The rifle is quite long, sporting a twenty-nine inch barrel, for fencing with the enemy and repelling enemy cavalry with the bayonet.

The sights, consisting of a rear 300 meter battle sight and a ladder ranging out to 2000 meters and a front blade, are not terribly impressive. The rifle has the same hearty steel furniture and wooden stock as any other rifle the day. The M93 is a contradiction of high technology and old-world thinking. That 2000 meter setting on the ladder rear sight seems optimistic, but was meant for volley fire to harass enemy formations. The first M1893s were made in Germany, but domestic production soon caught on and would continue through the 1940s. It was still a five-round bolt action rifle, but it now incorporated the new 7x57mm cartridge, a relatively small-bore, high velocity cartridge. This improved handling, feeding and made the gun about as bulletproof as it could be. This improved model incorporated a staggered box magazine, one of the first of its kind, that was flush with the stock. An upgraded rifle, the Model 1893, was immediately adopted by Spain. However, the protruding magazine proved vulnerable to damage and it became clear that the 7.65x53mm round the rifle fired could be improved upon. The M1889 got the attention of the Belgians and the Argentinians, who adopted a simplified version in 1891. This rifle did not rely on the clip to control round feeding, which was done by spring-loaded tabs within the magazine. 88, but it fed from a box magazine with a new rapid feeding system called the stripper clip. His new rifle, the M1889, had the same protruding magazine and metal barrel shroud of the Germans adopted Gew. If it is rounded, it's not a 93.įor more info on the Spanish models 18 go to Spanmauhome it is one of the best sites for info and identification of these models.The Spanish M1893 rifle is slick to operate, but has a pike-like length to fend off horsemen with the bayonet. The 93 is the only Mauser that used this bolt. Does it have a 98 style bolt or something earlier? One way to tell if it is a Mod.1916 or not is by the bolt face. Most, but not all, also had gas relief holes drilled in the side of the chamber as well as having the left receiver rail cut out as a thumb relief to make it easier to load the rifle with a stripper clip. The rifles were stripped down and many had the crests removed as well as the makers address and model number on the left side of the receiver, while some had new crests applied, like the Guardia Civil model. If it is a Mod.1916 it would have started out life as a Model 1893 rifle or maybe a 1895 carbine.

Spain rebuilt many of their earlier rifles around WWI and up to WWII to a short rifle version, reusing what they had instead of buying new rifles. They are the only mauser that I know of that has a serial number starting with OT, followed by 4 to 6 digits (OT123456). From what you have descibed it sounds like a Spanish model 1916.

1916 spanish mauser serial number a2464