a contract and set up a factory to produce them.
Paul and Wilhelm probably began working together in the mid-1860s. Their first efforts were focused on improving the Dreyse needle rifle, at that time a widely used breech-loading military arm. Its firing mechanism had a long needle-like firing pin which had to penetrate the paper cartridge case and powder charge to detonate the primer, positioned at the base of the bullet. Their initial Models 71 improvement changed the action to cock on the uplift of the bolt handle. About the same time, they converted the action to use a metallic cartridge, its primer located in the case head. It appears the Mauser brothers also worked over the Chassepot action in a similar manner, but failed to sell their ideas to modernize these rifles.
The Mausers then, about 1867, built some rifles on actions of their own design incorporating these new features, but again they failed to sell their new rifle design. However, an American arms salesman, Samuel Norris, representing Remington, heard of their rifle and thought it showed promise.
Norris negotiated a partnership with the Mausers, and evidently thought enough of the Mauser action to have it patented in the United States. This patent, No.78,603, was granted to him and the Mausers on June 2, 1868. This action, known as the Mauser-Norris, was the first patented design bearing Paul Mauser’s name.
Meanwhile, the Mauser brothers continued working to design and develop a rifle action which would interest someone, Remington having failed to take up the patented rifle. Discarding many of the Mauser-Norris features, they built a another rifle with several important aspects. The new rifles were given to the Prussian army for testing. After these tests a few changes were suggested. The Mauser brothers made the necessary changes, following which the Prussian commission tested the new rifles and found them good. The new rifle was officially adopted in 1871, and the Mauser brothers received a contract. They were in business at last! (The Mauser-Norris, or the Mauser M67/69, as it is also known, and a second Mauser rifle, known as the Interim Model, are extremely rare. Only a few test rifles were made, and fewer exist today.)
The M71 and their next rifle, the M71/84, were made in large numbers, and are still common today. I will limit my detailed discussion in this chapter to these two models.
The Model 71 Mauser
With the Prussian contract in hand, the Mauser brothers set up a small temporary shop in Oberndorf, then moved to larger quarters in 1872. In 1874 the new factory was destroyed by fire, but they promptly rebuilt and resumed production of the M71. Not long after they were given a new contract to make 100,000 M71s. They granted licenses and received royalties from other armsmaking firms, which also began producing 71s in large numbers. M71s were made in various German government arsenals at Amberg, Danzig, Erfurt and Spandau, and in the great Austrian arms center at Steyr. While the M71 became the standard shoulder arm for the entire German empire, the Steyr factory built thousands of them for China, Japan and other countries. All in all, huge quantities were made from 1872 to 1884 and, though they were more or less obsolete by the latter date, many were not retired from service until years later.
The M71 Mauser was made in several styles. Foremost was the M71 rifle with a barrel 33.5” long, 53” overall and weighing about 10 pounds. The M71 Jaeger rifle has a 29.45” barrel, is 48.75” overall and weighs about 9 pounds. The M71 short rifle weighs about 8.5 pounds and has a 20.5” barrel.
The M71 Carbine has a 20” barrel, is about 39.5” overall, and weighs about 7.5 pounds. All were chambered for the 11mm Mauser cartridge.
The Model 71 Mauser carbine. Chambered for the 11mm (43-caliber) Mauser cartridge, this carbine has a 20” barrel, is 39.25 ” overall and weighs about 7.6 pounds. The model designation, stamped on the left side of the receiver, is “K. MOD. 71”. The date (year) of manufacture is stamped on the right side of the receiver. On the top flat over the breech end of the barrel is stamped the makers name, on this one: “GEBR MAUSER & CO OBERNDORF.”
The M71 Mauser Action
The receiver, a one-piece iron or steel casting or forging, is bored lengthwise to accept the bolt; the front end, about 1” long, is threaded to take the barrel shank. Beginning behind the ring, part of the top and right side of the receiver is milled away, leaving a loading port about 3.12” long. The receiver bridge behind the loading port is slotted to allow passage of the bolt handle and bolt guide rib. Behind the bridge the receiver is milled down to form a tang.
The steel bolt body is cylindrical, drilled out from the front. Integral with the bolt body is a heavy longitudinal guide rib and a bolt handle with a round grasping ball. With the bolt in the receiver and the bolt handle turned down, the rear end of this rib lies in front of the right receiver bridge wall, locking the bolt in the receiver.
The M71 bolt has a separate head which does not rotate with the bolt when the handle is raised or lowered. The rear end of the bolt head fits partly into the front of the bolt, and is drawn back with the bolt by a collar which fits into a notch cut under the front part of the bolt rib. The face of the bolt head is not recessed for the cartridge rim. The one-piece extractor spring is fitted into the left side of the bolt head, its rear end held in place by the bolt body.
The one-piece firing pin, and the coil mainspring which surrounds it, fits inside the bolt through the front end. The mainspring is compressed between the step-down in the rear of the bolt and the collar on the front of the firing pin. The firing pin extends through the rear of the bolt, through the heavy cocking piece, and all are held in place by the firing pin nut which threads on the rear end of the firing pin. A deep notch in the rear end of the bolt, and a matching projection on the front of the cocking piece, cause the cocking piece to be pushed back when the bolt handle is raised to cock the action. A heavy rib on top of the cocking piece extends forward into the slot in the receiver bridge, which prevents the cocking piece from turning when the bolt handle is raised or lowered. The safety is fitted into a hole drilled lengthwise into the rib on the cocking piece, and is held in place by a cross pin. When the action is cocked and closed, the safety, when swung to the right, cams the cocking piece back slightly off of the sear and locks it there, at the same time locking the bolt so it cannot be opened.
On opening the bolt, the front end of the bolt rib, contacting an inclined surface on the rear of the receiver ring, forces the bolt back to provide the initial extraction power. Conversely, the rear end of the rib, its locking surface, and the top corner of the right receiver bridge wall are similarly rounded or angled so that, on closing the bolt and lowering the bolt handle, the bolt is forced forward to seat the cartridge in the chamber. A heavy washer, held on the bolt rib with a screw, acts as the bolt-stop when the bolt is opened—then the washer contacts the semicircular cuts in the top edges of the receiver bridge walls.
The sear is attached to a long spring member by a pin, the spring being attached to the solid bottom of the receiver with a screw. The trigger, also attached to the end of this spring, pivots on a pin. The sear projects upwards through a hole in the receiver, contacting the bottom of the cocking piece when the action is operated. The trigger has three small humps where it contacts the receiver. On pulling the trigger back, the first hump causes the sear to be pulled down almost all the way off of the cocking piece, but after the second hump touches the receiver only an additional short pull on the trigger moves the sear free of the cocking piece to fire the rifle. This is the standard military double stage trigger let-off. The third hump on the trigger is provided to move the sear all the way down, when the trigger is pulled back all the way, so the bolt can be withdrawn from the receiver, but only after the bolt-stop screw and washer are loosened.
The M71 has a one-piece walnut buttstock and forend. A long narrow plate is inletted into the bottom of the stock under the action. Two sturdy screws—one through the receiver tang and stock threads into this plate, the other, through the front
