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1891 Argentine: Spanish-American War, Crestless G-Prefix

22K views 140 replies 24 participants last post by  JoeACTM 
#1 · (Edited)
Lightning strikes again.

To my knowledge, the following is only the second recorded G-prefix from the 0-4,999 lot which Loewe Berlin diverted from the Model 1891 Argentine Infantry Rifle production, and sold to Spain (built after late May, June 1893, and delivered between October 1893 and June 1894). The rifles were made without the crest.

The other one is also in my vault, and found in the following link:

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?408910-Argentine-M91-Showing-Its-Age


Many pics in the next post of Spanish-American War capture #2. It has heavy patina, all original matching numbers (stock number VERY faint), rare early rear sight, and missing the cleaning rod and striker from the bolt.

Enjoy, and thanks for looking.
 
#74 ·
When I began accumulating serial numbers I was interested in how many survived and in what condition. I did not expect to publish a monogram so I did not save hyper-links of the online searches. I want to thank JoeACTM for providing the hyper-links to the online sources. I have added # 1880 to my list. I missed that one. I guess the Google search engine doesn't always pick up on everything.
Thanks to all
Dan in Texas
 
#75 ·
I think we missed a carbine in one of the main Gun Boards threads. See post #28.

Now that's interesting. The bolt and safety on mine is marked with the crescent in exactly the same manner as all three shown in the thread. If I recall, the bolt is not numbered on mine. I have never been sure if the bolt was original, but now here's another one with the same crescent markings and a un-numbered bolt (the one belonging to pzjgr). Mine is SN. 3246. Nice find!
H​

 
#76 ·
I think we missed a carbine in one of the main Gun Boards threads. See post #28.

Now that's interesting. The bolt and safety on mine is marked with the crescent in exactly the same manner as all three shown in the thread. If I recall, the bolt is not numbered on mine. I have never been sure if the bolt was original, but now here's another one with the same crescent markings and a un-numbered bolt (the one belonging to pzjgr). Mine is SN. 3246. Nice find!
H​
3246 added to list.
 
#77 · (Edited)
From my collection, just tossing another SAW piece out there too add to the database. Maybe it should have made my five most rare Mausers?
 

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#85 · (Edited)
Hector J. Meruelo has provided the following information. Interestingly, he says he has an H block Spanish M1891 long rifle s/n H1948. That agrees with my suspicion that the rifles were not consecutive s/n and some were outside the G block.

He also says there were 10,000 rifles and 5,000 carbines which I really think were 5,000 and 5,000.

I suspect he was confused when he mentioned the Spanish M1891 carbines with Argentine crests.

You can read the full articles at the link provided here; take a good look at the referenced website: http://www.catalogacionarmas.com/articulos.asp


THE SPANISH MAUSER FAMILY…A history with multiple sources

PREFACE

The history and genealogy of the Spanish Mauser family is extensive and somewhat difficult to unravel; The purpose of this article is to try to unify information obtained from several well known sources into a coherent and I hope, also interesting narrative, particularly from the historical and collecting points of view, as I am basically a collector, and with somewhat less emphasis on the technical aspects, although without ignoring them when necessary.
The main sources have been: Bernardo Barceló Rubí (Tres Siglos de Armamento Portátil en España), my friend Juan L. Calvó (Armamento Reglamentario y Auxiliar del Ejército Español, plus multiple articles from his website www.catalogacionarmas.com, plus innumerable personal communications), my other peninsular friend Eduardo Gorostiza, preeminent collector of Spanish bayonets, Josep Ma Abad, Manuel Estirado and Francisco Fuentes (Pistolas y Revólveres de la Republican Production de Guerra), Robert W.D.Ball (Mauser Military Rifles of the World, 5th Edition), Juan Sopena Garreta (Historia del Armamento Español, Vol.II), Leonardo Antaris (Star Firearms), Ludwig Olson (Mauser Bolt Rifles), John Walter (Rifles of the World), and Luc Guillou (Mauser Fusils et Carabines Militaires), with some observations and specimens from my personal collection.
I hope this work will be of some use to the collector and bring some degree of pleasure to the casual reader. I will start this story with the Mauser Modelo Español rifle and then I will review its variants: carbines, musketoons, short rifles, etc.
Hector J. Meruelo
Miami, Florida, June, 2014


INDEX
CHAPTER1: THE MAUSER “MODELO ESPAÑOL” RIFLE
The experimental M.1890-92 trials rifle, the M.1892 and M.1893 Mauser “Modelo
Español” rifles……..and….. the M.1891 Argentine rifle.
CHAPTER 2: THE MAUSER “MODELO ESPAÑOL” CARBINES
The Mauser “Modelo Español” carbines…….”M.1891”, M.1892, M.1893, M.1895… and some
interesting variants.
CHAPTER 3: THE MAUSER “MODELO ESPAÑOL” MUSKETOONS
Spanish Model Mauser musketoons and experimental short rifles
The model of 1916 Spanish Mauser musketoon
The Popular Republican Army musketoons
The FR-7 “Cetmeton”
CHAPTER 4: THE MAUSER MUSKETOON 7,92 mm AND THE FR-8 “Cetmeton”
The M.1943 “Corunna” musketoon for the Army, Navy and Guardia Civil, the M.1944
musketoon for the Air Force, and the FR-8 “Cetmeton”
CHAPTER 5: SPANISH EXPORT “MAUSERS” AND TABLE
Spanish Export “Mausers”
Table
BIBLIOGRAPHY:



CHAPTER 1
THE EXPERIMENTAL M.1890-92 TRIALS RIFLE, THE M.1892 AND M.1893 “MAUSER MODELO ESPAÑOL” RIFLES……..AND….. THE M.1891 ARGENTINE RIFLE.

In 1893 a rebellion in the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa caused the acquisition of 10,000
rifles and 5,000 carbines of the M1891 Argentinian Mauser model in 7.65 mm caliber which
Ludwig Loewe was manufacturing at the time for the Argentine Republic and whose
government agreed to cede them to Spain. These rifles and carbines bore the Argentine
national crest on their receivers and were clearly marked as Modelo 1891 Argentino; Specimen
number H1948 in my collection is marked with the Modelo Argentino denomination on the
receiver, but lacks (never had) the Argentine crest , probably due to the fact that it had not
been yet so marked at the time of its cession to Spain (I will address the Loewe M1891
Argentine and Spanish carbines later on); Once their service in Melilla was completed coinciding
with the Cuban insurrection in 1895, they were sent to that island; Upon the onset of the
Spanish American war in 1898 many of these M1891 Argentine Mausers plus many M1893
Spanish Mausers were captured by the American forces; The Argentinian model used the
M1891 Argentinian bayonet, with a blade longer than the M1893 Spanish bayonets, and with a
white metal handle; They were all made by Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie (WKC), of Solingen,
Germany.


CHAPTER 2
The Mauser Modelo Español carbines…….”M.1891”, M.1892, M.1893,
M.1895… and some interesting variants.

Besides the Argentinian Model of 1891 carbines in 7.65 mm caliber acquired
due to the crisis in the city of Melilla, marked “Modelo Argentino 1891” on the
left side of the receiver and with the Argentine coat of arms on the chamber,
other carbines of the same model and caliber are known, bearing the Spanish
coat of arms on the chamber and the generic inscription “MANUFACTURA
LOEWE BERLIN” on the left receiver (SN 1941 in my collection); These were in
all probability Argentine carbines which had not yet been marked at the time of
their cession to Spain and were instead marked as described; I am not aware of
how many were so marked but probably not many, judging by their scarcity in
the collector’s market; Although they are commonly referred to as the “Modelo
Español 1891”, this model never officially existed.
In his book, “Mauser Military Rifles of the World”, Robert Ball reports
having seen some with Turkish inspection marks (a half moon) on the bolts, and
he cites Colin Webster’s work “Argentine Mauser Rifles 1871-1959”, where that
author tells us that, due to the crisis in Melilla, the Spanish Government
purchased not only Argentinian weapons but also Turkish ones; I have no other
information on this subject.
 
#86 ·
I also believe that the guns were not in consecutive serial numbers when sent to Spain. Not all the G series were altered or ground. Some early and some later ones went on to Argentina.
My reasoning is that I have the following M1891 rifles, each has the later sight update. ( I will have to look again tonight)
G 0896
G 3112
G 7187
G 7596
G 8856

All have the Argentine crest, all numbers match, all were bought in Alexandria VA from the InterArms warehouse. I just wish I had known to look for the matching bayonet at the time.
 
