Poland's WW2 Battle Rifle: the Maroszek wz.38M
Forgotten Weapons
•
17m
Had it not been for the German and Russian invasions in 1939, Poland might have entered the 1940s with a very modern semiauto infantry battle rifle - the wz.38M. Designed by Josef Maroszek (notably also the designer of the wz.35 Ur antitank rifle), the wz.38M is a simple and efficient rifle which includes elements from the BAR as well as several Czech firearms.
It is a gas operated action with a Browning/Petter locking system, in which the bolt tilts up and down, locking against a cut in the top of the receiver. It disassembles into 4 components (plus one pin) in moments - really quite impressive for its time - and even still very good by today's standards.
In total, just 55 of the rifles were made as an experimental trials batch, delivered to the Polish Army in 1939. Archival records of the weapon end at that point, as the German and Russian occupation ended Polish arms development. Only 5 examples are known to survive today, with two in Poland, one in Germany, and two in the United States.
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
US Test Trials White-Merrill .45 Cali...
One of the domestic US made pistols entered in the US military pistol trials of 1907 was this White-Merrill design. It is particularly interesting because White and Merrill submitted a manual along with the gun, which describes some of their intentions and thought processes in developing the pist...
-
White-Merrill Experimental Model 1911...
In the aftermath of their rejection in the US 1907 pistol trials, Joseph White and Samuel Merrill continued working on handgun designs. In 1911, Merrill wrote to the Ordnance Department to inquire about whether they would be interested in testing his new design. While the Department was willing, ...
-
White Experimental .38 Caliber Automa...
White's experiments in handgun design did not begin with the White-Merrill 1907 submitted to US handgun trials. In 1905 he submitted a patent for features in these two .38 caliber semiauto prototype pistols. These are both short recoil actions, one with a C96-like locking block and one with a rot...
