Mauser Model 1889

The Mauser Model 1889 is a bolt-action rifle of Belgian origin. It became known as the 1889 Belgian Mauser, 1891 Argentine Mauser, and 1890 Turkish Mauser.

History

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. 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. The commission preferred to create their own design. 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 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.
A main feature was the introduction of Mausers newly developed at that time high-performance smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle 7.65×53mm Mauser cartridge.
Another new main feature was the ability to load the single-stack detachable box magazine that extended below the bottom of the stock with single 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 practical rate of fire. As a result of opening up the receiver top for quick stripper clip reloading, Mauser chose to move the locking lugs to the front of the bolt and lock them in the receiver ring to promote mechanical strength. The forward receiver ring diameter were the two forward locking lugs achieved lockup is .

Mauser 1889

When the modernizing Belgian Army required a new service rifle all their own, they turned to the existing and proven German designs, bypassing any lengthy, and untimely costly, indigenous initiative in the process. The German design served as the basic framework for the Belgian offering which was slightly modified to suit Belgian military requirements. It was this rifle that turned out to be the very first successful firearm to be produced in number by Fabrique Nationale.

The system proved impressive at the 1884 Bavarian Arms Trials. Both firearms were a success, but decision-makers were not convinced that the stripper feed was superior to the en-block system employed by Mannlicher. In response, Mauser started small-scale production of the design in an effort to interest foreign nations, but failed to convince any of the European major powers. The Belgian attache, however, urged his government to contact Mauser, hoping the design might give them a chance to found a domestic arms industry. To compete for Belgian trials, several Belgian arms manufacturers funded the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre, now known as FN Herstal. Since the heavy-barreled Mauser with the barrel shroud was deemed superior to the competing FN design and other foreign rifles, FN was granted a license to produce the Mauser rifle.

FN's factory was overrun during World War I, so they outsourced production to a facility in Birmingham, England originally set up by the well known gunmaking firm, W. W. Greener and subsequently handed over to the Belgian Government later in the war, and Hopkins & Allen in the United States. Many Belgian Model 1889 rifles were captured by the Imperial German Army and some were modified to fire the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. Paraguay purchased 7,000 Belgian Model 1889s in 1930.

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). Models 1889/36 were used by German second-line troops or pro-German organisations such as the . Some Model 1889/36 rifles were still in service in Belgian Congo at the time of the independence of the Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville in 1960 and were used during the Congo Crisis.

Belgian variants

* Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet - with a standard bayonet
* Model 1889 Carbine with Yatagan - with a yatagan-like bayonet, used by the Foot Gendarmerie and fortress artillery
* Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet - shorter variant, reconditioned during World War I, using the Gras bayonet
* Model 1889 Carbine with bayonet - shorter variant, with a long bayonet and heavier stock, used by the Mounted Gendarmerie
* Model 1916 Carbine - slightly modified Mle 1889 with Yatagan, to replace all the earlier models of carbines
* 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 the Mauser Model 1935

Mauser 1890

The Belgians 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 consider the design. In the end they ordered 280,000 pieces of an improved version of the 89 Mauser known as the Turkish Model 1890 rifle. It used a slightly modified 7.65 round. A Model 1890 carbine was also supplied in smaller numbers. These rifles saw service during the First Balkan War 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. Mauser 1890 rifles were fielded by both Nationalist and Sultanate armies during the Turkish War of Independence. Some of these rifles were captured by Kurdish and Circassian rebels. In the 1950s, these rifles were still kept in reserve but many of them were rebuilt and rechambered in 7.92×57mm during the 1930s. During the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, old Mauser 1890 rifles were used by Turkish Cypriots.

The Royal Yugoslav Army received Turkish Mausers as war reparation. Some were used unmodified as Puska M90 T and others shortened as Puska M 03 T. Some of these rifles were captured by the Nazi Germany and designated Gewehr 297 (j).

Mauser 1891

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 the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. M1891 carbines were still in service with the Argentine Police in the 1960s.

Bolivia bought 15,000 Argentine-made Modelo 1891s in the period between 1897 and 1901, they were designated Modelo 1895 (not to be confused with the Mauser Model 1895). They saw combat during the Chaco War

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