The Argentine Mauser Model 1909 were

Gewehr 98 The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated ''G98'', Gew 98, or ''M98'') is a bolt-action rifle made by Mauser for the German Empire as its service rifle from 1898 to 1935. The Gewehr 98 action, using a 5-round stripper clip loaded with the 7.92×57mm Mauser ...

pattern bolt-action

battle rifles A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

designed for the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

. They were produced both in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Design

The Mauser 1909 was a slightly modified copy of the Gewehr 98. Among other modifications, the ''Lange Visier'' sight was replaced by a tangent leaf sight. The M1909 was also able to use the bayonet of the Mauser 1891 it replaced. The main producer in Germany was

Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken ''Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktiengesellschaft'' (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book diction ...

that delivered 200,000 rifles while around 85,000 rifles were manufactured by the ''Fabrica Militar de Armas Portatiles'', governmental plants in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

and Santa Fe. The Model 1909s were replaced by

FN FAL The FAL (, English: Light Automatic Rifle) is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal and others since 1953. During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of the NATO, North Atlantic Trea ...

s without having seen combat. Some Argentine Mauser 1909 rifles and carbines without crests were sold to

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

during the

Chaco War The Chaco War (, Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

received between 1910 and 1914 thousands of Mauser Model 1909 rifles, chambered in 7.65 Mauser. They were closer copies of the Gewehr 98, including the ''Lange Visier'' sight. Aside from the caliber, the only differences were the larger receiver ring, the shorter breech, the slightly modified strip guide to use older Model 1891 strips, the longer

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

, the aspheric shape of the bolt handle and the Peruvian markings. While these rifles were able to fire the old bullets with round nose, they were later adapted to spitzer bullets. These weapons were used during the

Leticia Incident Leticia (derived from the Latin greeting ''laetitia'' meaning ''joy'', ''gladness'', ''delight'') may refer to: People ;Given name * Saint Leticia, a venerated virgin martyr, saint * Queen Letizia of Spain (born 1972), queen consort of Spain * ...

and the

Ecuadorian–Peruvian War The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War, known locally as the War of '41 (), was a South American border war fought between 5–31 July 1941. It was the first of three military conflicts between Ecuador and Peru during the 20th century. During the war, ...

. After 1945, the Mauser 1909s were replaced by American weapons and were sold in the civilian market in the 1960s, a few being kept as ceremonial rifles.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Mauser Firearms Rifles of Argentina 7.65×53mm Mauser rifles Mauser rifles Sniper rifles Weapons of Peru