Mauser Modelo Argentino 1891. Another caliber? ĦAy, caramba!

[Phosphorus32]

Well, I sold one of my Type 53s this weekend and turned around and spent all but $10 of that on this ~120 year old Mauser at the local gun show.  I'd call that a trade up! 

The Modelo 1891 is essentially the same as the Belgian 1889 except the Argentine model lacks a barrel jacket.  Both the Belgian and Argentine versions are chambered in 7.65x53mm and this was actually the standard round of the Belgian army all the way to WWII, but the cartridge is often called 7.65x53 Argentine in the US.  The M1891 was produced by Loewe and also by DWM.  The first of the one piece bolt Mausers, this model lacked the third safety lug of the Gew98 that was just 9 years down the road. The other distinctive feature is the single-stack, 5-round external magazine. It's also a cock on close design. 

The bolt on my DWM made M1891 is silky smooth and tight in the races of the receiver.  It has a typical two stage trigger with a crisp 6 lb 9 oz trigger. The walnut stock and handguard are in great condition and the bluing is very good save for a scattered peppering of surface rust.  Based on the dust and rust, I think this rifle sat for decades in Argentina before it sat for decades in the US.  Considering that the M1891 was replaced by the M1909 only about 18 years later, it had a rather short service life and probably accounts for the very good condition of a lot of these.  The bore has frosting in the grooves but the lands are good and perhaps after some shooting it'll smooth out a bit more.  Apparently hundreds of these M 1891s were imported into the US in the early 60's and that explains the lack of any import marking.  Every SN matches: stock, receiver, barrel, bolt handle, magazine floorplate, and cleaning rod; last two digits on the rear sight leaf.   The Argentines ground the receiver and stock crests off of most of these and this example is no exception. A bunch of other little markings, including the Phrygian (aka liberty) cap, are found on various pieces of the rifle. 

Lots of pics. Enjoy!















Serial Numbers and Manufacturer Marking








Ejector, bolt release


Bolt




Magazine

[Blicero]

Damn...what a righteous rifle. What's up with the exposed mag? Were the Argentines and Belgians the only Mausers with those?

[Phosphorus32]

Damn...what a righteous rifle. What's up with the exposed mag? Were the Argentines and Belgians the only Mausers with those?

Thanks!  The Turkish Model 1890 was also essentially a Belgian Model 1889, so those are the only three models with that magazine.  Since the 1889 was manufactured by FN, which was a newly minted company at the time, and Ludwig Loewe had a large share of FN, which later became swallowed up into DWM, that creates the connection to the German Mausers.  I guess the single stack external magazine was an early design that disappeared with the design of the internal magazine and it's obvious advantages. 

[Greasemonkey]

Oh, that's nice , old world craftsman ship at its finest. A wonderfully smooth action.

My Argentine is posted as well, and I like the caliber. Its roughly equivalent to a 7.62Nato. I was lucky in the fact of a local shop always stocked the surplus, cheap as well. I'd get like 5 or 6 boxes for a $20 bill. Every once and a while he will still get some in and stick it aside for me. I also ended up with 12boxes of the brown tip target ammo, that stuff I stashed away for collecting.

[Phosphorus32]

Oh, that's nice , old world craftsman ship at its finest. A wonderfully smooth action.

My Argentine is posted as well, and I like the caliber. Its roughly equivalent to a 7.62Nato. I was lucky in the fact of a local shop always stocked the surplus, cheap as well. I'd get like 5 or 6 boxes for a $20 bill. Every once and a while he will still get some in and stick it aside for me. I also ended up with 12boxes of the brown tip target ammo, that stuff I stashed away for collecting.

Thanks!  Yup, you have a nice one GM.  The action is definitely sweet and there is a lot of attention to detail on these old Mausers.  DWM did excellent work.

Good info on the recoil.     I rarely find any ammo at a reasonable price in town, and never see military surplus.  I ordered a few boxes of PPU from Sportsmans Guide while they had free shipping earlier this week.  I was tempted by the FN surplus that Samco Global has but by the time I added shipping to the opposite side of the country it wasn't all that cheap anymore.

[Blicero]

You're becoming a Mauser Legend. You have the bases covered with all the decimal point calibers...what about 7mm? And...I'd be remiss if I didn't mention gebirgsjaeger.

[Phosphorus32]

You're becoming a Mauser Legend. You have the bases covered with all the decimal point calibers...what about 7mm? And...I'd be remiss if I didn't mention gebirgsjaeger.

A legend in my own mind   

Hmm, 8mm Gew98, K98a, K98k's; 6.5x55mm M/94, M/96, M/38; 7.65x53mm Argentine 1891; 7.62x51mm FR 8...yup need something from Spain or Chile or somewhere south of the border to fill the 7mm hole.  I actually have 100 rounds of 7mm ammo sitting on a shelf from when I was looking at a 7mm Mauser, which I ended up not buying     

You had me at Gebirgsjaegertruppenmeisters...G33/40     I definitely need a carbine in 8mm...one of these days.  Fighting off an inexplicable Mosinitis infection and trying to buy some Christmas presents.  Well, at least guns, Mosins, and Christmas presents came together for the two step-sons 

[Greasemonkey]

You forgot a trueblue .30-06 Mauser, a Colombian FN made M1950...  I do have an Argentine m1909 in rebarreled .30-06. A nice oddball 7mm I would pick, a Steyr M1912, not a very common Mauser.

Wanna see a M1912?? or a M1950 Colombian

[Phosphorus32]

You forgot a trueblue .30-06 Mauser, a Colombian FN made M1950...  I do have an Argentine m1909 in rebarreled .30-06. A nice oddball 7mm I would pick, a Steyr M1912, not a very common Mauser.

Wanna see a M1912?? or a M1950 Colombian

Do I wanna see a Mauser?!  That right there is one silly question