The interesting case of the fully automatic bolt action conversions

At various points in the early 20th century there has been a need for automatic weapons that has far outstripped the production capacity of the nations which needed them. This has resulted in some of the most interesting and innovative firearms designs.

Today we're going to be looking at several of these unique weapons, specifically bolt action rifles converted to full or semi automatic.

First we'll start with the Charlton Automatic rifle.

The Charlton is one of the most commonly known full automatic conversions of the SMLE enfield to full automatic. Produced in both Australia and New Zealand it never saw service and most of the conversions were destroyed in a warehouse fire shortly after the end of world war 2.Charlton automatic rifle

Next is the Reider Automatic Rifle. This rifle came out of South Africa during the early days of world war 2 when the british were in serious need of heavy weapons post Dunkirk.

Reider Automatic Rifle

Now onto the world war 1 rifle conversions.

First we have the Huot Ross rifle which was based off of the Canadian Ross Rifleand I think this is probably the most polished of the automatic rifle conversions. It was found to be equivalent if not better than a lewis gun in it's field tests but was never adopted.

Huot Ross Rifle

And Finally we have the Howell automatic rifle. Howell Automatic Rifle Not much information out there on this one but here's a picture for you

So the ross rifle was good for something after all.....i guess because of its bolt action the conversion was easy actually.....
thanks for the info....ive had great distain for bolties since aquiring my semi collection....

I do have a little conversion story for you however.....

John Browning was one of the finest inventors of all types of dirarms.
One sunday, he and the boys from the Ogden utah gun factory where he made his weapons, were out at the range doing what many americans do shooting at targets for fun...and sport.
Sitting watching a shooter laying prone in the grass, John browning saw hat the grasses would bend in front of the muzzle when a shot was fired.....
Well this abruptly ended the shooting match, as they all piled into their buggies and wagons and headed back to the snmall factory to develope this revelation of the boss.....
By nightfall that night, they had attached a flat plate with a bullet sized hole drilled in it, to the front of a lever action wnichester....
Using a mechanical linkage back to the lever of the rifle, they had developed the worlds first machine gun in an afternoon!

Here is an illustration of the original prototype rifle that john browning constructed out of a lever action winchester.



Here you go for your viewing pleasure... JM browning is a hero of mine.

reply to post by roguetechie


Explanation: S&F!

at the Huot Ross Rifle!

Personal Disclosure: Very Impressed!

There is also the Pedersen device which fired a reduced charge round in semi-automatic mode. It could be removed by the shooter and replaced with the bolt for longer range fire. While not fully automatic, it is a conversion device that would have greatly increased the volume of fire from advancing troops and allowed semiauto fire with existing rifles and ready conversion back. Firing full-charge rounds from light weight auto rifles would have been difficult for the shooter to control. The BAR is roughly twice the weight of converted bolt action rifles and has a butt-hook and bipod for additional control. Practical limitations may have been why none of the full auto bolt conversions were never adopted.

"The Pedersen Device is an attachment developed during World War I for the M1903 Springfield rifle that allowed it to fire a short .30 Caliber (7.62 mm) intermediate cartridge in semi-automatic mode. This wonder weapon was developed to allow infantry to dramatically increase their rate of fire while on the move, while also allowing the rifle to be used in conventional bolt action mode for long-range fire from the trenches.
Production had just ramped up when the war ended and the Pedersen Device ended up in storage after the war. Most were later destroyed as surplus and the few surviving examples are extremely rare collectors' items."
en.wikipedia.org...

yeah there is also one other 7.62 mm device that not alot of info exists about it other than that it existed. I don't have the name of it off hand though. Glad you guys liked the thread if you have any other odd ball weapons you want to showcase feel free to post them.