The Mauser Model 1889 is a bolt-action rifle of Belgian origin. It became known as the 1889 Belgian Mauser, 1890 Turkish Mauser, and 1891 Argentine Mauser.[3]
After the Mauser brothers finished work on the Model 71/84 in 1880, the design team set out to create a small caliber repeater that used smokeless powder.[4] Because of setbacks brought on by Wilhelm Mauser's death, they failed to have the design completed by 1882, so the German Rifle Test Commission (German: Gewehr-Prüfungskommission) was formed.[citation needed] The commission preferred to create their own design.[5]Paul Mauser, who was not aware of the commission's work until 1888, managed to sell an improved version of his M1871/84 rifles as M1887 to the Ottoman Empire.
However in 1887, the characteristics of Poudre B smokeless powder and revolutionary smallbore 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge became public. Consequently, all black powder rifles became obsolescent.[6] The next year, the Belgians tried a smokeless 8-mm cartridge (still with a rim), of which not much detail is known.[6] A Mannlicher rifle in 8 mm with 1887 Belgian proof marks survived[8] (it may have been a prototype for the Mannlicher M1888).
Since every participant needed to work out the kinks of using smokeless powder,[6] the next round of trials didn't start in Beverloo until July 1888: Mannlicher, Nagant, Pieper and Schulhoff participated but the results were inconclusive.[9]
Cutaway of an 1888 design with a detachable magazine for 9 rimmed rounds from his US patent
Paul Mauser didn't participate in the aforementioned rounds of the Belgian trials, but as soon as he was aware of the Kommissionsgewehr rifle, he started developing a new one.[10] He patented a rear-locked bolt design somewhat similar to a Lee action in February 1888[11] and a detachable magazine in April 1888 (shown to the left).[12]
He also sent a similar but not identical experimental rifle now known as "Mauser-Metford"[13][14] to Great Britain, which was also adopting a small-bore cartridge (.303 Rubini, yet to become .303 British) rifle at the time.[10] This was to no avail because it was too late (since December 1887 they already started the final troop trials of the future Lee-Metford, the pattern of which was sealed in November 1888 after minor tweaks[15]).[10]
Transitional rear-locked design from the M1888 to the Belgian-adopted M1889, shown on Mauser's US patent on stripper clips
In September 1888 Mauser filed a British patent on the stripper clips[16] and test-fired an experimental rifle with the feature.[10] The idea was not unknown and in fact a similar design was patented by a US inventor in 1878, but it was Mauser who managed to commercialize the idea.[17] The design was adapted to a 7,65 mm rimless cartridge Mauser derived from the Patrone 88 developed at the Spandau Arsenal.[10]
The next round of Belgian trials was held under General van der Smissen in October[18]-December of 1888 with five participants, all but Mauser using 8 mm caliber:[18] Mannlicher, Nagant, Pieper, Mauser and Engh (also known as Liégeoise by its manufacturer[19]). Even though Mauser's rifle was included in the trio of best performers, along with Mannlicher and Engh,[20] it suffered from one or several malfunctions, details of which differ in various sources:
according to a modern source, a cartridge reportedly ruptured, damaging the bolt face and the extractor, and Mauser himself blamed faulty ammunition;[10]
according to a 1888 French source, extraction of empty cases became difficult in the end of the trials, and Mauser blamed imperfectly obturating cartridges which clogged the bolt with soot from the firing;[21]
according to a 1889 Russian source, the rear-locking bolt was consistently deforming under high pressure from the new cartridge, forcing Mauser to develop front-locking lugs.[22]
After the trials Mauser chose to move the locking lugs to the front of the bolt like on the Komissionsgewehr, despite the added cost in manufacturing. This was done in order to prevent the receiver now opened-up from the top for more practical stripper clip reloading from compressing with firing, and to prevent the receiver from stretching.[6]
The last round of Beverloo trials with reportedly 24 participants (including Nagant, Schulhof, Marga, Mannlicher, and Engh) began in May 1889 and continued into the summer.[23][24] The trials finished in August,[25] Mauser won over the Mannlicher-derived design and a Nagant, and the rifle was adopted on October 23, 1889, with some changes to the form of the safety, tweaks to the sights, and lengthening the barrel.[6]
FN's factory was overrun during World War I, so they outsourced production to a facility in Birmingham, England and Hopkins & Allen in the United States. The Birmingham factory was originally set up by the well-known gunmaking firm W. W. Greener, and was subsequently handed over to the Belgian Government later in the war.[26] Many Belgian Model 1889 rifles were captured by the Imperial German Army, and some were modified to fire the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge.[27] Paraguay purchased 7,000 Belgian Model 1889s in 1930.[28]
Rifles captured by Nazi Germany after 1940 were designated Gewehr 261 (b) (Mle 1889 rifle), Karabiner 451 (b) (Mle 1889 carbines), Karabiner 453 (b) (Mle 1916 carbine) and Gewehr 263 (b) (Mle 1889/36).[29] Models 1889/36 were used by German second-line troops or pro-German organisations such as the Vlaamse Wacht[nl].[30] Some Model 1889/36 rifles were still in service in Belgian Congo at the time of independence of the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville in 1960, and were used during the Congo Crisis.[31]
Belgian variants
Soldier of the Force Publique in Congo with Model 1889/36 rifles.
Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet: With a standard bayonet.[32][33]
Model 1889 Carbine with Yatagan: With a yatagan-like bayonet, used by the Foot Gendarmerie and fortress artillery.[33]
Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet: Shorter variant, reconditioned during World War I, using the Grasbayonet.[34][33]
Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet: Shorter variant, with a long bayonet and heavier stock, used by the Mounted Gendarmerie.[34][35]
Model 1916 Carbine: Slightly modified Mle 1889 with Yatagan, to replace all the earlier models of carbines.[36]
Model 1889/36 Short Rifle or Model 1936: A modernized Model 1889 or Turkish Model 1890 with its bolt modified to cock on opening, and the barrel, barrel bands, front handguard, and sights of a Mauser Model 1935.[30][37][38]
Mauser 1890
An Ottoman soldier with a M1890 rifle.
The Belgian's talks with Mauser prompted the Ottoman Empire, whose contract for Model 1887 rifles included an "escape clause" allowing them to alter their order to account for any new advancements the Mauser brothers made, to reconsider the design. In the end, they ordered 280,000 pieces of an improved version of the 1889 Mauser known as the Turkish Model 1890 rifle.[39] It used a slightly modified 7.65 round.[40] A Model 1890 carbine was also supplied in smaller numbers.[41] These rifles saw service during the First Balkan War[42] and World War I. Large numbers of these rifles were captured by the British Army during World War I and sent to supply the Belgian Army.[34] Mauser 1890 rifles were fielded by both Nationalist[43] and Sultanate armies during the Turkish War of Independence.[44] Some of these rifles were captured by Kurdish[45] and Circassian rebels.[46] In the 1950s, these rifles were still kept in reserve,[47] but many of them were rebuilt and rechambered in 7.92×57mm during the 1930s.[48] During the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, old Mauser 1890 rifles were used by Turkish Cypriots.[49]
The Royal Yugoslav Army received Turkish Mausers as war reparations. Some were used unmodified Puska M90 T and others were shortened as Puska M 03 T.[50] Some of these rifles were captured by Nazi Germany and designatedGewehr 297 (j).[51]
Mauser 1891
Argentine Mauser 1891 carbine
While this was taking place, the Argentine Small Arms Commission contacted Mauser in 1886 to replace their Remington Rolling Block rifles. 180,000 rifles and 30,000 carbines, all chambered in 7.65×53mm Mauser, were ordered. As with other early Mausers, the arms, designated Mauser Modelo 1891, were made by the Ludwig Loewe Company and Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken.[52] Mauser 1891 carbines were still in service with the Argentine Police in the 1960s.[53]
Bolivia bought 15,000 Argentine-made Modelo 1891s in the period between 1897 and 1901,[54] and were designated Modelo 1895 (not to be confused with the Mauser Model 1895).[55] They saw combat during the Chaco War.[56] Argentine-made Mauser 1891s were also purchased by Colombia[57] and Ecuador.[58]
Peru bought several thousand of an identical rifle from the Ludwig Loewe Company, which became known as the Peruvian Model 1891.[59][60]
A revolutionary new feature of the design was the ability to load the single-stack detachable box magazine that extended below the bottom of the stock with individual 7.65×53mm Mauser rounds by pushing the cartridges into the receiver top opening or via stripper clips. Each stripper clip can hold 5 rounds to fill the magazine and is inserted into clip guides machined into the rear receiver bridge. After loading, the empty clip is ejected when the bolt is closed. This was a significant improvement in an increase in rate of fire.[63]
One of the principal defining features of the Belgian Mauser was its thin sheet steel jacket surrounding the barrel—a rather unusual element not common to any other Mauser model of note.[64] The jacket was instituted as a feature intended to maintain the effectiveness of the barrel and the solid wooden body over time, otherwise lengthening its service life and long-term accuracy when exposed to excessive firing and battlefield abuse. In spite of this approach, the jacketed barrel proved susceptible to moisture build-up and, therefore, introduced the problem of rust forming on the barrel itself–unknown to the user. In addition, the jacket was not perforated in any way to relieve the barrel of any heat build up, and consequently proved prone to denting. As such, barrel quality was affected over time regardless of the protective measure. Furthermore, another design flaw of the jacket was its extra steel content. Not only was it expensive, but it was also needed in huge quantities to provide for tens of thousands of soldiers. By many accounts, the barrel jacket was not appreciated by its operators who depended on a perfect rifle in conflict.