MAUSER IN CHINA

 Some articles and books in English have already discussed the design of the rifle itself. This article is going to discuss the history of Japanese Type I rifle, which has not yet been realized by western collectors. Japanese named the rifle after Italy as “イ式小銃” or more formally as 伊太利製改造小銃 (Italy made modified rifle) which abbreviates to 伊式小銃. There’s a story circulating out there said these rifles were bought for Japanese Imperial Navy which land troops were hardly to acquire small arms from the Army controlled arsenals. I have to say this is not true though  IJ Navy and marines were main users of these rifles. Italian rifles alongside K98k from Mauser were parts of Trio Pact that Japan-German-Italian exchanges military technologies and weapons for balancing trade deficit. Japanese archives show that the rifle contract was processed by Japanese Ministry of Army under the term of Japanese-Manchuria-Italian Pact. Japan initially ordered about 130,000 Italian rifles (seems lat...

The Second Sino-Japanese war outbreak on July 7 1937, Chinese domestic rifle production incapable of fulfilling enormous demands of rifles as the number of the Army growing fast. Meanwhile, many arsenals and weapon deposits were lost to the Japanese. Nationalist Government had to purchase more than 300,000 Mauser rifles from Mauser Company, FN, A Gavage and CZ between 1937 and 1939. From 1937.7 to 1939.4,  Nationalist Government Military Affairs Commission ordered 322,000 Mauser rifles from Mauser Company, FN, A.Gavage and CZ. This number dose not include local orders, taking over orders prior to the war and other government agencies orders.   Part 1: Chinese Banner Mauser K98k Part 2：Ceskoslovenska Zbrojovka Model 24 CZ was another important source of Mauser rifle to China at the beginning years of the war. CZ supplied 100,000 Model 24 rifles to China between 1937 and 1939.  The first Nationalist Government contract of 50,000 Model 24 was signed in July 1937 in Lond...

毛瑟在中国：M1904步枪合同 Mauser in China: Model 1904 rifle by Aaron J. Zou      This article studies the contract of Model 1904 rifle that Mauser Company sold to China in 1907 and probable commercial sales of Mauser Model 1904 rifles and carbines to China. It first appeared on Chinese language magazine  Small Arms  ( Qingbingqi , 《轻兵器》) of  January 2023. The English version in the title of Mauser in China: Model 1904 rifle has been printed by BANZAI of  Issue 492 (June 2023).      《毛瑟在中国》(Mauser in China) is a series of articles studying the contracts of rifles and pistols that Mauser Company sold to China between 1880 and 1939.

Months ago a friend in china sent me a picture of this Ludwig Loewe made Russian S&W No.3 revolver, which belongs to his college's reference room collection.  This reminds me of some archives I'd read about  China acquisition of Ludwig Loewe manufactured S&W No.3 revolvers.  In 1878, LI Hongzhang asked China Embassy in Berlin to buy 200 pistols for his army. The ambassador visited Ludwig Loewe Company in Berlin twice in 1878, Ludwig Loewe presented Chinese ambassador S&W No.3 revolver which they were producing for Russian contract. A letter from Berlin Embassy to Tianjin Arsenal stated some opinions of the ambassador about the revolver. He said this "very delicate revolver" disassembles into 66 components and does not suit for Chinese soldiers. This letter also mentioned that t he unit price is 60 Marks and Loewe Company had an top break design revolver which costs 42 marks. Li Hongzhang The ambassador sent a broker named Muller from Diers...

Belgian 7.65 mm Caliber Mauser rifles sold to China in 1894 by Aaron J. Zou This article discusses the first contract that FN signed with China in 1894 to sell Belgian 7.65mm caliber Mauser rifles. It first appeared in the title of 《寻踪追溯：中国订购的比利时FN公司毛瑟M1889步枪》on Chinese language magazine  Small Arms  ( Qingbingqi , 《轻兵器》) of  July 2022.

The article entitled "Mauser in China: M1871 rifle" studies the first rifle contracts that Mauser company made with China between1880 and 1881. This Chinese version of the article appeared in Chinese magazine Small Arms (轻兵器 Qingbingqi), issue of  March 2022, in the title of “毛瑟在中国：开始与终结，从M1871到K98k （上）” The  Mauser in China  studies the contract rifles that Mauser company sold to China from 1880 to 1939. 

This study of Chinese Mauser M1907 rifle and carbine comprises of two parts.  The first part studies the history of China adoption of 6.8mm rifle caliber, which has been published by Junshi Shilin (军事史林) , the journal of the   Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, on the issue of December 2023 in the title of ' A study of Lianbingchu standardizing rifle caliber in the late Qing Reforms ' ( 清末新政练兵处制定枪械口径考述 ,  Qingmo Xinzheng Lianbingchu Zhiding Qiangxie Koujing Kaoshu ).  Download the article here.   The second part studies the Mauser development and sales of M1907 rifle, carbine and cartridges to China, which will be published soon.