It is purely incidental that some of the methods of "automatic" cycling of cartridges affect the actual operation of the firing mechanism, and none of them aid in delivery or accuracy.
Now let me ask a question: do you expect average rifleman to be able to shoot highly accurate shots beyond 300 yards? Accuracy diffrence under 250 yards between semiauto and bolt is quite nonexistant, as you can shoot mansized target with ease more or less. I am fully aware that the germans actually put some emphasis to train their riflemen to be able to shoot as accurately as possible (atleast initially), but considering all possible variables in a firefight, having a semiauto is more of an advatange at regular ranges you expect you to engage the enemy.
but they are utterly fantastic weapons when all you need is to hit the target and watch him fall over dead in the first shot.
As much as accurate firepower is important, if we make a comparasion E.G. Garand and K98k in terms of effective range, Mauser having about 100 yards longer effective range can't be really put into use properly unless you have heavily open area or really tall building to shoot from.
Again, it's relative to what. Bolt action is still probably the best if you really want accurate shots, but for regular engagement range what you can expect from regular E.G. division to engage most of the time, semiautomatic rifle tops bolt action and assault rifle tops semiautomatic, until you go to DMR ranges where semiautos might be beter than assault rifles and until we go to long range sniping where bolt actions tends to be hell of alot more efficient.
Unless the gun is less accurate than a handgun with a broken barrel, for your regular 300 yards and under engagement accuracy becomes somewhat irrelevant.
Or perhaps you could simply play Ost Front's sniper role equipped with an SVT-40 or a G-43 and notice the gargantuan spread of both rifles, particularly when compared to old reliable, the MN91/30 and Kar98k.
Red Orchestra - as realistic as it is - is still more or less balanced in terms of firefights, such as you can't hit broad side of a barn with an SMG unless you're support your gun and fire single shots under 70 yards, so I wouldn't really use it as proper comparasion material.
SVT-40 was issued in limited numbers to Strelok in World War 2 as a result of its complicated operation and difficult maintenance.
It's the same with any sort of military eguipment, how long it took E.G. P-38 aircraft to reach true maturity before they honed down all the bugs? It didn't happen overnight at all, and especially if you have already well established organisation or system (E.G. germans and their MG priority fetish in riflesquads during WW2, to the point post 1941 and 1942 training manuls ceased to make any sort of distinguishion between an MG team and a riflesquad), it takes more effort to replace it with something else or modify it in the first place, and even when it happens it still takes time before it is actually done.
One reason both modern armies and resistance groups use these weapons is that they are incredibly utilitarian weapons with great versatility....
It's also supply and demand issue. You want X but you can't have it, so beter to have something at hand, and when it comes to armies even US national guard was still supplying WW2-era field gear and clothing back in the 1980s quite regularly, as old stocks are used as long as they are truly, truly obsolete or dried out.
I don't try to argue about bolt action rifle would be bad weapon in general or so, but it's more of a specialized weapon today for modern armies as you said yourself.
Not sure why he would need to explain that though.