[citation needed] Another defining characteristic, unlike most Mausers until then, was a cock-on-closing bolt action resembling that of the British Lee-Metford, which predates the Mauser 1889 by five years. This development allowed for faster firing and was well received.[citation needed]
The Model 1889 featured a single-piece solid wooden body running most of the length of the weapon, ending just aft of the muzzle. It contained two bands, and iron sights were fitted at the middle of the receiver top and at the muzzle like virtually all other rifles of the time.[citation needed] Overall length of the rifle was just over 50 inches (1,300 millimeters) with the barrel contributing to approximately 30 inches (760 millimeters) of this length.[65] Of course, a fixed bayonet was issued and added another 10 inches (250 millimeters) to the design as doctrine of the period still relied heavily on the bayonet charge for defensive victory.[citation needed]
All variations used the same 7.65mm round-nosed cartridge. Many parts were interchangeable, with the exception of the bayonets of the 1889 and 1890/91 (the barrel shroud made the bayonet ring too wide).[citation needed]
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms. The Gewehr 98 in particular was widely adopted and copied, becoming one of the most copied firearms designs and it is the foundation of many of today's sporting bolt-action rifles. Around 10 millions Gewehr 98 style rifles were produced.
The Lebel Model 1886 rifle also known as the "Fusil Mle 1886 M93", after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Army in 1887. It is a repeating rifle that can hold eight rounds in its fore-stock tube magazine, one round in the elevator plus one round in the chamber; equaling a total of ten rounds held. The Lebel rifle has the distinction of being the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. The new propellant powder, "Poudre B," was nitrocellulose-based and had been invented in 1884 by French chemist Paul Vieille. Lieutenant Colonel Nicolas Lebel contributed a flat nosed 8 mm full metal jacket bullet. Twelve years later, in 1898, a solid brass pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet called "Balle D" was retained for all 8mm Lebel ammunition. Each case was protected against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a primer cover and by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. Featuring an oversized bolt with front locking lugs and a massive receiver, the Lebel rifle was a durable design capable of long range performance. In spite of early obsolete features, such as its tube magazine and the shape of 8mm Lebel rimmed ammunition, the Lebel rifle remained the basic weapon of French infantry during World War I (1914–1918). Altogether, 3.45 million Lebel rifles were produced by the three French state factories between 1887 and 1916.
Peter Paul von Mauser was a German weapon designer, manufacturer, industrialist and politician.
The Lee–Metford is a British bolt action rifle which combined James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and detachable magazine with an innovative seven-groove rifled barrel designed by William Ellis Metford. It replaced the Martini–Henry as the standard service rifle of the British Empire in 1888, following nine years of development and trials, but remained in service for only a short time until replaced by the Lee–Enfield.
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The Gewehr 98 is a bolt-action rifle made by Mauser for the German Empire as its service rifle from 1898 to 1935.
The Gewehr 88 was a late 19th-century German bolt-action rifle, adopted in 1888.
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The Mauser Model 1871, adopted as the Gewehr 71 or Infanterie-Gewehr 71, or "Infantry Rifle 71", was the first rifle model in a distinguished line designed and manufactured by Paul Mauser and Wilhelm Mauser of the Mauser company and later mass-produced at Spandau arsenal.
