I just picked up something special at the post office for my Irish collection - an Ulster Volunteers Mannlicher M1904 rifle. These were rifles made by Steyr out of leftover parts from their contract with Romania for Mannlicher M1893 rifles, except in 8mm Mauser instead of 6.5mm Mannlicher. The majority of them ended up being purchased by the Ulster Volunteers, a Protestant Unionist paramilitary dedicated to resisting the Irish Home Rule bill - the protestant majority which dominated Ulster was dead-set against becoming a minority in an independent, Catholic Ireland. The 10,000 odd UVF Mannlichers were actually smuggled illegally into Larne in a very elaborate operation.

The Irish nationalists responded by forming their own paramilitary to counter-balance them, leaving Ireland on the brink of Civil War before Home Rule was suspended with World War One. The UVF, which people tend not to realise was a much large, better armed force than the nationalists, volunteered en-masse and was largely wiped out in the Battle of the Somme, while the Volunteers (well, some of them, but that's another story) ended up rebelling in 1916 and became the IRA. The UVF Mannlichers ended up being placed in storage in 1914 and never used in anger, but represent an extremely important moment in Irish history all the same.

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Pardon my feet, its hot today!

Picked up a rifle a couple weeks ago I've had my eye on for awhile - there was always something else to buy but finally the owner started threatening to deactivate it and sell it to steampunk cosplayers and I had to shit or get off the pot! This is a Portuguese Kropatschek Mo.1886/89 - sort of a weird transition between the blackpowder and early smokeless era.

Portugal had the misfortune of always being short on funds and consequently a step or two behind on arms procurement. They were usually using one generation back of British arms until 1885, when they adopted the locally designed Castro-Guedes single shot rifle and then promptly realised that everyone in Europe was ditching their single-shots for repeaters. They then canceled the contract with Steyr (who was making it for them) in exchange for Kropatschek rifles (also used in small numbers by the French and Austrian navies) in a new 8mm cartridge using compressed black powder as propellant.

Of course they adopted this at roughly the same time the French came out with the Lebel and smokeless powder, leaving them stuck with a rifle that was obsolete when adopted. While the round was very advanced (for black powder) and could be loaded with smokeless easily enough, the rifle itself was not. They're long and heavy and use a tube magazine (which the French pretty much copied wholesale on the Lebel) with an odd side-mounted cleaning rod and bayonet, and the bolt has no front locking lugs, meaning its of marginal strength for smokeless loads. Interestingly enough the 8mm Kropatschek smokeless load, while no magnum, was still fairly powerful and the rifles seem to have held up well enough. Regardless the Portuguese didn't order any more than the initial contract and came out with the Vergueiro relatively soon afterwards.

The Kropatscheks did actually see combat use in Africa in WW1 in the hands of Portuguese colonial troops, mainly native askaris. Apparently white regular army sent to Africa used Vergueiros while the colonials got Kropatscheks, modified with an extra wooden handguard for African use. This is one of those, and as the Portuguese troops on the Western front were issued Lee-Enfields to simply logistics, one of the few actual Portuguese rifles to see use in action.

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I also had an impulse purchase - after having so much fun with my High Standard Model B, when I saw this 1929 Colt Woodsman Target listed in a sale flyer with another dealer I just had to jump on it. At $300 it was too good of a deal to miss!

My first thoughts on seeing it were that as close as the designs are, a Colt is a Colt. The Hi Standard is nice but there's no comparing it to the fit and finish on the Woodsman. My second thoughts, on taking it apart, is that it was not John Moses Browning's simplest design ever! The simplified takedown on the Hi Standard was a vast improvement, I spent 10 minutes figuring out how to reinstall the hammer spring on the Colt.

I like the ergonomics better on the Woodsman, the trigger is slightly further forward and it falls more naturally under your finger, and the gun is overall slimmer and lighter. The safety on the Hi Standard is easier to use though. The Hi Standard has a notably heavier barrel and less muzzle flip, but neither kick much and they're both scary accurate. The Colt has adjustable sights, which is a nice touch - they're a little smaller than the Hi Standard, but its not like either is intended for combat shooting.

Overall between the two I think I like the Woodsman best, until I have to clean it. But of course I've always been a total pony whore. It is definitely nice to have a .22 pistol or two around, both for cheap shooting and for when I take the girlfriend. It's funny I spent so much time returning GSG 1911s and Sig Mosquitos at Cabelas, and getting frustrated I could never convince new shooters to just buy a real, non-tacticool target pistol, but it took until after I left to take my own advice!

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I had an interesting time last year when I did the initial breakdown and reassemble on my Woodsman. I concluded that would not be a routine procedure.

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$300 for a Woodsman. Wow. That's one heck of a steal. I'm impressed and envious.

Honestly I have a friend that fell in love with my HS and I was thinking of selling it to her now that I have the Woodsman.... and then I took it apart.

Yeah I couldn't believe the price either. It's not a shop that typically prices low either. I half expected an issue but it worked beautifully when I test fired it. Wouldn't eject CCI Quiets (but then I didn't expect it to), Remington Targets work great. Yours is awfully nice too! What year is it? Is it set up for high velocity ammo?

1928 and I fire sub-sonics in it. It is not set up for the high velocity loads. Which means I have to work the action, but that's okay. I have a Browning Buckmark Camper for hardcore plinking. The Woodsman isn't a kit gun. Oh and I paid $750.00 for mine. Which I think is a great price, but you got me beat all to hell. Congrats.

Oh, so they're almost twins! Mine's also standard velocity only (as is my Hi Standard, actually). I prefer to use that stuff anyways, even if the guns could shoot it I'd probably only ever use it when it was all I could get.

Back before the Great 22 Panic I used to buy a brick or two of 22LR just out of habit. I have about 3,000 rounds of 22LR. None of which I can shoot in my Woodsman. I have 200 rounds of subsonic 22LR and I was lucky to find that. So the Woodsman is relegated to Safequeen status, but then many of my pieces are. They go to the range once or twice a year for six to twelve rounds. It's more about owning the classics. If you're a collector it makes sense. I have a few pieces that are Real World and go more frequently, but I don't consider myself to be an Operator.

Yeah, I'm very much the same. Honestly I'm lucky if I can make it out to the range once a month in the summer - to saying nothing of actually finding ammo for some of the more obscure stuff in my collection.

Yeah. I would really like a MAS 49/56 in 7.5mm French (instead of one of the .308 conversion jobs), but ammo is like non-existent. One of the big reasons that I try to stick to .38 special revolvers.