As the Germans rolled through Europe they commandeered local armories and weapons factories. The Czechoslovakian border guard used a Mauser inspired rifle that was modified under German occupation and produced for German Alpine troops. The Gewehr 33/40. Our Guns and Lace review rifle is a nice example of this historical World War II piece made during the war in an occupied factory. With all matching serial numbers and in fine shape, it's a joy to hold and shoot. The Germans markings, including the German Swastika stamps are still clearly seen on the wooden stock.

I loved shooting this rifle, with its stripper clip, box magazine and metal butt plate. It reminded me so much of the Mosin Nagant, which is high on my favorites list. One of the features I really appreciated on the Gewehr is the safety.  I love the simplicity of it and long for such practicality on modern rifles.  A lever located on the bolt, the safety is off if flipped over to either the left or right, and on if it's vertical.  When it's on, it interferes with the sight picture, which makes it obvious the rifle is on safe. In a battle rifle, this simple feature could very well mean the difference between life and death, as a rifle left on safe, when needing to be fired, could cause a fatal delay.

The rifle performed flawlessly, was suprisingly accurate at 100 yards and easy to operate with a smooth, tight fitting bolt. The trigger pull is exactly what you would expect from a military rifle, with a fair amount of take up, but surprisingly little trigger slap.  The Gewehr's 7.9mm round at 193 grains isn't a small projectile by any means, and travels at approx 2,360 ft per second. Approximately 131,500 of this type of rifle were made between 1940 and 1942. As I wiped it down after the range I couldn't help but wonder, what its story would be If only it could talk. - Anna