#FN BELGIAN MAUSER SERIAL NUMBERS SERIES#

This Belgian Mauser also became the first Mauser rifle to fire a useful small-caliber cartridge of smokeless propellant (7.65mm) as previous offerings utilized an 8mm or 7.92mm caliber type. Regardless, fighting men still respected the single-loading nature of such weapons. Individual cartridges could still be loaded in lieu of the charger method as normal but use of chargers improved reloading times considerably. The weapon was chambered for the 7.65x53mm Belgian Mauser cartridge and utilized a straight-pull, manually-actuated bolt-action mechanism (essentially a handle set at 90-degrees from the receiver). This left five well-stacked rounds ready to fire in the fixed magazine. When loading the first round into the chamber through the standard bolt-action motion, the charger was ejected from the weapon - the cartridges effectively 'stripped' from their holder. In this fashion, prepared 'chargers', each holding five rounds, were fitted into the integral box magazine which sat ahead of the trigger group. It was the first Mauser-based rifle to feature a charger-loading integral box magazine. By many accounts, the barrel jacket was not appreciated by its operators who depended on a perfect rifle in wartime.Дespite this drawback, the Belgian version of the Mauser held several 'firsts' in Mauser rifle history. One last item of note concerning this design initiative was the extra steel that was required to complete these rifles - an expensive resource particularly when the rifle was expected to reach tens of thousands of Belgian troops. As such, barrel quality was affected over time regardless of the protective measure. Additionally, the jacket was not perforated in such a way as to relieve the barrel of any heat build-up and proved prone to denting. Despite this approach, the jacketed barrel proved susceptible to moisture build-up and, therefore, introduced the problem of rust forming on the barrel itself - unbeknownst to the owner. The jacket was instituted as a feature intended to maintain the effectiveness of the barrel and the wooden body over time, otherwise lengthening its service life and long-term accuracy when exposed to excessive firing and battlefield abuse. One of the principle defining features of the Belgian version of the Mauser rifle was its thin sheet steel jacket fitted over the barrel - a very unique element not common to any other Mauser mark of note. FN eventually survived two world wars and continues today as one of the top firearms designers and producers in the world. It was this very rifle that the storied Belgian firearms concern of Fabrique-National (otherwise abbreviated as 'FN' - FN Herstal) was set up to manufacture in number. The German design served as the basic framework for the Belgian offering which was slightly modified to suit Belgian Army requirements. When the modernizing Belgian Army required a new service rifle all their own, they turned to the existing and proven German design, bypassing any lengthy, and ultimately costly, indigenous initiative in the process.

#FN BELGIAN MAUSER SERIAL NUMBERS SERIES#

The Model 1898 formed the basis of the World War 2-era Karabiner 98K (or 'Kar 98K') carbine series - the last major Mauser rifle adopted by the German Army. The first German Mauser became the Model 1871 'Infanterie Gewehr' while the more popular Mauser Model 1898 (or 'Gewehr 98') became the primary service rifle of the German Army in World War 1. Many foreign national long guns simply borrowed (or illegally copied) the proven 'Mauser' action and were often times designated with the Mauser name as an additional identifier despite their true country of origin. The design went on to become one of the most famous family of bolt-action service rifles of its time (perhaps even of all time) and formed the basis of many forthcoming bolt-action-based long guns to follow. It was based on the proven Mauser design originally brought about by brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser of Germany. The Belgian Model 1889 'Mauser' became the first bolt-action service rifle of the Belgian Army.

Fn Belgian Mauser Serial Numbers