Mannlicher Rifles and Pistols - W H B Smith - 1946.pdf

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“Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher, staunch Austrian patriot, was a mechanical genius of the first order. His prolific inventive abilities were devoted entirely to producing the military weapons with which he hoped to buttress his country against what he considered the inevitable Russian assault from the North. Von Mannlicher died in 1903, leaving behind him a record of original and practical developments never surpassed in the field of firearms. As this book is written in the summer of 1946, all of von Mannlicher's fears have been realized, through an irony of fate over which his beloved Austria had no control. The great Austrian Steyr Works, the prime manufacturers of all of von Mannlicher's weapons, as well as the Haenel and less-known German works at Suhl, which also produced his arms, are all under Foreign control. The iron curtain which covers everything dealing with Military policy has covered all aspects of Austrian weapons; and what the future may hold for their manufacture, no man can say. This book is written from records of the Steyr Armory which came out of Austria before the Russian occupation. The illustrations are official, being based on the famous drawings of Konrad Von Kromar. They were executed with the cooperation of von Mannlicher directly from weapons designed and manufactured by him and exhibited at the World's Fair in Paris in the year 1900. In all probability it will never again be possible for a student or researcher in the field of firearms to assemble complete data on the world famous production of von Mannlicher's genius. This book, then, is designed to give the student and the collector, a clear, documented, thoroughly illustrated record of the significant manufactured designs of the inventor and to provide an historical study of the development and evolution of Mannlicher arms.