I have a question in regards to the 1904 Mauser-Vergueiro. What I was wondering is if anyone has a Portuguese military issued 1904 Carbine or has a photo or two of one? I was doing some more research into these beautiful rifles and I realized that the original contract included some carbines (makes sense as most countries were still using cavalry at the time) and I can't for the life of me find a picture of one or even a drawing of what the original configuration looks like (for example I don't know the length of barrel or if it had a bent bolt or straight bolt, did it have a bayonet lug etc.). I am also curious if anyone knows what happened to the original 1904 Carbines, where they sold off when they decided to adapt the 1904/39 standard or did they rebarrel them as well and adjust them to the 1904/39 standard (or some third completely different option)?
And since this is a thread about Mauser-Vergueiros I feel I will throw in a photo of my example of a 1904/39 (love to see others examples as well).
Information
Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.
It's manufactured by Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken, Berlin.
(Click PIC to Enlarge)
Here's a neat bit of trivia....
It's all matching except for bolt safety, c/w matching bayonet and original sling"
Why is bolt safety the only mismatched part?
"The complex nature of the M1904 Bolt and its difficult striping and reassembly process conducive to the loss of parts, contributed significantly to the demise of this Rifle as a Service Arm with the Union of South Africa, Defence Force. UDF Troops are documented as arriving on Parade with disassembled Bolts and their parts tied in a handkerchief and many surviving Rifles today are found with replacement Bolts, or the Safety flag having been replaced, as was easily lost. Today, many M1904 owners rather do not strip the Bolt assembly, or, hand this job to a competent Gunsmith."
Here's an older thread from 2011 started by Advisory Panel member dopter where he included a Vergueiro Portuguese Mauser Bolt Disassemble and Re-assembly Video.
Thanks Badger, mine is pretty much the same, I got it still in the cosmoline (the owner thought it was still in 6.5x58) and it is all matching numbers except for the safety and bayonet. I have to say they are likely one of the nicest milsurps ever built (though that bolt is a major challenge to take apart and put together, makes a Steyr M95s look simple). Smooth bolt (I personally feel smoother than a Krag but that is just me), accurate (at least mine is, but it likely hasn't been shot since it was rebarreled in the 30's as the bore is new), and fairly cheap as people don't give these rifles much respect is why these things are so nice.
I was more wondering about the 1904 Carbine though in 6.5x58. There doesn't seem to be any information online except that it existed and there is no information in regards to how many were acquired in the contract of 100,000 or what happened to the ones that existed. I wonder if it had a factory bent bolt or did they use the straight bolts. I also wonder what length it was at and how long/what style of stock it was (maybe a mannlicher style stock like say a M94 Swedish Carbine or Spanish Carbine), did the nose cap have the provision for mounting a bayonet.
Its just a little frustrating when your information hits a dead end and there is no where I can tell to find it, so I felt I would appeal here to see if anyone had more information to share.
Well I managed to find a answer in the form of a picture of a 1904 Mauser-Vergueiro Carbine. I guess they only made a few as a trial Carbine (as they already had the Portuguese 1896 Mannlicher Carbine) and out of those few I imagine there aren't many left. The picture does answer the majority of the questions I have (the main one left is how is the sight set up, it looks a bit too small to be a ramp sight to me but maybe it is a tiny ramp or it could also be a ladder sight). The stock set up reminds me a fair bit of the M94 Swedish and M93 Spanish Carbines. I will share the photo of it here in case anyone else is interested.
Information
PM
