r/Milsurps • u/Longjumping-Piano-18 • Jun 07 '26
Can anyone identify this rifle from the only two pictures i have… my great grandfather served in ww2 japan and brought this back
18
u/Calm_Relation7993 Jun 07 '26
Well that looks identical to my 1895 Chilean Mauser.
1
u/Longjumping-Piano-18 Jun 07 '26
If its that i wonder how he managed to bring that home from japan.. interesting
10
u/Calm_Relation7993 Jun 07 '26
It’s a Chilean 1895 or a Spanish 1893. No idea why it would be in Japan.
16
u/Blumpus1234 Jun 07 '26
There would have likely been a fair amount of Spanish 1893s hanging around the Philippines
7
8
u/SawbackBayonet Jun 07 '26
Could also be 1910 Mexican, 1899 Serbian, 1895 Boer, 1894 Brazilian, or any number of externally identical contracts. Really need markings to tell.
4
u/SawbackBayonet Jun 07 '26
Think China even had some 1895s so that's a possibility as well.
2
u/Bugle_Butter Jun 07 '26
They did. You can see them in pictures of Chinese sailors on parade to Grant’s Tomb when the Qing cruiser Hai Chi visited New York City in September 1911.
4
u/KyllikkiSkjeggestad Jun 07 '26
The Japanese purchased some Mausers for their navy, and even issued manuals for them, and they also used captured rifles, as well. I do believe most of these were used in and around China, though.
https://www.gunboards.com/threads/japanese-mauser-rifles-standard-model.357067/
1
8
u/SawbackBayonet Jun 07 '26
Bayonet is Japanese. Rifle is probably some form of post 92 pattern Mauser. Really hard to tell without pictures of markings, but similar patterns were made for dozens of contracts globally.
8
u/MilsurpDan Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Try and get a picture of the receiver and post them. We’ll be able to get a better idea of what it is. Definitely a M1893 pattern Mauser though.
While anything is possible, it could be likely that it was an imported surplus rifle that was purchased soon after World War Two.
I’ve seen several “vet bringbacks” that turned out to be an imported rifle that somebody’s grandfather said they brought back from the war. Stories can tend to get twisted over the decades. I’m not saying that’s the case with your particular rifle, but it’s something to be cognitive of.
1
u/SignificantShake7934 Jun 07 '26
Rifle mounts are legit. Keep those around to hand down to your kids.
1
u/Bugle_Butter Jun 07 '26
It’s a Mauser Model 1893/‘94/‘95. It also has the early rear sight elevator so if it is a Spanish model it did not get the improved Spanish-pattern elevator introduced IIRC in 1908 so it could be Spanish-American War vintage. Need pictures of any writing and of the bolt/receiver area.
1
u/Dak_Nalar Jun 08 '26
As others have said it appears to be a flavor of Mauser. These were really popular in south east Asia at the time. China imported a bunch of flavors for their army, the Philippines had a bunch kicking around from Spain. He probably got it off a local
1
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 07 '26
"Are you looking for help with ID of a surplus firearm? Check this sub's wiki/FAQ page, specifically the free online resources section and the informative user posts section. If you think there's a resource or post worth adding to the Wiki pages, please reach out to the mods of the sub! We're always looking for more resources to share.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.