With millions of weapons available post World War I, there was a significant push from various militaries to convert their bolt-action weapon systems to semi automatic. Few of these attempted upgrades were ultimately successful, but with the significant reduction in cash outlay to retrofit weapons from stockpiles, there was nonetheless significant momentum to explore it in earnest.

Seeing the potential of weapons submitted for the Crown, a local Pennsylvania gunsmith and tinkerer Russell Turner designed a conversion kit for the well-known SMLE bolt-action. If successful, it would have a significant leg-up on the Garand for the Canadian military.

The weapon is certainly a novel take on semi-automatic conversions. Rather than use the rotating bolt locking system of the parent gun, Turner’s mechanisms used a tilting locking block that actually locks to the side, versus the top or bottom.

The Canadian military put the weapon through trials and per the inventor’s notes, it did quite well in sub-zero testing. The Garand, also competing at the time, had issues in the Arctic environment.

Alas, the weapon was ultimately not adopted. Ian states this is due to the complexity of mechanism but I would contend there was a fair amount of politics in the decision.

Enjoy the video below with all the details and more, courtesy of Forgotten Weapons. 

If you’d like to own this weapon, it is for sale at Rock Island Auction.