When there is a big war, weapons always begin to develop rapidly. New developments are replacing technologies that have been used for a long time. So, the Second World War was the era of the decline of infantry rifles. However, Danish gunsmiths did not take this into account, and a good, but obsolete weapon turned out to be useless. This is a Madsen model 1947 rifle.
The Second World War was the last armed conflict in which magazine rifles were the main weapon of the foot soldiers. The Red Army used the famous three-line rifles - Mosin rifles, the Wehrmacht - Mauser 98k magazine rifles, and the British - Lee Enfield.
However, already during the war, the process of transition of infantry units to semi-automatic and automatic models of small arms began. For example, in the USSR, back in 1941, more than a million SVT-40 self-loading rifles were produced, as well as early models of SVT-38 and AVT-40. And from the first days, the US army fought with the M1 Garand self-loading rifle, which was put into service back in 1936.
After the war, the trend towards automatic rifles continued. However, not all weapons companies immediately abandoned all store-model developments. So did the children's company Madsen, which in 1947 produces infantry rifles, and with the confidence that there will be considerable demand for it.
The reason for this strange tactics was, first of all, in the choice of a sales market for this developer. Madsen model 1947 was supposed to be sold to third world countries, where simple operation was appreciated, but a mass weapon. In addition, the company planned to supplant the German Mauser 98k with its rifles.
However, the ambitious plans were not destined to come true. Despite the good technical characteristics, Madsen model 1947 was not in demand. And the point was not only that the infantry rifle had already retreated to the periphery of military history. The developers simply did not take into account the fact that after the Second World War in many states remained a huge amount of weapons, which, as unnecessary, were sold at bargain prices to the same third world countries.
In fairness, it should be noted that a buyer for the rifle was found. These were the Colombian naval forces, and the supply contract was concluded only in 1958. Of the total volume of six thousand rifles produced, five thousand were sold. However, even in Colombia, long-obsolete weapons did not last long in the army, finding themselves on the civilian market.
