[User1953]

What would you say is the worst military rifle ever created?

[FALPhil]

Originally Posted by User1953

What would you say is the worst military rifle ever created?

Anything with a matchlock. They are just too unreliable.

[pioneer461]

Any military rifle, I'd vote for the French Chauchat (pron; Sho-sho) from The Great War (WWI). It was notorious for jamming, failure to feed, failure to eject, etc. (It was French after all. I wonder if it came with a white flag? ) It was a shoulder fired full automatich rifle, and when Americans rejected it's use, the Browning M1917 Machine gun was used until the B.A.R. was able to catch up with troops.
http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_chauchat.htm

As for U.S. rifles, the Springfield .30-40 Krag-Jorgenson has the distinction of having the shortest life span as an issue rifle to regular U.S. troops. It is known as the "One War" rifle, the Spanish American War. Although not a bad rifle, with a very smooth action, it was somewhat underpowered compared to the enemy's 7mm Mauser. I own a Krag (1889) and it is a joy to shoot, but not suitable for military use.
http://www.spanamwar.com/krag.htm

The Krag-Jorgenson is featured in the made for TV movie, "The Rough Riders," a fictionalized account of Col. Theodore Roosevelt's 1st U.S. Volunteer Calvery during the Spanish American War, in Cuba.

One also shows up as a goof in the old John Wayne classic, "The Fighting Sea Bees." In that film, Big John picks up a discarded enemy (Japanese) rifle to continue the fight, but on close up, it is clearly a Krag.

[FALPhil]

Originally Posted by pioneer461

One also shows up as a goof in the old John Wayne classic, "The Fighting Sea Bees." In that film, Big John picks up a discarded enemy (Japanese) rifle to continue the fight, but on close up, it is clearly a Krag.

That is too funny. I never noticed it before.

John Milius (Red Dawn), who directed Rough Riders, is a gun aficionado and a real stickler for firearms accuracy in movies (pun intended). I got a chance to meet a reenactment group in Pasadena, CA a few years ago, a group of black men who represent the Buffalo Soldiers. One of their leaders was a technical adviser for Rough Riders. He told me that the majority of the Krags in the movie were rubber ducks, but that the rifles used in the close ups were from private collections. He also said that the most glaring error in the movie was the number of stars on the US flag used in the battle scenes.