Chilean Mauser: 8mm or 7mm?

[Dutchman]

Ecuador used 7.92x57 ammo, as I have a bunch; what the rifle was, I don't know!

Nanner nanner I have one

It was neither manufactured for, nor crested for Ecuador.

This one came in with the thousands of Commission rifles from Ecuador. It has a brand new Czech .318" groove barrel installed. Cost $100 from Southern Ohio Gun Distributors.





As for Latin American use of 8x57mm. Yes. Nicaragua was one. You heard of Ollie North? Colonel Ollie North, President Regan's man about town? You heard the term, "Contra"? You hear the term, "Contra Scandal"? It was about the United States sending GUNS to the anti-commie civilians in Nicaragua, the "contras".

What rifles ended up in Nicaragua?

K98k Mausers from Israel in, first 8x57, then 7.62x51 Nato as the ammo logistics were easier to deal with.

Among these rifles in Nicaragua a bunch of very distinctly marked K98k floated to the surface. They had a two letter inspector stamp on the left side wall that wasn't German or Israeli. It was S.S. and G.B.( Carl Bjorkenstam). Stem Stenmo was a Swedish military inspector from 1942-1946. One of the rifle series he inspected and marked was the Swedish m/39 K98 rifle and the K98k m/40 8x63mm rifle for machinegun squads. When Sweden surplused them off in the 1950s they were purchased by Israel, who rebarreled them to 8x57. So the actual and true lineage of those particular rifles was proven with those two letters stamped into the rifle. When these same rifles were imported as curio-relic firearms and sold off by Century Arms and others they were pretty beat up and neglected. But where they'd been and who had them explained a great deal. They were certainly better than no rifle which is why Ronnie sent them. For more fun historical facts you might research how Ronnie and Ollie bypassed Congress to fund weapons and ammo to the Contras.



I tell you a little story from when I worked in Lost Angeles at a large public utility. This Hispanic dude drives in one day to make a delivery. Back in those days I had long blond hair, blue eyes, red Beard. Six feet tall 200 lbs. Once in a while I was called "Popeye" because of my beefy forearms.

So this guy he delivers a large shipment of liquid soap for the steam cleaner (for diesel engines and such). He looks at me for the longest time and has this glazed over look on his face. Now, being native to L.A. and being who I am I get along very well with all manner of "whoever", no matter where they're from. So I say howdy doo (in Spanish) and since I've had a couple/few Mex female friends and spent a year with a Peruvian Inca woman (Maria, who's senior year at San Marcos University for her Bachelor of Science degree included... ) I can fake a Spanish accent pretty good as long as the sentences aren't too long. You shake your head and wave your hands around saying "si si" a lot and things generally go ok.

So this guy is from Nicaragua. He says he remembers ME from his village. That I was teaching his village how to shoot guns and how to clean and such. Mausers. 8x57 Mausers. As soon as I started talking guns and Mausers he was smiling like we were long lost brothers who hadn't seen each other in 50 years. I suddenly had a best friend and no amount of denial would convince him that I wasn't a CIA civilian ex-military "contractor". I ask him, "did you kill many communistas?". He says yes, many. I say back to him, "muy bueno, amigo". Every time he made deliveries he'd sit down and we'd talk like we knew each other our whole lives.

True story from long ago.


Dutch

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