The Certus Rifle, Aforgottenpioneer

MAGAZINE led next to the Model 1889, which incorporated a forward- The Certus rifle, aforgottenpioneer locking one-piece bolt and was the first Mauser rifle to use a Although Britain’s superb magazine sporting rifle did not topple Germany’s box magazine. This process of bolt-action designs, its true impact was perhaps greater. Dr John Newton tells why improvement culminated in 1898 with the addition of a third safety lug to the rear of the bolt. IF you are a deer stalker, have was chambered; the bolt incor- A tubular magazine was add- The Model 98 became the you ever wondered about the porated both an extractor and ed to the Model 1871, and in most highly regarded of all the origin and design of your stalk- an ejector; and a safety-catch 1884 the German government Mauser designs. It was adopted ing rifle? Did you ever consider was mounted on the cocking adopted the new Infantry Re- by the Imperial German Army whether there might have been piece, which effectively locks peating Rifle M 71-84.A further and has formed the basis for any alternatives to the conven- the bolt, preventing the striker period of experimentation to nearly all sporting rifles made tional bolt-action weapon? from reaching the cartridge. find an even more robust rifle since. The design’s simplicity of The current mass-produced construction and sheer strength rifle market in the UK is domi- undoubtedly form the basis of nated by several manufacturers why the Mauser 98 action was including CZ BRNO, Heym, accepted as the dominant design Remington, Ruger, Sako, Sauer, for magazine sporting rifles, of Mannlicher,Tikka and Winches- which the principles of opera- ter.With the exception of Rem- tion remain unaltered.Indeed,if ington, Ruger and Winchester, you are lucky enough to be in the companies are all European, the market for a custom-built and almost without exception stalking rifle from an English the best bolt-action rifles are gunmaker such as Holland & based on European actions. It is Holland, or from a specialist from two rifles, the Mauser and rifle maker such as Trevor Proc- the Mannlicher-Schoenauer,that tor, your weapon will be built on they all trace their origins. a traditional Mauser 98 action. Although neither weapon was Contemporary to the Mauser, designed with sport in mind— the Austrian Ferdinand Ritter rather they were products of the von Mannlicher’s rival Mann- drive for increased firepower by licher-Schoenauer rifle was per- military powers during the often haps more responsible for the politically turbulent second half overall style of the European of the 19th century—together bolt-action rifle. The original they form the basis for all mod- Mannlicher-Schoenauer action ern bolt-action sporting rifles. was similar to the Mauser but The Mauser action is the the bolt handle was placed fur- common ancestor of nearly all ther forward and in front of the the conventional bolt-action ri- rear bridge of the receiver which, fles that we know today and as a consequence, had a cut-out originated with Paul Mauser’s to allow the handle to be drawn 1867 design for a single-shot back to withdraw the bolt. But, rifle. Mauser was employed by the government firearms facto- Left: A 1914 Webley & Scott catalogue ry at Oberndorf in the Kingdom showing Mauser and Mannlicher rifles. of Wurtenburg, and a version of Below: Britain’s Certus, by Cogswell & his single-shot rifle was adopted Harrison. Patented in 1900, emphasis by the Prussian armies in 1871, PICTURES BY DR JOHN NEWTON was put on high quality at a lower cost. starting an evolutionary process which culminated more than a quarter-of-a-century later. The key to the success of the original Mauser design was fourfold: the lock was self-cocking on lifting the bolt handle, where previous bolt actions had to be manually cocked before the bolt could be opened; on opening, the striker was retract- ed behind the bolt face,preventing the possibility of premature ignition when a fresh cartridge CHRISTMAS 2005 COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED 89 MAGAZINE as with the Mauser, the Mann- ‘Improvements in Rifles’.Harri- licher action was cocked by lift- son dispensed with the receiver ing the bolt handle. The Mann- that normally encloses the body licher-Schoenauer was the first of the bolt. Instead the bolt was rifle to incorporate a rotary attached to a breech-block, slid- magazine that could be loaded ing on rails that were attached to through the top of the action. the breech.The bolt handle was Designed at the Steyr Ar- mounted at the forward end of moury in Austria and later im- the bolt, as with the original proved by Otto Schoenauer, the Mannlicher, where the bolt head technical director of the Austri- engaged in the