The Blake

[butlersrangers]

A Krag rival:
The sporting rifle, at the top of this Cody Firearms Museum display, is a Blake.

[scottz63]

Cool!

Found a Forgotten Weapons video on it.

https://youtu.be/VfWGIdDvpK0?si=2VAImqFeTCXccvzu

[butlersrangers]

Two Blake rifles were included in the 53 rifles that were submitted for trials conducted by the Army Board on Magazine Arms, in 1892.
This was the program of tests that resulted in the recommendation of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, as reported by the Magazine Board, in September of 1892.

In March of 1893, a new Board was appointed to test American inventions and submissions.
Fourteen American rifles were tested, including two Blake rifles.
The second Board on Magazine Arms, also concluded, the Krag-Jorgensen mechanism should be adopted, since it best met the needs and test conditions of the U.S. military service.
None of the American submissions were acceptable.
In regard to the Blake rifle:
"No. 8, Blake. -- The system violates a number of the standard conditions. Great force is required to operate the mechanism; the cutoff can be moved, and the magazine loaded only when the bolt is in a particular position.
The cartridge packet, besides being an essential portion of the magazine, in itself a serious defect, is bulky and awkward to carry and not easy of insertion in the magazine box.
The system is not suited to the military service".

Blake rifles in 6mm caliber were also submitted in 1895 for the U.S. Navy trials.
The Navy's testing resulted in the Model 1895 Winchester-Lee 'straight-pull' rifle being adopted as the U.S.N. and U.S.M.C. service arm.

Without a large government contract, The Blake Rifle Company of Rochester, N.Y., struggled to find a niche in the sporting arms market, without much success.

The NRA Firearms Museum and Cody Firearms Museum have Blake specimens in their collections. Anything connected with the Blake rifle is 'pretty rare air'.
Blake rifles appear well made and complicated as hell!

[scottz63]

Very cool and sleek looking rifle.

[butlersrangers]

Last week, while looking for something else, I found a 'gem'.

I was reading through a tedious text, "The Adjutant General for the State of Michigan Annual Reports for 1901 and 1902", (printed in 1903).
The information I was seeking was related to the Michigan National Guard's Remington-Lee Rifles and a 'beginning date',
when U.S. government owned Krag-Jorgensen rifles began arriving to re-equip the Michigan NG.

I found mention in a 1902 report that the MNG had, (in addition to their 2,000 .30 caliber Remington-Lee rifles, in good condition), 500 new Krag-Jorgensen rifles.

However, the real surprise was a mention that the MNG had 50 "brand new" .30 caliber Blake rifles!
(I never saw this coming. I had never heard of Michigan owning Blake rifles before. I don't know when, how, why, or what became of them?) !!!

An added bonus was the mention on a 1902 inventory page of three Blake cartridge belts.
(I envision a special Mills Belt with pockets to carry "Blake 7-shot aluminum cartridge packets")?

More Holy Grail stuff to look for!

My hunch is that someone with influence, did an 'impulse purchase' in 1901-02 for the Michigan National Guard, and got them 50 Blake Magazine Rifles.

More Money Than Brains!

[butlersrangers]

Searching on the internet for Blake rifle production numbers put me into 'Wikipedia', which provided a link to a nice C&RSENAL writeup on the Blake, by Othias.

It appears the Blake rifles were built in the 1892 to 1910 period and maybe only about 300 were built.
Apparently, the New York National Guard tested the Blake rifle. The South Carolina Military Museum (in Columbia, S.C.) has a nice Blake rifle in their collection.
Othias (from C&RSENAL) photographed some nice details of the South Carolina example.

Other photos, that I viewed on the internet, show Blake rifles fitted with Remington bayonets, as used on the model 1899 Remington-Lee.
(There is no doubt in my mind that some of the Blake 'fittings' were variations of model 1899 Remington-Lee and Number 5 Rolling-Block components).

The Blake rifles were chambered for a very interesting array of cartridges: .30-40, a rimless .30 Blake, .236 USN, a .40 Blake, and others.

http://candrsenal.com/rifle-the-blake-infantry-rifles/
(Unfortunately, this link doesn't seem to work correctly).

If you Google search - 'Wikipedia Blake rifle', it will take you to the Wikipedia content and there is a working link at the bottom of the page, that can take you to Othias' fine article and photographs. (I have attached a sampling).

I also found a 'Man at Arms' article on the Blake, by Albert C. Ross:

http://www.bandksalesllc.com/images/Blake_Gun.pdf

[waterman]

I've been searching for a Blake since 1958. Never even seen one. Michigan NG had 50? That must be the largest purchase of all. How many were made?

[butlersrangers]

The 'opinion', that I am seeing, says maybe 300!
Serial numbers of known rifles are three digits.

The barrels were nickel steel and the action was strong and had gas venting!

Hey, the Canadian Ross rifle was all the rage, until it met war conditions.

Better 'mouse traps' in the gun world are often 'also ran(s)'.

My new fantasy is to see Mae, of C&RSENAL, shooting and evaluating a Blake rifle!

[scottz63]

Still a very cool rifle! Just noticed it looks like the bolt has 4 locking lugs up front. Wow!

[butlersrangers]

It do! Like the m-1910 Ross rifle the Blake's lock-up was inspired by breech loading artillery concepts.