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Mauser is the common name of a German arms manufacturer, maker of a line of Bolt-action Rifle s from the 1870s to present. Their designs were built for the German armed forces, and have been exported and licensed to a number of countries in the later 19th and early 20th century, as well as being a popular civilian firearm. In the late 20th century Mauser continued making sporting and hunting rifles. In the 1990s it became a subsidiary of Rheinmetall . Mauser Jagdwaffen GmbH was split off and continues making rifles, while the Rheinmetal subsidiary, called ''Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH'' made other products for a time before being merged into ''Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH''. The Mauser name has also sometimes been licensed by other companies. HISTORY 19th Century to 1920 What was to become a Mauser, or Mouser, factory started on July 31 , 1811 , when Friedrich I Of Württemberg established a royal weapons factory in Oberndorf , a small town in the Black Forest . The factory opened for business the next year, employing 133 workers. In 1867 Wilhelm and Paul Mauser developed a rifle using an improved rotating bolt system for breechloaders based on the Chassepot (fusil modele 1866), itself a much improved version of an earlier Prussian design, the Dreyse . The Franco-Prussian war had shown their rifle inferior to the Chassepot, so in 1871 the Mauser Model 1871 became the standard German infantry rifle. The new Mauser Model 1871 rifle was adopted as the Gewehr 71, or Infanterie-Gewehr 71 (''I.G.Mod.71'' was printed on the rifles themselves). Production started at the Oberndorf factory for the infantry version firing an 11 x 60 mm round from a long 850 mm barrel, and shorter versions were introduced with the 700 mm barreled jaeger and 500 mm cavalry carbine. It was adopted by the German Empire but not Bavaria . A number of slightly modified versions were widely sold to other countries, with rounds that would today be considered very large, typically 9.5 to 11.5 mm in Caliber . Serbia designed an improved version of the Model 71 in 10.15mm caliber, produced in Germany, called the Mauser-Milovanovic M1878/80. In 1884 an 8-shot tubular magazine was added by Mauser, who offered the Model 71/84. The Turkish Model 1887 rifle was the first of a series of rifles produced for the Turkish Army by Mauser. Its design echoed that of the German Gewehr 71/84 service rifle, being a bolt-action weapon with a tubular magazine beneath the barrel. In 1886 the French Army introduced the Lebel Model 1886 using Smokeless Powder , allowing smaller diameter rounds to be propelled at higher velocities, with accuracy out to 1,000 yards; most other military rifles became obsolete. Its disadvantage was a tube magazine. The German army introduced the best features of the Lebel in the Gewehr 88, also known as the Model 1888 Commission Rifle (''Judenflinte''), along with a modified Mauser action and a Mannlicher style box magazine. There was also a Carbine version, the Karabiner 88; both would be updated in the 1900s and see limited use in WWI. Note this was ''not'' a Mauser engineered rifle. This weapon was designed around the new 7,92x57 I Cartridge commonly known today as the 8 mm Mauser; which incorporated the advantages of smokeless powder and higher velocity found in the Lebel. The cartridge was rimless which allowed smoother feeding for both rifles and machine guns. The original bullet had a round head; several redesigns including the adoption of the ''spitzer'' bullet with a sharp point and boat-tail brought the cartridge to its current potency. Only later versions of Gewehr 98, or converted 88 and 98 rifles could fire the improved "S" cartridges. The names of Mauser rifles is split between company designations and German military designations. For example, the Mauser Model 92 was not adopted by Germany, but the Mauser Model 98 was adopted as the Gewehr 98, though some designations also use Model. Model 1871 and M.71/84 The Mauser Model 1871 was Mauser's first rifle. ''See above'' Models 89/90/91 and Experimental Model 92 The 1889 Belgian, 1890 Turkish, and 1891 Argentine are distinquishable by the single column box magazine that protrudes from the stock in front of the trigger guard (see Model 92 pictured at right). In the model 92, the non-rotating mauser claw extractor was introduced. The Model 92, in several variations, participated in rifle trials for the U.S. Army of that year, wherein the Krag-Jørgensen rifle was chosen. Model 93 The next innovation was the Model 93 (commonly referred to as the Spanish Mauser, although the model was adopted by other countries in other calibers, most notably the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)), which introduced a short staggered-column box magazine as standard, holding five 7 X 57 Mm rounds flush with the bottom of the rifle, which could be quickly reloaded by pushing a strip of rounds down from the top of the open bolt. The new 7 x 57 round became the standard round for the Spanish armed forces, as well as for the militaries of