housing at the an Arms Co, the rotary maga- breech by means of an interrupt- zine allowed the overall depth of ed screw.The result is that the bolt the magazine to be reduced.This is neither enclosed nor support- allowed the rifle to be shallower ed along its length; instead the in depth than a design based on only support comes from the bolt a box magazine.Another practi- head when the breech is closed. cal advantage of the rotary mag- The bolt was opened by a azine was that, since it was en- quarter-turn of the handle,and to closed within the fore-end of the withdraw the spent cartridge it rifle, it was protected from the slides back on the rails,withdraw- ingress of dirt and water. ing the firing pin and ejecting the Development of the Mannlich- empty case. Harrison utilised a er-Schoenauer culminated with similar design principle a year the supremely successful M1903 later in a patent for recoil operat- sporter chambered in 6.5x54 ed self-loading firearms. Clearly mm, which was followed by the he was aiming to reduce costs M1905 in 9x56 mm, the M1908 by removing the requirement to in 8x56mm and the M1910 in machine a receiver, while the ab- 9.5x57mm.Although these pre- sence of anything enclosing the dated the almost universal use bolt facilitated the easy clearing of telescopic sights, the need to of any obstruction at the breech withdraw the bolt through the or the loading of a fresh cartridge rear of the receiver meant that when the magazine was empty. telescopic sights had to be side- Never shy of self-congratula- mounted at the rear to avoid ob- tion, the company’s 1900 cata- structing the bolt.Modern Mann- logue quotes the Editor of one licher rifles produced by Steyr sporting magazine as stating, use a bolt of the Mauser pattern. ‘The mechanism is very strong, Once the Mauser and the the parts few in number and Mannlicher designs had become simple in construction … as the firmly established on the conti- breech block slides on a pair of nent, London gunmakers soon flat guides, easiness of loading became adept at supplying the of the magazine is ensured’, and aspiring sportsman with either another as declaring, ‘The rifle a rifle of European origin or a action is not one that can be European action, re-barrelled likened to that of any existing and finished to his or her specifi- weapon, military or otherwise, cation in their own workshops. Top: Cogswell & Harrison’s innovative Certus rifle, one of the very few to survive, upon the market. While pos- 1 However, despite the domi- chambered for the .450/400 3 ⁄4in flanged Nitro Express cartridge. With its new sessed of a bolt it is not the ordi- nance of the European bolt ac- and uncommon design and production principles, it was a forerunner of all modern nary turn-bolt action’, conclud- tions and pre-eminent British machine-made firearms. Lower: Bolt-action rifles built on Mauser’s Model 1898. ing, ‘The diagram (of shooting) falling-block rifles, there was is first-rate.’ The advertisement soon competition from the heart the established European de- Using these new and—for the goes on to inform the reader of the London gun trade in the signs,the proprietor,Edgar Har- London gunmaking community that the Certus was designed for form of a novel new design that rison, was constantly seeking to at the time—relatively uncom- the ‘sportsman requiring the sought to compete as an inex- produce inexpensive shotguns mon principles, together with advantages of a magazine rifle, pensive alternative to the tried and rifles. To realise his aim, he an unconventional new design, combined with the high velocity and tested European rifles. introduced a kind of close-to- Cogswell & Harrison launched smokeless powder cartridges, Like many London gunmak- form technology where the indi- the Certus magazine rifle in 1900. and heavy bullets.’ ers, Cogswell & Harrison of- vidual components were ma- It was an affordable alternative An article entitled ‘How to fered a range of rifles in a bewil- chine-made oversized, and then to the Mauser and Mannlicher. buy a gun’, published in 1903, dering variety of calibres and fitted together by the hand of a The Certus rifle was based on was very complimentary:‘Cost- finishes. But in addition to of- skilled craftsman. In Harrison’s Edgar Harrison’s 1900 design, ing from 10 to 17 guineas, [it] is fering conventional double ri- words, it was in the ‘last cut of protected by British patent No a high-class magazine sporting fles and bolt actions based on the file’ that the quality came. 4,097 of March 1, 1900, entitled rifle, made in various bores ex- CHRISTMAS 2005 COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED 91 MAGAZINE pressly for use with smokeless powder.

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