Mauser Model 1889
| Mauser Model 1889 | |
|---|---|
Argentine 1891 Cavalry Carbine
|
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| Type | Rifle |
| Place of origin |
German Empire Belgium |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1889–1940s |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars |
Philippine Revolution Spanish–American War Philippine–American War Belgian colonial conflicts World War I Greco-Turkish War Turkish War of Independence World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Mauser |
| Designed | 1889 |
| Manufacturer |
Fabrique Nationale Loewe Berlin Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken |
| No. built | ~275,000 |
| Variants | Belgian Mauser rifle M1889, Turkish Mauser rifle M1890, Argentinean Mauser rifle M1891, Belgian Mauser cavalry carbine M1889, Belgian Mauser Engineer carbine M1889, Argentinean Mauser cavalry carbine M1891, Argentinean Mauser Engineer carbine M1891, |
| Specifications | |
| Weight |
|
| Length |
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| Barrel length |
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| Cartridge |
7.65×53mm Argentine 7.65×53mm Turkish 8×57mm Turkish |
| Caliber | 7.65mm |
| Action | Bolt-action |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,100 ft/s (640.1 m/s) |
| Feed system | 5 round box magazine |
| Sights | Iron sights adjustable to 1,900 m (2,078 yd) |
The Mauser Model 1889 was a bolt-action rifle of Belgian origin. It became known as the 1889 Belgian Mauser, 1891 Argentine Mauser, and 1890 Turkish Mauser.
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. The main features were the ability to use stripper clips to feed the magazine (a revolution in rate of fire), and its rimless cartridge (7.65 Argentine), advanced for the time.
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. The heavy-barreled Mauser with the barrel shroud was deemed superior to the competing Belgian designs, and resulted in the founding of arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre, now known as FN Herstal. 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.
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Wikipedia