Indians For Guns

Q... why is the stock full length on a Mannlicher? Form or function? I always wondered the utility of this some answers from the net ( I am posting a question verbatim from net)

"Both.AFAIK, the mannlicher stock style originated in the Bavarian Alps, to protect the lightweight barrels of stalking rifles from rock knocks, throwing off the zero, and to provide a warm forward ahndhold while aiming the rifle from an awkward prone/leaning stance on some mountain crag.

Austrian gunmaker Fredrich von Mannlicher so stocked his early military & sporting rifles, and later makers like Mauser, Steyr & others knew a good thing when they saw it."

"Also because walking in the Alps tends to highly recommend using a walking stick. Fully stock the rifle, and you now have a walking stick. Same reason as on muskets."

here is an example from Sako
http://www.sako.fi/sako85models.php?bavarian_carbine

A full stock as walking stick? i never knew that.thanks ngrewal would have never figured out the reason for full stock.
regards
dr.jk

[quote="ngrewal"]

"Also because walking in the Alps tends to highly recommend using a walking stick. Fully stock the rifle, and you now have a walking stick. Same reason as on muskets."

That, unfortunately, is pure nonsense, propagated by some idiot American writers. No hunter would use his precious rifle as a "walking stick". Nor were muzzle loaders used as such. No Austrian, German, or Swiss mountain hunter takes to the mountain without his "Bergstock", in any case. Muskets came that way to carry and protect the ramrod, thimbles are easily damaged and dented.
This style is most likely a carryover from muzzleloader days, for the protection it offers to the barrel when sneaking up on wary chamois in the rocks, and simply aesthetic appeal.

And only some Mannlichers/Mannlicher Schaenauers have so-called `Mannlicher stocks`..... whilst a heck of a lot of rifles by other manufacturers have full-length stocks. The SMLE for example pre-dates the M1903 and has a full-length stock .... no-one calls it a Mannlicher stock however. The name came about because the full-stock was utilised on Mannlicher Schoenauer M1903 ( and later variant ) carbines which had a very short, 17.7 inch barrel and they probably figured that the gun looked stupid with a normal length half stock. The M1903 rifle had a normal half stock.
Full-length stocks were utilised hundreds of years before the Mannlicher Schoenauer was developed and was the norm on muzzle loaders - as Two Rivers implies. He`s also absolutely correct in pouring scorn on the walking stick explanation which is utter rubbish.
Yup, tradition, protection and style - can`t argue with that explanation at all.