1909 Argentine mountain or "engineer" carbine question.

[Fruler]

A LGS has a 1909 Argentine mountain carbine made by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). The carbine is in near mint condition, possibly a factory refurb, beautiful tiger stripe wood... The receiver has been blued at some point, which makes me believe it's a factory refurb... and the wood looks amazing. Doing my own research I've seen several blued receivers with this model... Which originally I believe were left "in the white."

Now the questions...
I've read on another forum that these may have soft steel... What that means exactly I don't know but it sounds a bit silly to me. Can anyone shed any light on to that theory? I understand for being made over 111 years ago anything is possible and metallurgy has made leaps and bounds since then, but I'm not a metallurgist. Is there anything else I should look out for with these rifles? I'm not a Mauser expert.

This rifle is similar to a K98k in appearance but has a slightly shorter barrel, I believe 22 inches. It's not to be confused with the Argentine cavalry carbine which has a 1894 swedish carbine type muzzle style.

This has been on the shelf at the LGS for a while now, at a very reasonable price, so I've decided I want it... I think... that's if you guys talk me out of it for some reason. The mountain carbine is beautiful and I've always wanted a rifle in 7.65x53 Mauser caliber.

Thanks guys for reading and replying... Like always, I very much appreciate any information you can give me.

(((If I buy the rifle, I'll certainly post pics.))))

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