It was the Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine (No5) and also the Winchester Model D that got me thinking about this.

This is probably a silly little question, but all of the big WWII long guns (Mosin, Springfield, Enfield etc) have wooden shrouding.handguards that go all the way up over the barrel, right to a few inches before the barrel ends. Given that the British seem to have had trouble sourcing a lot of wood at points during the second world war, I kind of figured this would be the first thing to go in order to expedite production? But you see it on every long gun and lots of the carbines of the time, even the last-ditch stuff.

What function does this serve and why is it not considered necessary on civilian/sporting/hunting rifles?

(Thanks in advance)

  • ashinadash [she/her]
    ·
    10 months ago

    Which makes its omission on the No5 kinda weird, but I guess it's too short for real spear duty anyway. Makes sense though given the massive bayonets some of these could mount...

    • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
      ·
      10 months ago

      The number 5's whole deal was being lightweight, though. Look at how much lighter it was than a standard enfield:

      The No. 5 was about 100 mm (3.9 in) shorter and nearly a kilogram (2.2 lb) lighter than the No. 4 from which it was derived. A number of "lightening cuts" were made to the receiver body and the barrel, the bolt knob drilled out, woodwork cut down to reduce weight and had other new features like a flash suppressor and a rubber buttpad to help absorb the increased recoil and to prevent slippage on the shooter's clothing while aiming.

      It was also designed in 1944, apparently. I'm no war historian, but I imagine based on all the other rifles developed around then that bayonet warfare was becoming less and less of a factor - people are using trench brooms and submachineguns in close quarters at that point.

      • ashinadash [she/her]
        ·
        10 months ago

        Yes, I was kind of surprised it mounted a bayonet at all. Bayonet warfare was becoming less and less of a factor, but you still see bayonet mounts on stuff as recent as the AK-74? Knife style, granted...