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These guns have their roots in target shooting and was designed for full-bore target shooters in an era when surplus war rifles such as the Lee–Enfield, Lee–Metford, P14 and others were used. The Musgrave facility〔http://goo.gl/maps/TSnu7〕 (located in Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa) where they were built housed a giant gunsmithing concern. RSA actions and earlier hammer-forged barrels were manufactured at Lyttelton Engineering Works. By 1989, Musgrave employed 220 people and produced 6,000 hunting rifles per year over a ten model range. Musgrave's product range diversified to include shotguns, sporting equipment, fuel locking devices and other items. Though Musgrave was an ARMSCOR subsidiary since 1971, the name finally disappeared under Denel control,〔http://historicalstudiesuct.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/7-bernhard-schlenther.pdf〕 in August 1996. The end of this era came about when Musgrave's Bloemfontein facility was closed down and some of the equipment and personnel relocated to Lyttelton Engineering Works ( (LEW) ) where hunting rifles under the "Vektor" (Vector) name were built for a short while, alongside the R4 assault rifle, Z88 pistol and other small armament which forms DENEL's main focus.〔http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Denel〕 The dormant Musgrave name was revived by a private owner and new semi-custom built Musgrave rifles from the town of Ermelo, Mpumalanga, RSA entered the market. ''Jul 2009'' ==The Musgrave RSA Target Rifle== The single-shot Musgrave RSA action (sometimes marked "Lyttelton RSA") is based on Mauser's design and feature a controlled feed (claw) extractor. The actions have a large flat bedding area underneath and a short case extraction port which contribute to its stiffness. The original Musgrave target rifles were fitted with 26.5" barrels and designated "7,62" (7.62x51mm NATO or .308 Winchester). The top part of the fitted hammer forged barrels (until c. 1975) from Lyttleton, were encased by a handgueard, while M&S 1/3 MOA rear sights were installed. Parker Hale 1/4 MOA rear sights were available as an option. Stocks were made of unimpressive, but dense and strong beech wood. The handguard is absent from later models, which had significantly bulkier fore-ends to allow for an open barrel with effective cooling while still reducing potential fliers due to contact between the free floated barrel and the shooter's fingers. Accurate Musgrave-manufactured button rifled barrels (with a slightly longer, parallel nox) were usually matched with these stocks. Musgrave triggers were mass-produced and designed to work reliably to around a minimum of 2 pounds of pressure. Various bolt stop configurations exist on these extremely hard actions—it will damage machining tools carelessly applied. Musgraves were proofed by a recognised Proof-House.〔http://www.sabisley.com/rule_book.htm〕 The SABS (South African Bureau of Standards〔https://www.sabs.co.za/index.php?page=faq〕) stamped the metalwork on a proofed rifle with two proofmarks in the shape of a capital letter "T" within "Springbok horns", one on the action (receiver), the other on the barrel. These two marks are normally in very close proximity to one another, and horizontally aligned. A notable exception is the early Bloemfontein Musgrave RSA Rifle, which carries only one SABS proofmark. A SABS inspector fired a high pressure round through every rifle manufactured on Musgrave's site and signed off. Musgrave's quality control department did a rigorous functional test on every rifle, testing the trigger, safety catch, firing pin protrusion, extractor and headspace against strict standards while evaluating the rifles accuracy. The SOUTH AFRICAN BISLEY UNION site states: ::"''With the advent of the new RSA rifle and thanks to better sporting-type rifles in general, which were used for the first time in South Africa during the 1971 National Championships at Cape Town, record totals began tumbling headlong. In 1972 South Africa, shooting in Salisbury, shattered the spectacular Rhodes Centenary Match record of 1845 points by a staggering 81 points''."〔http://www.sabisley.com/sabu_history.htm〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Musgrave rifle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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