Turkish Mauser Model 1893

About the Turkish Mauser Model 1893

The Turkish Mauser Model 1893 is a bolt-action service rifle built by Waffenfabrik Mauser of Oberndorf for the Ottoman Empire, adopted in December 1893 in the same year as the near-identical Spanish contract rifle. Chambered in the 7.65x53mm Mauser cartridge, it uses a flush, staggered-column five-round internal box magazine loaded by stripper clip, an enclosed bolt face, and dual forward locking lugs. The Ottoman contract added a magazine cut-off mechanism and a bayonet lug matched to the M1890 bayonet the empire had already fielded. Roughly 201,000 were delivered between 1894 and 1899, and many were later rebarreled to 7.92x57mm Mauser.

Because so many M1893 rifles sat in Ottoman arsenals rather than reaching front-line troops, huge stocks survived into the Turkish Republic, where they were rebarreled to the more powerful 7.92x57mm Mauser and soldiered on for decades.

Turkish Mauser Model 1893 specifications

Distinct from the Spanish Mauser Model 1893 (chambered in 7x57mm) and the earlier Turkish Model 1890. Large numbers survived in Turkish arsenals and were later converted to 7.92x57mm Mauser between the world wars.