Sgt. Drydock is clearly a man of few words ... or perhaps to be more precise, of NO words ... since "BTT" is but an abbreviation/acronym, and thus not a word at all ...
However, I choose to interpret his BTT as an invitation to comment further on the Battle Rifle concept - which I now feel better able to do after personal experience at Grand Muster 2007, where I represented the British Empire with .577/.450 Martini-Henry single-shot rifle and .455 Webley revolver (... and did so fairly well, if I do say so myself!
...)
I, for one, LOVED IT!
Competing with a Battle Rifle seems to truly crystalize GAF's underlying concept of melding frontier action shooting with military re-enactment/history. I found it very enjoyable, and hope that the Battle Rifle categories continue at GAF events.
I also want to take this opportunity to pose a couple of questions ... for general discussion, as well as consideration by the powers-that-be for possible modification and/or clarificatiion of the Battle Rifle criteria ....
1. As I understand the current criteria, no
tubular-magazine lever-action rifle would qualify as a "Battle Rifle". However, Sgt. Drydock's specific reference in his postings to such models as the Henry and Model 1866 makes me wonder if a more accurate/appropriate distinction might be that such a tubular-magazine lever-action rifle does not qualify
if chambered in a "pistol caliber" cartridge. In other words, what about a tube-magazine lever-action model with documented military issue and usage that is chambered in a "rifle caliber" cartridge,
and thus (presumably) would also not be permitted in the other classes for lever-actions? A specific case-in-point (and, indeed, the immediate reason for posing this enquiry) is the Model 1876 Winchester in military configuration. such as the .45-75 "NWMP" rifle carbine ... a very nice reproduction of which I just
happen to have recently acquired.
(Actually, I thought there had already been some discussion of this very issue either on this thread or elsewhere in the Barracks, but now I can't locate it ....)
If, as I propose, the "Mil-Spec Repeater" category were expanded/clarified to include such a
rifle-caliber mil-spec tubular-magazine model with demonstrable military issue and use in the field, then the service of this particular model for some 30 years as the primary-issue longarm of the North West Mounted Police would arguably qualify it. Indeed, the NWMP was more of a military organization than a police force (at least in the modern sense) ... in fact, it is well-documented (and taught in our history clkasses up here) that when word reached Prime Minister MacDonald of the unrest being caused in Washington by his Government's proposed legislation establishing a
military force for service in the North West Territories (which shared an unguarded common frontier with the American West of a thousand miles or so) a few strokes of his pen changed the name of this unit from "North West Mounted Rifles" to "North West Mounted Police" ... and the rest is history. However, it is lnot so well-known that exactly the same model of rifle was issued during the 1885 North West Rebellion to mounted military units ... including the cavalry forces despatched to the West as part of the some 6000 Militia troops mobilized and sent there. For example, here is a picture of several Troopers of
The Governor-General's Body Guard for Ontario (a cavalry unit which survives to the present day as
The Governor-General's Horse Guards -
http://www.regiments.org/regiments/na-canada/volmil/on-cav/GGHG.htm) taken in their camp at Humboldt, District of Saskatchewan, during their 1885 service in the West -
I should also note that, for Canadian impressions at least, it must be pointed out that Canada had no "Army" at all until well into the 20th Century. Until then, by Act of Parliament, our military forces were
all "Militia" - so it is necessary to consider Canadian "Permanent" and "Active" Militia units (which were constituted, trained and equipped essentially the same as regular British Army units) to be "regular military", to differentiate them from what I suspect Sgt. Drydock likely had in mind for the GAF "Militia" class. Canada also had "Provisional Militia" - such as the numerous irregular and "Home Guard" units raised locally for the temporary emergency of the 1885 North West Rebellion (including my beloved Rocky Mountain Rangers) which would more properly fit in the "Militia" Class ....
2. My second question is somewhat related ... if a rifle such as the Canadian NWMP/Militia doesn't qualify as a Mil-Spec Repeater but
would be allowed in "Militia" or "Scout" class despite its caliber, then another problem results for a competitor with a suitable 1885-1900 Canadian
military impression, who might be fortunate enough to have the appropriate Canadian military-issue handgun for that period ... because it was the .45 caliber Colt Model 1878
Double-Action revolver! However, the Scout and Militia categories both specify single-action revolvers only ....
(Although addressing this issue is perhaps advisable in a general sense, I again do have a personal motivation in raising it - I have hopes of acquiring an original Model 1878 Colt, of correct caliber, in the proper configuration
and of appropriate date of manufacture which was almost certainly one of the Canadian-issue revolvers, though that cannot be specifically documented ... and unfortunately the majority of these handguns were not stamped with any official marks ....)