I have been collecting old military rifles since I was a young man of 19. (The Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III being my favorite, but that's unrelated.)

Anyway, a question I've never read or heard a good answer to is why some nations preferred a straight bolt handle and some adopted a turn down bold handle.

I shoot left handed and the straight handles make it faster for me to cycle the bolt than the turned ones do.

So looking at my Czech Mauser today the question entered my mind again. So I'm asking this questions here, because frankly you guys seem to be a better resource for information than the encyclopedia.

Thanks