#87 ·
Essex,

Wow. Five crested G-series all matching. I am picking myself up off the floor. Do the rear sights have the matching last two digits of the serial numbers as well?

Have you ever taken them apart and noticed if the inside of the trigger guard and the rear side of the front barrel band also have the matching two digits?

Was InterArms stating that they imported them from Argentina? Could they have gotten them from Spain or some other country? Were there some with the crest ground mixed in with the ones with crests?

How is it that they are all G-series, or did you buy a lot more and are just mentioning the G-series? Could it have been that the whole batch at InterArms was G-series?

Are all the crests the older style with the curved background lines? That is, they do not have the straight horizontal background lines like the 1909 crests.

Thank you for telling us about this. It is very interesting information.
 
#88 ·
I will look at them tonight and let you know tomorrow. I also have a K series. I just picked the ones that seemed to have the nicest wood. These were my first guns, Dad knew someone that worked there and he brought him and later me into the warehouse. These all came out of the boxes and were not stacked on pallets (like Samco) everyone seemed to be very careful with what they took out of the crates. Guns went in a pile to go to the storefront and bayonets in a 5 gal. bucket. I never saw any ground ones. I got these over several trips and the crates were all stacked to the ceiling, the pile never seemed to get smaller. If I had to guess I would think that these came from Argentina since I got a rolling block and bayonet at the same time. I quit buying because they all looked the same and I already had some. STUPID. None of the bayonets are ground ether. Real Stupid. But then I was only making about $3/hr and I had a car to support.
 
#90 ·
Yes this was in the early 70's. I think I was about 16 at the time. I was driving. I have not been able to pull the guns out of the safe.

Some Ass is going around the county and opening gates and letting the cows out. The other night found four of my neighbors cows in my yard. Thank god no one hit one with a car. Last night my mothers had her gates opened, even the chain was cut. The cows did not go on to the road, they went back to her house. She feeds them cookies, so when they got out they just went down the driveway to get cookies. Game cameras are out....we will find him.
 
#91 ·
When you find whoever is doing this I hope the Sheriff puts the fear of God into them. When I was 15 I hit a yearly on my motorcycle. It was about midnight & I saw him and slowed down & tried to dodge him but we met at the last minute & I went somersaulting over him. A few feet to the left & I would have been taken out by a 2,000 lb Brahma bull.
Dan in Texas
 
#94 ·
Another G-series, G4297, has been located with the old style sight. This one shares a lot of characteristics with the others, but also has a lot of differences. Supposedly it came from the estate of a WW2 veteran who repaired appliances in the 1940's and 1950's and he got it from a customer who could not pay the bill.

The condition is much better than the others, but it may be due to the rifle having been reconditioned. The stock is obviously sanded and coated with something. I am having a hard time assessing the finish on the metal. It is too nice. However, where there is some micro-pitting it looks silvery and shines when I look at it with the 40x magnifier. Under magnification I can see evidence of oxidation blended in with the bluing. The bolt handle seems to have been polished.

The receiver and barrel serial number fonts match and also match to the other G-series font example. The two digit serials on the rear sight match, but the ones on the front band and trigger guard do not.

The rear sight has had the 350 meter flip up removed. This puzzles me, since according to the Webster book, this was one way of adjusting for the spitzer bullet ballistics. That would obviously have been needed after 1900.

The other puzzle is that the front sight base has a four pointed star inspection mark instead of the normal cap inspection mark and the front sight base has either a six pointed sunburst or a star of David mark instead of the normal flattened oval mark. These seem to the the marks observed on 1893 Spanish Mauser front sights.

It came with a bayonet made by Simspson Suhl and a Bxxxx serial number. I am told that this is a bayonet for an 1893 Spanish Mauser and the serial number puts it into the 1894 production period. However, the rivets have been replaced by screws, which I am told indicates post 1900 rebuild.

The only other strange thing is that the barrel has the cap inspection mark in addition to the expected buckle and firing proof mark. The cap seems to be found on 1909 Argentine barrels, but I have not seen it on the few 1891 barrels I have been able to look at. Given the matching serial number font and the fact that the 1909 barrel is large ring and the 1891 barrel is small ring, it would not seem likely that this is a 1909 barrel.

