It will definitely be an 8x57 now; these were not made as a short rifle, only as a rifle and carbine, with the carbines being summa *** raries. These originally had a 29.13-inch barrel and that is how they served through the Great War. In 1937, surviving rifles were sent to Germany and reworked into Short Rifles, which is what this one is. Barrels and stocks were docked, barrels line-bored and rerifled and rechambered, complete rifles refinished to "as new". The very distinctive foresight wings were installed at that time.
These are often found with perfect bores and they can shoot very, very well indeed. They have a hinged floorplate with a quick-release button inside the triggerguard, just like the really expensive sporting rifles.
As far as strength is concerned, they can handle anything remotely sane. The Portuguese loading for the Bala M937 was a 196-grain boat-tailed bullet, running not far from 2700 ft/sec: very steamy.
The action on these is as smooth as on the fabled 1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer; you won't find a smoother action on anything built under $4,000, so enjoy it.
MOST of the rifle is actually off-the-shelf Mauser 98, with mainly the receiver and bolt being a distinctive design, with a dedicated stock to accommodate the changes. The action was designed by a Portuguese officer named Vergueiro and features the fastest disassembly of any rifle ever built.....if you know the trick. This rifle is missing the cocking-piece and (quite likely) the safety. Safety seems to be standard 98 Mauser, but the cocking-piece is pure Vergueiro. Once you get the hang of it, you can strip the bolt down in about 3 seconds flat and reassemble it in about 5 seconds.
The rifles originally were built on contract in Germany in 1904 and feature the very highest of pre-Great-War craftsmanship. They saw some service in the Great War (Portugal was an ally of Great Britain since before the Spanish Armada), but not a lot because Britain could not supply the special ammunition and the Germans, displaying a typically Teutonic lack of humour, refused to sell the Portugese any more ammo to shoot at Germans with. Just no sense of ha-ha, some folks! The Portuguese Brigade (actually a Battalion) were given Lee-Enfields, Vickers guns, Lewises and the like, all in .303, trading their beautifully-made Vergueiros for the new equipment. Britain sent quite a few of the small number of Portuguese rifles to South Africa for use against the Kaiserliche Schutztruppe in East Africa, where they sometimes turn up with German factory markings, Portuguese ownership markings, British proof markings and South African issue markings, all on the same rifle. Talk about history, all in one piece!
BTW, the bayonets for these were serialled to the rifles and are a beautifully-made lightweight piece.
Epps MAY have your cocking-piece.
Hope this helps.
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