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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  GERMAN RIFLE U.S. TRIALS MODEL #3 MAUSER .30
Maker/Manufacturer:	MAUSER, PAUL
Date of Manufacture:	C 1892
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 4740
Measurements:	OL:123.1CM 48 1/2" BL: 74.2CM 29 1/4"

Object Description:

GERMAN RIFLE U.S. TRIALS MODEL #3 MAUSER .30
Manufactured by - Experimental .30 Mauser submitted to 1892 U.S. trials. Rear swivel is missing. No markings. See Sawyer Vol.III pg. 207.

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, 1893 No. 278 - "Mauser box magazine gun, caliber .301 - The magazine of this gun is fixed under the receiver as in the Rubin gun, and the magazine is filled, in the same manner as the Rubin, by passing cartridges through the receiver from the loading clip. The special peculiarity lies in the form of this clip. Instead of being a box surrounding the ends of the cartridges, as in the Rubin gun, the Mauser clip is a simple strip of metal with its longer sides doubled over into lips, constituting a slide along which the heads of the cartridges slip, the lips curving over the flanges of the cartridges or fitting into the grooves in the heads of the cartridges where the cannelured head is used. A flat spring placed lengthwise in this holder presses the cartridges forward against the lips against the lips, and prevents their being easily deranged. This forms a symmetrical package, so that it may be placed either end up in inserting the cartridges. The sides of the magazine itself are formed of spring steel, having at the top overhanging lips, which allow the cartridges to be pushed past them into the magazine, but which press in with sufficient force to retain the cartridges until they are pushed forward in succession by the bolt. To fill the magazine, the bolt is drawn back, and the clip holding the cartridges is placed in the receiver over the mouth of the magazine, the thumb or finger pushing the cartridges out of the clip and down into the magazine. A spring at the side of the receiver holds the clip lightly in place after use, until the bolt, moving forward, throws it out automatically. There is no marked peculiarity about the follower, which is practically of the Malingered pattern, with a hinged leaf at the top of the follower arm forming a floor to the receiver for single loading when no cartridges are in the magazine. This gun has been adopted in Belgium with a caliber of .301, and no cut-off is used; but the model exhibited the magazine is arranged to slide up and down in the stock by the action of a short lever at the side, after the manner of the Schmidt. When the magazine is depressed, the piece can be used as a single loader even when full of cartridges, as the bolt passes over the top cartridges in the magazine. Cartridges with cannelured heads are used with the Belgian model. The Mauser guns have the sliding and turning bolt, essentially that of the old Mauser gun (German model 1871), but it has a solid head with two locking lugs in front. The firing pin is inserted from the rear, as in the Lee and Remington-Keene bolts, but the firing-pin spring bears at the rear on a collar which screws into the body of the bolt, the firing pin passing through this collar to the rear. The ejector is pivoted at its rear end on a lug at the left of the breech housing in rear of the receiver. It forms a part of the catch which serves to retain the loading clip in place loading. In the Belgian model the extractor turns with the bolt; in the other model it does not. The handle is at the rear end of the bolt. The gun was tested by the United States magazine gun board of 1892."

"Five versions of the Mauser rifle were tested extensively by the U.S. Army in the magazine rifle test of 1892: (1) Belgian Model 89. (2) Cal. 7.65mm test rifle only slightly different from the Belgian Model 89 (called Mauser No. 2 by the testing board). (3) Special test model with magazine cutoff, long non-rotary extractor, and bolt guide rib in receiver. This rifle also fired the U.S. experimental cal. 30 rimmed cartridge (called Mauser No. 3). (4) Special test model featuring a fixed magazine and several improvements introduced in 1892. This rifle also fired the U.S. experimental cal..30 rimmed cartridge (Mauser No. 4). (5) Special test model similar to No. 4, but equipped with a cutoff and chambered for a special cal..30 rimless cartridge The Belgian Model 89 and Mauser No. 2 did only fairly well. There were misfires with both rifles, and many failures to extract with the Model 89. The Model 89 also gave difficulty during magazine loading because of great force required to push cartridges out of the clips.
Mauser No. 3., 4, and 5 were among the most satisfactory rifles in the tests. No. 5 gave exceptionally good performance. Though it did passs the defective cartridge and dirt tests quite as well as Krag-Jorgensen No. 5, the rifle recommended by the board for adoption, it did as well in most other respects. Mauser No. 5 was somewhat better in the rapidity-with-accuracy test than the Krag-Jorgensen No. 5 and Lee No. 3, but the latter two showed some superiority over the Mauser No. 5 in the rapidity-at-will test where accuracy was not considered.
Failure of the U.S. Army to adopt the Mauser rifle in 1892 appears to have been based on the great importance placed on the operation of a rifle as a single-loader and on good functioning with rimmed cartridges, points in which the Krag-Jorgensen was better than the Mauser." - Mauser Rifles, An American Rifleman Reprint