1891 Mauser Infantry Rifle
- Thread starter barnsaw
- Start date
The only big sale of the 1891 Mauser rifle was to Argentina and they were just gorgeous!
Deep, rich blue-black finish, deep reddish-brown woodwork, polished steel bolts, straight bolt-handles. The Rifle version had a 29-inch tube and there were Carbines made, but they were (and are) awfully scarce. Two bayonets were available, one with brass scales, the other with aluminum scales. The bayonets I saw were Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie.
A fair number of the rifles showed up in Canada in the middle 1960s, nearly ALL with the Argentine crest ground from the receiver ring but otherwise in mint, unfired condition.
The rifle itself was a 4-motion turnbolt on pretty much the same action as the Turkish 1890 and the Belgian 1889: 2 forward locking-lugs, #### on closing, Mauser flip safety, 2 positions only, vertical magazine which was sort-of detachable, holding 5 rounds of 7.65x53 ammo. Nice, heavy barrels on them, too, although long enough to look slender. The extractor was something a bit unusual, being mounted at the head of the bolt and snagging the rim of the cartridge. It looked very much like the vaunted "three concentric rings of steel" that Remington was advertising at exactly the same time..... just older by far.
The rifles were fitted with full-length cleaning-rods and balanced beautifully. Each one, as far as I'm oncerned, was a work of art: Nineteenth-Century craftsmanship at its height.
They sold for $27.50 at Lever's in Vancouver, take your pick from the big rack. Numbers matched on ALL of them, of course.
I have no idea where you would find one today ut, if one showed up and I had the bucks, I would expect to shell out 450 or so for the very great privilege of taking it home.
No idea is this is any help or not, but there's your sales pitch. And, no, I don't have one, much less one for sale!
.
Deep, rich blue-black finish, deep reddish-brown woodwork, polished steel bolts, straight bolt-handles. The Rifle version had a 29-inch tube and there were Carbines made, but they were (and are) awfully scarce. Two bayonets were available, one with brass scales, the other with aluminum scales. The bayonets I saw were Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie.
A fair number of the rifles showed up in Canada in the middle 1960s, nearly ALL with the Argentine crest ground from the receiver ring but otherwise in mint, unfired condition.
The rifle itself was a 4-motion turnbolt on pretty much the same action as the Turkish 1890 and the Belgian 1889: 2 forward locking-lugs, #### on closing, Mauser flip safety, 2 positions only, vertical magazine which was sort-of detachable, holding 5 rounds of 7.65x53 ammo. Nice, heavy barrels on them, too, although long enough to look slender. The extractor was something a bit unusual, being mounted at the head of the bolt and snagging the rim of the cartridge. It looked very much like the vaunted "three concentric rings of steel" that Remington was advertising at exactly the same time..... just older by far.
The rifles were fitted with full-length cleaning-rods and balanced beautifully. Each one, as far as I'm oncerned, was a work of art: Nineteenth-Century craftsmanship at its height.
They sold for $27.50 at Lever's in Vancouver, take your pick from the big rack. Numbers matched on ALL of them, of course.
I have no idea where you would find one today ut, if one showed up and I had the bucks, I would expect to shell out 450 or so for the very great privilege of taking it home.
No idea is this is any help or not, but there's your sales pitch. And, no, I don't have one, much less one for sale!
.
smellie, they show up in BC quite often. Almost all have the 29 inch bbl and every one I've seen, has the crests ground off. Some of them were ground and re polished and blued so that it is hard to tell at first. The rifles show up at just about every gun show, it's the carbine that is tough to find. I've been looking for one for 35 years.
There are also two models of forward magazine latches. They both work quite well. It seems that the parts from the 1890 and 1891 were interchangeable and if parts were short, they used them.
Spain also bought 1800 of the rifles and a large but unknown number of carbines.
They are oiled glass smooth in operation. They are extremely well made. They were also a great candidate for conversion and sporterizing. I used to own a gorgeous rebuild done in 257 Roberts. It was given to me by a mentor close to 40 years ago. It had been completely redone and fitted with a Williams tangeant sight and fore sight. The barrel was cut off at 22 inches. I miss that rifle, my ex wife took it with her when she left. Darn, I wouldn't mind getting the rifle back.
The 7.65 Mauser cartridge is excellent. The Argentines loaded a .311 dia, 212 grain bullet at 2100fps. Norma, loads a 150 grain bullet at 2900fps and around 44,000cup.
The bullet diameter is the same as that found on the 303 Brit.
In BC, they run around $350 - $400 depending on condition. The bayonets are fairly common and ground as well. Finding original slings is almost impossible.
There is an interesting story about why Argentina ground the crests off these rifles. It seems that they sold a bunch of them to a neighboring nation and they were used in a failed coup. It proved to be quite embarrassing so they made a law that all weapons bearing the Argentine crest that were sold on the world markets, had to have the crests removed. I can't verify the validity of this.
There are also two models of forward magazine latches. They both work quite well. It seems that the parts from the 1890 and 1891 were interchangeable and if parts were short, they used them.
Spain also bought 1800 of the rifles and a large but unknown number of carbines.
They are oiled glass smooth in operation. They are extremely well made. They were also a great candidate for conversion and sporterizing. I used to own a gorgeous rebuild done in 257 Roberts. It was given to me by a mentor close to 40 years ago. It had been completely redone and fitted with a Williams tangeant sight and fore sight. The barrel was cut off at 22 inches. I miss that rifle, my ex wife took it with her when she left. Darn, I wouldn't mind getting the rifle back.
The 7.65 Mauser cartridge is excellent. The Argentines loaded a .311 dia, 212 grain bullet at 2100fps. Norma, loads a 150 grain bullet at 2900fps and around 44,000cup.
The bullet diameter is the same as that found on the 303 Brit.
In BC, they run around $350 - $400 depending on condition. The bayonets are fairly common and ground as well. Finding original slings is almost impossible.
There is an interesting story about why Argentina ground the crests off these rifles. It seems that they sold a bunch of them to a neighboring nation and they were used in a failed coup. It proved to be quite embarrassing so they made a law that all weapons bearing the Argentine crest that were sold on the world markets, had to have the crests removed. I can't verify the validity of this.
