1891 argentine mauser carbine serial numbers

Whether made by Loewe or DWM, the 1891 Argentine Mausers are beautifully made firearms well-known for their spectacular receiver markings. (r.) Rollmarked from Berlin and shipped to Argentina, the 1891 Mauser would also have the Argentine national crest on the front receiver band. (ctr.) Graduated out to 2,000 meters, the rear sight also folds flat. (l.) A 90-degree turndown bolt handle was standard on carbines. All of the 1891 Argentine Mauser rifles and carbines were manufactured in Berlin first at Ludwig Loewe & Company, and after 1896 at Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft (“DWM”).

The 1891 rifle features a 29.13-inch barrel, an adjustable rear sight graduated to 2,000 meters and a straight bolt handle, while both carbines are equipped with 17.6-inch barrels, rear sights graduated to 1,400 meters, and turned-down bolt handles. Argentina purchased the Modelo 1891 in three different configurations: a full-length rifle, a Cavalry Carbine and an Engineer Carbine. Like its Belgian and Turkish predecessors, the Argentine 1891 uses a bolt with front-locking lugs, the distinctive Mauser “wing”-type safety selector, a one-piece wooden stock, and a wood upper handguard that is secured to the barrel by two segments of copper wire. The 1891 Argentine Mauser is a cock-on-close, striker-fired repeater feeding from an internal five-shot, single-stack box magazine.

Then, the following year, Argentina adopted a slightly modified version of the Belgian 1889 as Mauser Modelo Argentino 1891, also known as the 1891 Argentine Mauser. Shortly thereafter, the Ottoman Turkish Empire adopted an almost identical derivative for its military and they even went with the same caliber. In 1889, Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre began manufacturing a Mauser-type rifle for the Belgian Army that was chambered for the rimless 7.65x53 mm rifle cartridge. When Argentina sought to adopt a modern, repeating rifle for its military in the late 1880s, it was at a time when Paul Mauser’s recent designs offered the state-of-the-art. Sometimes the members of this honor guard are from Ejército Argentino (the Argentine Army) and are armed with 19th Century Rolling Block rifles, but sometimes the members of the honor guard are from Armada de la República Argentina (the Argentine Navy) and they carry the rifle that transitioned the country from the 19th Century to the 20th-the Model 1891 Argentine Mauser.

Their reverence is such that, on most days, an honor guard is posted at the Memorial to the Fallen at Plaza San Martín. It remains a sore subject in a country that is respectful of the men who survived the war and reverent of the men who did not. Sailors from the Argentine Navy carry the Model 1891 Mauser as part of honor guard duties.

1891 argentine mauser carbine serial numbers