several Latin American nations, and is dubbed, in common usage, the " 7 Mm Mauser ". A higher power version of this model in a Spanish cartridge was employed by the Spanish Regulars in Cuba. It gained a reputation for its use during the 1898 Battle Of San Juan Hill in Cuba where 750 Spanish regulars significantly delayed the advance of 15,000 U.S. troops armed with a mix of .30-40 Krag-Jørgensen and some older Trap-Door Springfield Rifles . There was little difference in performance between the Spanish M93 and the Krags at the ranges involved, but, the use of smokelss powder gave a serious advantage to Spanish soldiers. In general countries were moving to higher velocity bullets in the 1890s. The US had been trying to use higher velocity rounds, but the Krag was having trouble handling the pressures. All of this likely played a role in the U.S. in licensing the Mauser locking technology for the Krag's replacement the M1903 Springfield Rifle . Model 94 and Model 95 rifle with Mauser style lug might have replaced the Lee-Enfield, but the exigencies of WWI kept a replacement from happening; thus the Lee-Enfield continued in use until replaced by a semi-automatic weapon post WWII. The lower rate of fire and lower magazine capacity was source of criticism. Ironically, the Germans faced the U.S. M1917 rifle during WWI, which was the Pattern 13 rifle adapted to fire the U.S. .30-06 cartridges. Model 96 Swedish ''Main article: Swedish Mauser '' On November 3, 1893 the United Kingdom of Norway and Sweden adopted the 6.5x55 Mm cartridge. As a result, the Swedes chambered their new service rifle- the Model 96 Mauser- in this round. The Swedish Mauser was manufactured relatively unchanged from 1896 to 1943, and m/96 Rifle and M38 Carbine rifles- known as it is by collectors as "Swedish Mausers", are often sought after by military service rifle shooters and hunters. Swedish Steel is a term used when referring to the steel used by the Swedish and Mauser manufacturing facilities to make the m96 rifles. The Swedes felt that their steel was far superior to all others. When Mauser was contracted to make Swedish Mausers in Germany - they were required to use Swedish Steel in the manufacturing process. C96 See Also: Mauser C96 In 1896 Mauser also branched out into Pistol design, producing the design of another, Fidel, Friedrich and Josef Feederle as the C96 , commonly known as "Broomhandle". All versions were made to use detachable shoulder-stock/holsters. Over a million C96's were produced between 1896 and 1936 when production ended. In 1897 the Mausers were given control of the factory, forming Waffenfabrik Mauser AG. Model 98 See Also: Gewehr 98 In 1898 the German army also purchased a Mauser design, The Model 98 incorporated improvements of earlier models, and entered German service as the '''Gew. 98''' officially on April 5, 1898. Noticeable changes from previous Mauser rifle models included better ruptured case gas venting, better receiver metallurgy and larger receiver ring dimensions for handling the pressures of the 8x57 cartridge. Mauser also incorporated a new, third "safety" lug on the bolt body to protect the shooter in the event that one or more of the forward locking lugs failed. In 1905 the "spitzer" round was introduced, in response to the French adoption of a pointed round, which offered better ballistic performance. The bullet diameter was increased from 0.318" to 0.323". This improved round also copied the pointed tip design instead of the previous rounded nose profile, and most existing Model 98's and some Model 88's were rechambered for the round, designated "7.92 x 57IS". Pointed rounds gave the bullet a better ballistic coefficient, improving the effective range of the cartridge by decreasing aerodynamic drag. Paul Mauser died May 29, 1914 before the start of World War I that August. World War I would see very large spike in demand for the company's rifles, as well as a number of variants of it. This included the several 98 carbines as well as an experimental version with a twenty round, rather than five round, box magazine. The extended magazine was not well received, however. A number of carbine versions known as Karabiner 98's had been introduced and used in World War I , some of which were even shorter than the later K.98k. These carbines were originally only distributed to cavalry troops but later in the war to the special stormtroop units as well. A version developed in the 1930s from the Karabiner 98b, the Karabiner Kurz (carbine, short) was adopted by Nazi Germany as the standard infantry rifle in 1935, and would serve until the end of World War II , known in service as the '''K98k''' or often just '''KAR 98'''. After World War I Germany wasn't allowed to produce or maintain rifles of a military caliber. To get around this, a rifle was designed in 8.15x46R and referred to as a "Wehrmansgewehr", indicating military training usage. These were made primarily as single shots, though some only had a wood block in the magazine space to accomplish that. These became the 1936 Olympic team rifles for the Germans. |
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