Back in the day of cheap surplus ammo, I put about 2k of surplus Yugo 8mm down range in the space of a summer. I got pretty proficient with a Mauser. Still, if forced to choose a bolt, I would choose an SMLE.
In the dirt of the trenches and in the days of unreliable and inconsistent brass, the camming action of the cock on opening Mauser was arguably superior as far as reliability went. By WW II, brass was better and conditions weren’t so continually awful as they had been in the first war and the SMLE would have been the better choice.
