Handbook of the Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle
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description
A British publication of the Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. concern, dealing with the operation, break-down and maintenance of the Cal. 0.276 Pedersen rifle. This rifle, designed in the mid-1920's by American firearms designer John Pedersen, was a contender for the semi-automatic rifle the US Army was considering as a replacement for the bolt-action 1903 Springfield bolt action. Ultimately, the M1 Garand rifle was chosen in 1936...just in time for fielding and then mass deployment during WWII. In those days, the rather backwards-thinking US military leaders vehemently opposed the idea of a smaller and lower-powered rifle round than 30-06 (which, for many purposes was later found to have been overly-powerful and wasteful of critical war materials). Evidently, the British were more open to the idea of smaller combat rounds and licensed Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd to build and evaluate a quantity of Pedersen's groundbreaking design (although the British themselves ultimately stuck with the antiquated 0.303 Enfield round for far too long).
Transcript of Handbook of the Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle
