The first military rifle developed by Paul Mauser and his brother Willelm was the single shot, black powder Model 1871 or Gew 71 in 11 mm calibre that replaced the earlier Dreyse Needle Gun. The Gew 71 was further developed in 1884 to add an 8-round tubular magazine to become the Gew 71/84.
In 1880, the Mauser brothers turned their attention to designing a smaller bore rifle using smokeless powder that had recently been developed. Unfortunately, Willelm died in 1882 which delayed the development work. As a result, the new rifle for the German Army, the Gew 88, was designed by the German Rifle Test Commission using the best features from a range of designs, including the Mauser bolt and the Mannlicher box magazine using en bloc (as opposed to stripper) clips. The unusual feature of the Gew 88 was the use of a barrel shroud to allow the barrel to be fully floating improving the accuracy of the rifle.
Having missed out on developing the Gew 88, Paul Mauser continued to develop his bolt action magazine rifle design over the following 10 years via a series of commercial contracts. Ultimately, this led to the adoption of the Gew 98 in 1898 by the German Army. Over this intervening period, the basic design developed in a series of steps that corresponded to the following groups of models:
Model 89, 90, 91
The original model used the first generation smokeless 7.65 x 53 mm rimless round which employed a 210 gr round nosed bullet developed by Mauser. The rifle used a 5-round, single column box magazine projecting down below the stock that was fed via Ladestreifen which translates into loading clips or stripper clips. It was found that stripper clips provided significant advantages over the en bloc loading of the Gew 88. These early models used a fixed bolt head and claw extractor and all used a cock-on-closing bolt mechanism.
The first commercial success for Mauser was the Model 1889 for the Belgium army that was manufactured under licence by Fabrique Nationale Herstal which was specially set up for this purpose. This rifle used a shrouded barrel like the Gew 88. A similar rifle was then manufactured by Mauser for Turkey without the barrel shroud known as the Model 1890 and a year later was then provided to Argentina as the Model 91. As with all the earlier Mausers, they were manufactured by Ludwig Loewe in Prussia.
Model 92
The Model 92 was the first to use a non-rotating claw extractor patented by Mauser in 1892. The advantages of this was that it firmly gripped the next cartridge as it was extracted from the magazine providing a much more reliable method of feeding. The M92 was the first Mauser to introduce a trigger/seal/bolt interlock mechanism that prevented the trigger from moving the sear and firing mechanism unless the bolt was fully closed. This model was sold to Spain and used the Mauser 7 x 57 mm cartridge but still used the single column box magazine.
Model 93
This model evolved from the M92 and was the first to use a staggered column 5-round magazine that was flush with the bottom of the stock and used a detachable floor plate. It again fired the Mauser 7 x 57 mm cartridge and was sold principally to Spain.
Model 94, 95 & 96
The M93 was followed by the Model 1894 that was sold to Sweden in carbine form firing the Mauser 6.5 x 55 mm round. The Model 1894 was followed by the Model 1895 firing the Mauser 7 x 57 mm round. Among the countries that bought the Model 1895 were the Boer republics in South Africa who used them with great success against the British Army during the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902). The Model 1896 was a long rifle version sold to Sweden firing the Mauser 6.5 x 55 mm round. Later models used a shoulder on the receiver behind the bolt handle to act as a safety feature in case of failures of the two front lugs on the bolt.
Mauser Model 1895
The Model 1895 used a 1.30 inch diameter locking ring on the receiver for the two bolt lugs in a similar way to previous models. It used a straight bolt handle projecting sideways from the receiver that required 90 degrees of rotation to unlock. The bolt could be withdrawn from the receiver by first operating the spring loaded catch on the left of the receiver. The Model 1895 was fitted with a inclined shoulder or cam behind the charger bridge that provided a smooth initial extraction of a cartridge as the bolt handle was rotated.
As in previous Mauser models, the Model 1895 cocked-on-opening and used the same the trigger/sear/bolt safety interlock that prevented the sear from operating until the bolt was fully closed. This made use of a projection on the front of the sear bearing on the underside of the bolt and stopping the sear moving until the bolt was fully closed when a cut out in the bolt provided the necessary clearance. The bolt sleeve was fitted with the usual Mauser 3-position safety mounted on the bolt sleeve that operated when the action was cocked. In the right-hand position, it locked the bolt; in the middle position, it disengaged the trigger from the sear but still allowed the bolt to be cycled; in the left-hand position, it made the rifle ready to fire.
Like all previous Mauser rifles, the Model 1895 used a one piece stock with an upper hand guard between the rear sight and the mid barrel band. A wide barrel band was fixed to the front end of the stock that incorporated a lug underneath for the Model 1895 bayonet. The mid barrel band clamped into position against a shoulder in the stock and incorporated the upper swivel for the leather sling. The Model 1895 featured a straight stock behind the trigger. The butt plate was of plain design with no trap fitted as on the equivalent US and UK military rifles of the time. The lower slings swivel was screwed into the butt.
The Model 1895 was equipped with a short cleaning rod ( 15 5/8 inches) that slid into a hole in the end of the stock and effectively screwed internally into the mid barrel band. The idea was for soldiers to screw 3 of the rods together tin order to clean a rifle. However, in practice, rope pull throughs were also issued that were much easier to use in practice.
The Model 1895 used a fixed front sight in the form of a blade with no protection wings provided. It used a ladder rear sight with V-notch that was graduated from 400 to 2000 m. When lowered, a battle V-notch was provided for shooting up to 400 m.
The Model 1895 bayonet attached to the rifle via a lug on the front barrel band together with a muzzle ring. The blade was fullered and was 10 inches long. It was housed in a metal scabbard attached to a frog.
My Mauser Model 1895
My Model 1895 is dated 1896 and was made by Ludwig Loewe in Berlin. The origin of this particular model is not entirely clear but it is assumed that it may have been brought back to the UK after the 2nd Boer War.
This Model 1895 would not have been the easiest rifle to use in combat. In contrast to the Long Lee-Enfield and Lee-Metfords used by the British Army at the time, the Model 1895 bolt is quite awkward to cycle fast. It takes quite a lot of forward force to cock the mechanism when the bolt is closed making it difficult to keep the weapon fixed on a target during the process. It was probably because of this that the Gew 98 developed for the German Army in 1898 changed to a cock-on-opening mechanism.
Of course, the main advantage of the Model 1895 to the Boers was its accuracy at the longer ranges (up to 1000 m) and the fact that it could be re-loaded quickly using 5-round stripper clips. The rifles used by the British Army at the time were not only less accurate but also wrongly zeroed and could only be re-loaded one round at a time.
Mauser Model 1895 Specifications
- Weight: 3.90 kg
- Weight of Bayonet: 0.53 kg
- Length of Rifle: 1.22 m
- Length with Bayonet: 1.61 m
- Length of Barrel: 740 mm
- Calibre: 7 x 57mm Mauser
- Bullet: 172 gr bullet
- Muzzle Velocity: 700 m/s (2297 fps)
- Front Sight: Blade
- Rear Sight: Ladder sight
- Rear Ladder Sight: 400 to 2000 m
- Rifling: Conventional
- No. of Grooves: 4
- Rifling Twist: right-handed with 1 twist in 9.45 inches
