Bulge: Frontline US troops had M1 rifles and M1 carbines. However, 1917s, 1903s and ’03-A3s were in the hands of rear echelon/support troops – cooks and so on, and these troops were engaged by German paratroops dropped behind the lines. Also present was the BAR, so we will let you use a semi-automatic BAR if you wish.
There was little participation by other Allied armies at the Bulge, but I am told that Canadian Paratroops did participate and were carrying their No.4Mk1s. There were probably no No.1s and certainly no Jungle Carbines, but if that’s all you have they are at least safe rifles.
Germans at the Bulge had the usual Mausers and probably the Semi-automatic rifles, so 8mm Mausers, G-41s and G-43s will qualify. This was a major conflict for Germany and there is no indication that they employed other captured weapons, or etc.
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Frozen Chosin: The US used M1 rifles, M1 carbines and BARs. So the M1 rifle and carbine and semi-automatic BARs will qualify. I am told we still issued ‘03s, A3s and 1917s for secondary uses, but can’t say any of ours were at Chosin. On the other hand, I’m told the Chinese had great quantities of ‘03s, A3s and 1917s they had captured from Chaing Kaishek’s troops, so I think that throws the door open for them.
The Koreans, and epecially the Chinese, had all sorts of stuff. Mosin Nagants of all varieties were used. Rifles captured from the Japanese in WWII were used, so all Japanese WWII rifles qualify. The Chinese had all manner of pre-WWII Mausers, either domestically manufactured or purchased from European manufacturers, but I think they were all 8mm, so we’ll once again allow any 8mm Mauser.
The problem is we can’t especially discount any weapon from having been used by the weapons-starved Chinese, but I think we’ve covered everything of significance. AKs or SKSs? I don’t think so. The Soviets had them, but I don’t think theirs had made it to Korea and I don’t think the Chinese had begun their manufacture, yet. If you want to refute that, please present your evidence.
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Wake Island: The U.S. Marines fought this battle with Model 1903s. We don’t believe they had A3s and they certainly did not have M1 rifles. We think they had Thompson sub-machine guns but not M1 carbines. We don’t find the Thompsons appropriate for firing at 200 yards with personnel in the pits. A semi-automatic Johnson Automatic Rifle would probably qualify, if you want to drag such a scarce and delicate relic out in January weather! If you want to make a case for other American weapons at Wake Island, bring your research.
The Japs had Arisakas. The sheer simplicity of this suggests there is more for me to know. If you have an Arisaka you’d like to use, know the model designation so we have more information for future matches. If you have something else that you think should qualify as a Jap weapon at Wake Island, bring your research.
And that’s where Wake Island fits in: One less battle to be dominated by the M1 Garand, the Marines fighting on Wake Island didn’t have M1s! So break out your 1903s and Arisakas for this one.
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I hope that answered all of your questions. More than that, I hope you and your friends come on out and have a ball!
Claude Heale
If you have further questions, I can be reached (c/o Precise) at (815) 553-0591 or mail@PreciseGroup.net