Mauser
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| Industry | Firearms |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik |
| Successor | Mauser Jagdwaffen GmbH |
| Founded | May 23, 1874 |
| Founders | Wilhelm & Paul Mauser |
| Defunct | 1995: sold to Rheinmetall, (2000: Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH sold to Lüke & Ortmeier Gruppe) |
| Headquarters | Isny im Allgäu, Germany |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Mauser brothers |
| Products | Bolt-action rifles |
| Owner | Lüke & Ortmeier Gruppe |
| Website | www |
Mauser is a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols since the 1870s. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces. Since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, military Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to a number of countries, as well as being a popular civilian firearm.
Mauser continued to make sporting and hunting rifles in the late 20th century. In 1995 the company became a subsidiary of Rheinmetall called Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, before being acquired by Lüke & Ortmeier Group in 2000.
A division of the original company, Mauser Jagdwaffen GmbH, was split off and, in 2000, sold to Luke & Ortmeier Group. Mauser Jagdwaffen continues making bolt-action rifles as a subsidiary of SIG Sauer. The Mauser name has historically also been licensed by other companies on intermittent occasions.
Peter Paul Mauser, often referred to as Paul Mauser, was born on 27 June 1838, in Oberndorf am Neckar, Württemberg. His brother Wilhelm was four years older. Their father, Franz Andreas Mauser, was a gunsmith at the Württemberg Royal Armory. The factory was built in an Augustinian cloister, a stout building ideal for arms production. Another son, Franz Mauser, travelled to America in 1853 with his sister and worked at E. Remington & Sons. Peter Paul was conscripted in 1859 as an artilleryman at the Ludwigsburg arsenal, where he worked as a gunsmith. Based on the Dreyse needle gun (Zündnadelgewehr), he developed a rifle with a turn-bolt mechanism that cocked the gun as it was manipulated by the user. The rifle initially used a firing needle; a later version used a firing pin and a rear-ignition cartridge. The rifle was shown to the Austrian War Ministry by Samuel Norris of E. Remington & Sons. Norris believed the design could be adapted to convert Chassepot needle guns to fire metallic cartridges. Shortly thereafter, a partnership was formed in Oberndorf between Norris and the Mauser brothers. The partners went to Liège in 1867, but when the French government showed no interest in a Chassepot conversion, the partnership was dissolved. Paul Mauser returned to Oberndorf in December 1869, and Wilhelm arrived in April 1870.
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Wikipedia