You guys know more than I do, but I just find it difficult to believe that effective battle ranges of over 1000 yds were considered feasible, even with a full powered rifle like the Mauser, using open sights.
I have never fired in competition, and have not picked up a rifle in over ten years, however, when I was in the navy, I trained to lead boarding parties. These are the guys you see coming alongside illegal fishermen and the like to search and apprehend drug runners, illegal fishermen, pirates, that kind of thing. As a seaborne policeman, my life got interesting on more than one occasion. So even though I reject the "gun culture" almost in its entirety, Ive been around them and have been pretty comprehensively trained on a range of different weapons. Before I was assigned to these duties, I was required to complete firstly a gunnery (small arms) course, and then the advanced small arms training. I was trained on a number of different weapons, but the most frequently used were the 9mm Browning pistol, the F-1 Thompson and Owen SMGs, the L1A1 (SLR) and a few shots out of the Full auto variant . We also trained with various grenades and had a few shots out the US M-16, and a colt 45. We had some training, but not much, on the Bren, and the the M-60. We also learnt how to operate the 50 cal, a huge HMG that scared the living daylights out of me.....it just makes one hell of a noise, and shakes the living daylights out of you. It fires what I can only describe as small artillery shells......
We also learnt to shoot using the old Lee Enfield. These were a marvellous gun, but as I recall some of the guns had been reduced to 22 caliber.....dont know how, but I do recall how much less recoil they had in comparison to the full powered rifles.
Finally we did quite a bit of training with clay targets, using 12 gauge shotguns. I remember thinking this was odd, but the idea appareantly was to train us as "instinctive shooters....this was to literally save my life subsequently. We found that situations often required instinctive shooting rather sighted shooting.
The SLR was a rifle designed for a medium powered round that at the last minute had been upgraded to the standard NATO 7.62 mm round. I found it consequently a handful to manage. It tended to be lively on the range, and took some training to get the best out of it. By comparison the old Lee Enfield was heavier, but with a more powerful round (I think). The relatively heavy weight of the weapon made it more controllable, and from the users point more accurate.
The most accurate of the rifles was in fact the 22 caliber lee enfield training rifles that were were introduced to. Though the round was smaller and lighter, the heavy weiight of the weapon, and the light caliber and power of the round made it very easy to handle, and consequently it was always very easy to hit targets with this gun. I suspect this was why the Navy had them....to get the confidence of recruits up, before moving onto the more tricky weapons
I found the following description of the SLR on the net (the link is at the bottom of the page). It has an effective battle range of 300 metres, and a maximum range of 656 metres. This explains why we were trained to a high level of accuracy out to 450 metres....not that we would ever have engaged even land targets at that range. Rifles in my experience are seldom used much beyond 250 metres in real battle situations.
This is why I find it hard to accept that the germans were training or expecting standard line formations, or even snipers to effectively engage out past 1200 metres. Over open sights I say that is just impossible. With very high powered scopes, and under the most ideal of conditions...ie a target range, possibly, but in battle, I just find it hard to accept, knowing as I do just how hard it is to hit things with military issue weapons at that range
The L1A1 is the Australian version of the Belgian FN FAL rifle. It entered into service with the Australian Army in 1959. The L1A1 was a reliable, hard-hitting, gas-operated, magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle, with a maximum battle range of 300 metres and a practical rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute. In Vietnam the L1A1 was the standard personal weapon of the Australian soldier. With a full 20 round magazine it weighed 4.96Kg. The standard issue was 5 magazines per rifleman but almost all carried as many filled magazines that they could get their hands on, often dispensing with food rations in order to find room for the extra ammunition. The rational to this was that the extra 7.62 mm rounds fired from an SLR rifle would do more damage than throwing a can of Ham and Lima Beans.
Type: Battle rifle
Place of origin: Belgium
Wars: Cold War, Vietnam War, Falklands War
Designed: 1951
Manufacturer: Fabrique Nationale (FN)
Produced: 1953—
Number built: Over 1 million
Weight: 4.0–4.96 kg (8.8–10.2 lb)
Length: 1,090 mm (43 in)
Barrel length: 533 mm (21 in)
Cartridge: 7.62 × 51 mm NATO
Calibre: 7.62 mm (.308 in)
Action: Gas-operated, tilting block
Rate of fire: 20 rounds/min semi auto
Muzzle velocity: 823 m/s (2,700 ft/s)
Effective range: 600 m (656 yd)
Feed system: 20-round detachable box magazine
Sights: Aperture rear sight, hooded post front sight
http://www.5rar.asn.au/weapons/slr.htmaly
I also vaguely seem to recall that some of the enfields had open v-sights, and some were fitted with SLR type peep sights.
I didnt do much training on the V- sights, and it was a long time ago. But I recall coming to the conclusion that the Peep sights were much easier to use, and consequently the accuracy of the squad as a whole went up.
With the SLR we were initially required to hit a standard head sized target out to 250 metres, I think we had to achieve a standard of at least 8 out of 10 hits on the target. For the advanced course this range was increased to 450 metres. Nearly everyone had a great deal of difficulty achieving that standard, and it usually took many trips to the range, before we passed this test. Only about half the class actually passed the course to be honest, so hitting targets at that range is not an easy thing to do.