[edit] I added a picture of the stock and then noticed quite a difference in finish between the rear sight and the barrel and receiver (at least in this picture). My artificial lighting tends to play tricks, but this picture would almost make it look like either the rear sight had been blued separately (which I imaging it would have been) or that someone removed the sights from the barrel and refinished it and the receiver.
 

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#95 ·
Interesting sight features. I looked at the front sights on my two G-series, but the patina and wear is so great, that only the Argentine hat is somewhat visible on the left base flat.

From the softening of the stamps on the left side of the receiver on the example above, I would say that it has likely been polished and re-blued.
 
#96 ·
Well I dug out all five G series rifles. All have the updated rear sight. All have the curved back ground lines on the crest (old style). All have matching numbers on the stocks, cleaning rod, receiver, bolt, magazine, all have the guard screws staked in place (so I am not taking them apart) All screws have (*) marked on them, not a number.

G3112 has the cal. stamp of (7.65 mm) on the barrel just behind the rear sight. None of the others do.

G7596 has the longer style hand guard. It has the smoothest stock, possibly lightly sanded, dings in the wood appear to have been filled (Not with modern plastic wood. It maybe a rebuild since this one has extra punch marks on the guard screws staking them in place. The bayonet is close in serial number, white metal grips, crest is not ground, the scabbard is a non-serial numbered replacement.

I am sticking with the theory that this was an InterArms shipment from Argentina and not Spain. I dont remember any ground crests but also the bayonets that I picked up at the same time, ( all different series) are also un-ground. I dont think Spain would have received bayonets from other series rifles just to include them in the shipment.

The other Arg. 1891 that I have is a K series, un-ground as well.
 
#97 ·
Thanks for digging them out and reporting back. You probably would have mentioned it had you noticed, but I was wondering if the two digit serial numbers on the underside of the rear sight ladder match the last two digits of the rifle serial numbers.

Interesting that one has an import mark and one has been rebuilt, or at least has had the hand guard replaced. I have wondered if they might have considered giving them the long hand guard to be an improvement while they had it in for work at the armory.

Having the screws staked in place is certainly a nice touch. They must have come right out of the crate at some point along the way.

Which reminds me. When you saw the crates stacked to the ceiling is there anyway you might have noticed if they were the zinc lined original German shipping crates? I read that some of the rifles brought into the USA came in the original Loewe or DWM shipping crates.
 
#98 ·
I just remember the dark gray crates, I cant remember if the crate I took the guns from was even one of those. At that time InterArms had five or six blocks of warehouses on the Alexandria water front.

I will look on the site ladders, I thought you wanted me to take the barreled receiver out of the stock.
 
#100 ·
All of the guns have a two digit number on the top of the ladder and on the slide. These numbers can only be seen when the ladder is folded up.
The numbers match the last two numbers on the serial number.

Remember Sam Cummings owned InterArms some said he provided "Clean" guns for the CIA.
 
#102 ·
I was able to visit the Springfield Armory Museum today and view SPAR 4485, serial G4476 as well as the 1894 Spanish Carbine that they have.
http://ww3.rediscov.com/spring/VFPC.../DETAILS.IDC,SPECIFIC=13130,DATABASE=62291924,

I made a separate thread with the 8 SAW items I was allowed to view, but the G4476 rifle was my real reason for making the trip.

It turns out that my time and begging was well spent. The crest on G4476 is identical to the one on my rifle and very similar to the ones on martin08's rifles. The crest appears to be missing and appears to have been refinished early in the life of the rifle. The one at the museum was captured in 1898, so we know for sure it was not ground for export. I put my driver's license along the receiver ring and there was a slight bit of light showing under the straight edge, which supports the theory that the original Argentine crest was ground off and the ring refinished.

The rifle in the museum had a blown up barrel and was missing the bolt. I was not allowed to raise the sight or to take anything apart, but from what I could tell all the markings match what we have seen our our rifles. The stock has the commission acceptance stamp and the stock fitting *RA mark on the underside. The marks were not clear since this rifle had been present during the museum fire in the 1930's.

I am not that familiar with the 1894 carbines, but I took pictures of the markings and put them into the other thread. From what I could tell, it looked pretty much as we discussed. The crest was very weak, apparently due to wear and tear before it was given to the collection in 1902. The bolt sleeve has the Turkish inspection mark, which supports the theory that this is the normal configuration for these carbines.

Pictures courtesy of the Springfield Armory Museum.
 

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