Mauser Model 1871

Mauser Model 1871 / Gewehr 71
Mauser Model 1871
Type	Service rifle
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
In service	1871 - 1888
Used by	Germany, Japan, Qing Dynasty, Uruguay, Korean Empire, Irish Volunteers, Honduras[1]
Wars	Satsuma Rebellion, First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Easter Rising
Production history
Designer	Mauser
Designed	1870?
Variants	Gewehr 71/84
Specifications
Weight	4,5 kg
Length	1350 mm
Barrel length	855 mm
Cartridge	11 x 60 mm R
Action	bolt-action
Feed system	single-shot Gewehr 71/84: 8 round tubular magazine

German Empire, 1871–1918; Adoption of the rifle included parts of modern day Poland but not Bavaria

The Mauser Model 1871 adopted as the Gewehr 71 or Infanterie-Gewehr 71 ("I.G.Mod.71" was stamped on the rifles themselves) was the first of millions of rifles manufactured to the designs of Paul Mauser and Wilhelm Mauser of the Mauser company.^[2]

During 1870-71 trials with many different rifles took place, with the "M1869 Bavarian Werder" being the Mausers' chief competitor. The Mauser was provisionally adopted at the end of 1871, pending the development of an appropriate safety. It was adopted by the German Empire excluding Bavaria. The action was not based on its predecessor, the Dreyse needle-gun which had seen service during the Franco-Prussian War.^[2]

The now well recognized Mauser "wing" type safety lever was developed for the Gewehr 71. The Gewehr 71 is a conventional looking bolt action chambered in 11 mm using black powder cartridges. The action included only a bolt guide rib as its single locking lug, locking forward of the receiving bridge. The original design single-shot, but in 1884, the design was updated with an 8-round tubular magazine designed by Alfred von Kropatschek, making this Germany's first repeating rifle. This version was designated the Gewehr 71/84.^[3] The Gewehr 71 was replaced by the Model 1888 Commission Rifle (designated Gewehr 88) starting in 1888.^[4]

This rifle was used by the Korean Empire Army (especially Guard units—this rifle replaced the Russian Berdan rifle). The number of rifles used is uncertain but the Korean Empire manufactured ammunition for them, which means that the Korean Empire used a respectable number of them.

Irish Republicans imported some 900 single-shot 1871 Mausers in the Howth gun-running for the nationalist militia called the Irish Volunteers in 1914. They were used in action by the Volunteers in the Easter Rising of 1916, an insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland. The 1871 Mauser became known in Ireland as the "Howth Mauser".^[5]

In fiction and popular culture

11-mm Mauser is the service rifle of the Martian Army in The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.^[6]

In the film The Last Samurai the Japanese Imperial Army carries German bolt-action Mauser M1871/84 rifles, in spite of the fact they were supposedly being armed by the U.S. The 1884 models were altered in appearance by film makers to resemble the more period accurate 1871 models.

Gallery

• 

  Mauser Model 1871 for Jäger units

• 

  Mauser Model 1871 cavalry carbine

• 

  Mauser Model 1871-84

• 

  Mauser Model 1871

• 

  Gewehr 71/84 seen with sword bayonet

See also

• List of firearms

References

External links

• Official Manual (German)