The FÉG 35M was a bolt-action rifle chambered in 8×56mmR. Though superficially still resembling the 95/31M Carbine, it was a new design with a cock-on-close bolt. An easily recognizable distinguishing feature was the placement of the bolt handle, which was further forward than in the 1895 design. It was used by Hungary in the years leading up to and during World War II, as well as after World War II, yet was gradually phased out by both Red Army surplus, and locally produced Mosin–Nagant carbines in the years after.
The evolution of German military rifles is a history of common and diverse paths followed by the separate German states, until the mid-19th century when Prussia emerged as the dominant state within Germany and the nation was unified. This article discusses rifled shoulder arms developed in or for the military of the states that later became Germany; it excludes firearms of the Austrian Empire, except where they were used substantially by German troops.
The Berthier rifles and carbines were a family of bolt-action small arms in 8mm Lebel, used in the French Army, and French Colonial Forces, from the 1890s to the beginning of World War II (1940). After the introduction of the Lebel rifle in 1886, the French Army wanted a repeating carbine using the same ammunition as the Lebel to replace their single shot carbine based on the Gras rifle. At the time, many armies based their carbines on their standard rifle model, however the Lebel rifle's tube magazine made it difficult to follow this approach. The Modele 1890 Berthier Cavalry Carbine addressed this issue by combining a modified Lebel action with an en-bloc clip magazine. With its successful cavalry introduction, the Berthier would go on to be produced in many different carbine and full-length rifle versions.
The 7.65×53mm Argentine is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge developed for use in the Mauser Model 1889 rifle by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company. It is also known as 7.65×53mm Argentine rimless, 7.65mm Argentine, 7.65×53mm Belgian Mauser, 7.65mm Belgian, and 7.65×53mm Mauser.
The Mauser Model 1893 is a bolt-action rifle commonly referred to as the Spanish Mauser, though the model was adopted by other countries in other calibers, most notably the Ottoman Empire. The M1893 was based on the experimental M1892 rifle, which Paul Mauser developed for the Spanish Army as part of a program to correct deficiencies in the earlier 1889, 1890, and 1891 series of Mauser rifles. The M1893 introduced a short staggered-column box magazine that fit flush with the bottom of the stock; the magazine held five smokeless 7×57mm Mauser rounds, which could be reloaded quickly by pushing a stripper clip from the top of the open bolt.
The FN Model 1924 series is a line of Mauser Gewehr 98 pattern bolt-action rifles produced by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale. They are similar to the Czech vz. 24 rifle, however have an intermediate length action, featuring open sights, 7.65×53mm, 7×57mm or 8×57mm IS chambering, Long rifle, Short Rifle and carbine-length barrels, hardwood stocks, and straight or curved bolt handles. This pattern rifle was discontinued from production and was no longer offered after 1932 being totally replaced by the 1930 pattern.
The Geweer M. 95, also known to collectors as the Dutch Mannlicher, was the service rifle of the armed forces of the Netherlands between 1895 and 1940 which replaced the obsolete Beaumont-Vitali M1871/88. At first it was produced by Steyr for the Dutch, but after 1904, production took place under license at a Dutch state weapon factory in Zaandam known by the name of close by Hembrug bridge. Although often regarded as being based on the earlier Mannlicher 1893 Model, the rifle is in fact a modification of the Mannlicher rifle by August Schriever and the Dutch rifle commission. The Dutch issued about 470,000 M.95s.
The Mannlicher M1893 is a bolt-action rifle that was the standard service rifle of the Kingdom of Romania from 1893 to 1938. The rifle and its 1892 predecessor were the first repeating rifles to be widely issued in the Romanian military. It was later replaced by the Czechoslovak-designed Vz. 24 as the standard service rifle.
The Mauser Model 1895 is a bolt operated magazine fed rifle using the 7×57mm Mauser cartridge. It was exported to many overseas powers, including the Chilean forces which adopted as the Fusil Mauser Chileno Modelo 1895. It is the first major modification of the Mauser Model 1893 and was produced by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, known as DWM, and Ludwig Loewe Company from 1895 to 1900.
The Standardmodell rifle is a bolt-action rifle designed to chamber the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. The rifle was developed in 1924 but entered full-scale production in 1933. Officially designed for export and German security guards, it was used by the paramilitary Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS). Export variants were used in South America, Ethiopia, China and the Iberian Peninsula. The carbine version of this rifle was almost identical with the Karabiner 98k that became the standard German service rifle during World War II.
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