The two rifles became known as the 89 Belgian (with a barrel shroud) and the 91 Argentine (with a 71 layout) Mausers, identical in their function and feed system.
In the meantime, Paul Mauser created two different variations of the same rifle, one with a stock strengthened with a barrel shroud and a traditional design following the layout of the 71 series, in hope he might be able to overturn the commission's decision, or at least sell his design to the Kingdom of Bavaria, which adopted its own arms. The commission preferred to create their own design, which was what became the Gewehr 1888, often called the "Commission Rifle". Because of setbacks brought on by Wilhelm Mauser's death, they failed to have the design completed by 1882, and the German Rifle Test Commission ( Gewehr-Prüfungskommission) was formed. In lovely condition and ready to display.Īfter the Mauser brothers finished work on the Model 71/84 for Germany in 1880, the design team set out to create a small caliber repeater that used smokeless powder. Like many of the Argentine contract Mauser rifles, this one did not see much actual use.Īnother Military Contract from the Victorian era that Mauser managed to snag from all its European competitors. Bore is excellent with bright finish and clear lands and grooves.
Most likely this explains the non-matching serial numbers. Rest of metal finish is very good, with masses of the original blue finish on the metalwork and a nice finish on the walnut stock. The stock has had some repairs done at arsenal, such as a repaired wrist crack.
Unlike almost all of the Argentine Mausers we have seen, this one never had the Argentine Crest removed from above the chamber. The left side of the receiver is marked with the production information:
The Ludwig Loewe serial number records for the Argentine contract indicate that serial numbers A0000 to C4999 were produced in 1892, so this rifle was made probably made in the second quarter of that year.
The serial numbers were issued sequentially with a single letter prefix. It has all matching serial numbers, with A 4725 on the barrel and receiver, while the stock has serial number A 5626. This example, like all of the Argentine Mausers made before 1896, was made by the renowned Company LUDWIG LOEWE of BERLIN, which from 1887 was actually part owner of Mauser Waffenfabrik. This is a very nice example of the Model 1891 Argentine Mauser rifle, one of many "export" models made for foreign governments, all based on the Mauser Model 1889. It must be the age of the sights, couldn't be the age of the eyes using them.Original Item: Only one available. Took me awhile to find a good sight picture as the sights on these guns are really hard for me to see. The quality of these old weapons is part of why I find them so much fun to collect and shoot.īoth groups were shot with the same hand load using Hornady. Considering the age and hard use they have seen the accuracy they can still produce is amazing. The Argentine 7.65 X 43 cartridge is a bit of an odd ball and I found a few quirks loading for these guns but the results so far have been good. Both guns are Argentine Carbines one a cavalry model and the other an engineers model. I was even lucky enough to get a chance to buy the very rifle that started my interest from the guy who let me shoot it some time back. Didn't get much done gun wise this year but I did pick up a couple of rifles I have had an itch for in the last few years.