# Converting German Bolt Action Rifles to Semi-automatic fire **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-german-bolt-action-rifles-to-semi-automatic-fire/1018972 "2025-05-29T18:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-german-bolt-action-rifles-to-semi-automatic-fire/1018972/1 "2025-05-29T18:58:11Z")
In WWII, the allies experimented with converting Lee-Enfield rifles to semi-automatic firing weapons. The US already had the semi-auto M1 Garand, and so didn’t have to do this. And the Germans tried to invent semi-auto rifles from scratch (the Gewehr 41 and 43) but didn’t adopt them. But did the Germans ever try to convert the old bolt-action Kar98(k) rifle to a semi-auto version? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-german-bolt-action-rifles-to-semi-automatic-fire/1018972/2 "2025-05-29T20:22:04Z")
No German conversions that I’m aware of but here’s a grab bag for you: https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL9e3UCcU00TRCFljWSf-diwt1v_xtdZ-t&wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=1&enablejsapi=1 Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-german-bolt-action-rifles-to-semi-automatic-fire/1018972/3 "2025-05-29T20:57:30Z")
Not the same as conversion to automatic fire like the Pedersen devices designed for the Springfield 03s, but the Germans did attach the 20-round magazines from MG13s onto their gewehr 98s [![](https://www.shootingillustrated.com/media/d2kmxhzy/cew.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=987&height=551&rnd=132682473449200000&quality=60) ](https://www.shootingillustrated.com/media/d2kmxhzy/cew.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=987&height=551&rnd=132682473449200000&quality=60) Significantly, those Pedersen devices were infamously scrapped after WWI, but in the desperate early days of WWII, the Marines spot-welded magazines onto their Springfields rather than order more Pedersens. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-german-bolt-action-rifles-to-semi-automatic-fire/1018972/4 "2025-05-30T12:28:43Z")
It was the Forgotten Weapons episode about the New Zealanders’ attempts to convert the Lee Enfield that inspired my question.