Today on Gus’ Gear I will cover some of the long arms used during the Great War, this is by no means a complete list as most countries had to use nearly every weapon that was available during shortages. This caused some problems with supply, as related by Florence Farmborough, a young English woman who served as a nurse with the Russian Red Cross. In her Book “With the Armies of the Tsar” she wrote that some Russian soldiers were issued cartridges of a foreign cast that would not work with the Russian rifles, while a neighboring division was issued Japanese rifles and the Russian cartridges would not work. It was a simple matter of the two divisions having the supply lines crossed.
In this segment, I will cover German, Austrian, Italian and Russian weapons. In the second part I will cover British, Canadian, French, American, Portuguese, Japanese, Belgian, Swedish and Danish weapons.
Starting with the rifles used by German forces, primary weapon was the Gew98. It was adopted in 1898 to replace the Commission 1888 rifle. It was the most advanced Mauser design at the time and is still considered a good receiver for customized sport rifles. It was chambered for the newer 7.92x57mm cartridges and had a 5 round magazine that was loaded with a stripper clip. It is shown with S98aA and S98/05aA bayonets as well as a stripper clip, loaded with 7.92x57mm cartridges. This rifle was manufactured by Mauser at Oberndorf in 1918.
The second weapon is a Kar98, the shortened carbine version of the Gew98. Chambered for the same 7.92x57mm cartridges and the same magazine as the rifle. This example was manufactured by Erfurt in 1917 and is shown with an S84/98nA bayonet.
The third weapon is a Gew88/05. This rifle was adopted in 1888 to counter the French Mle 1886 Lebel rifle, which the first to be adopted by a military force that used smokeless powder. Smokeless powder was such an advancement that all other countries had to scramble to adopt a weapon that could handle the pressures of the new propellant. The Gew88 originally was loaded with a Mannlicher en-bloc clip that held 5 rounds of 7.92x57mm cartridges, this example was manufactured by Loewe in 1891 and was converted in 1905 to use the newer S cartridges and has a box magazine that holds 5 rounds loaded with a stripper clip. It is shown with an ersatz bayonet that will fit on the Gew88, Gew98 and the Kar98.
The fourth weapon is a Kar88, the carbine version of the Gew88. This example was manufactured at Erfurt in 1893 and is still configured to use a Mannlicher en-bloc clip to load (shown above the carbine). As the receiver is not marked with an S, it is still chambered for the older cartridges.
The bottom rifle is a Mauser I.G.Mod.71/84 (Infantry Gewehr Model 1871/1884) which was the standard infantry rifle before smokeless powder was introduced. It was manufactured at Spandau in 1887. While it was an obsolete weapon by the time of the Great War, it was still used in large numbers by troops behind the front lines. It is chambered for the 11mm black powder cartridge and has an 8 round tubular magazine. Shown with it is a box of cartridges, a single round and an S71 bayonet which fits this rifle as well as the Gew88.
This rifle is a Mauser 1918 Tank-Gewehr, a single shot rifle chambered for the 12.9x92mm anti-tank round. It is a scaled up version of the Mauser action, developed in 1918 to counter the Allied tanks that were being used against German forces.
Some of the rifles used by the Austro-Hungarian forces are shown here. Austria-Hungary was the first country to adopt a straight pull rifle as their primary weapon. The top rifle started its life as a Model 1886 chambered for the 11.15x58mmR black powder cartridge. It utilized an en-bloc clip that held 5 rounds of the 11mm cartridges, shown with the rifle. By 1888 it was realized that it would be beneficial to use a smaller diameter bullet and most of the M86 rifles were sleeved to accept the 8x52mmR black powder cartridge. This modified rifle was designated the Model 1888 and used the same en-bloc clip. By 1890 the need to convert to smokeless powder was realized and the Model 88/90 rifle resulted, being chambered for the 8x50mmR smokeless powder cartridge. The sight was modified to accommodate the improved ballistics. It was still possible to fire the 8x50R cartridges in the M88, which was chambered for the 8x52mmR cartridge, but the action was not designed for the higher pressures of the smokeless powder. These obsolete rifles were used during the war, due to shortages of weapons, mostly behind the lines. The bayonet shown with this rifle is an unidentified model.
The second rifle is an Austrian Model 1895 straight pull rifle that was the primary rifle by the beginning of the Great War. It has a rotating bolt head with two locking lugs to accommodate the higher pressures of the 8x50mmR smokeless powder cartridges. The action was robust enough that many were rechambered for the even more powerful 8x56mmR cartridges after the war. This rifle used the same 5 round Mannlicher en-bloc clips. The bayonet shown with this rifle is the standard issue Steyr 1895 Model.
The third rifle is an Austrian Model 1895 short rifle. A shortened version, chambered for the same 8x50mmR cartridges and same 5 round en-bloc clip. A loaded clip is shown below and the bayonet is the NCO version of the Model 1895 bayonet, with a loop to accommodate a bayonet knot.
The fourth rifle is an Austrian Model 13, manufactured by Steyr, it is identical to the German Commission 1888 rifle and is chambered for 8x57mm Mauser cartridges. It uses a 5 round en-bloc clip, shown below the rifle.
The fifth rifle is an Italian Carcano Modello 1891, the reason it is added here is because it bears the AZF marking of a rifle captured by the Austrians and was issued to Austrian troops due to shortages of rifles. It is chambered for the 6.5x52mm cartridge and uses a 6 round en-bloc clip, shown with the rifle. The bayonet is the standard 1891 bayonet.
The top rifle is an Italian Modello 1870/87/15 Vetterli-Vitali. The first version was a single shot chambered for a 10.4x47mmR black powder cartridge. It was upgraded in 1887 with a 4 round magazine and in 1915, due to shortages, many of these were converted to chamber the 6.5x52mm smokeless powder cartridge utilizing a 6 round Mannlicher en-bloc clip, shown below the rifle. The bayonet is a shortened version of the Modello 1870 bayonet.
The second rifle is an Italian Carcano Modello 1891 chambered for the 6.5x52mm cartridge and uses a 6 round en-bloc clip, shown with the rifle. The bayonet is the standard 1891 bayonet. This was the primary battle rifle used by Italian forces during the war.
The third rifle is an Italian Truppe Speciali Modello 1891 carbine. The action is the same as the 1891 Carcano rifle but the bayonet is very different. It attaches to the rifle with a sideways twisting movement and was reportedly designed for special forces as it was more difficult for an enemy to remove the bayonet. I can attest that it is very difficult to remove this bayonet from the carbine.
The fourth rifle is a Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifle chambered for 7.62x54R cartridges that can be loaded into the 5 round magazine with a stripper clip, shown below the rifle. Due to shortages (this seems to be a repeating theme in every country) Russia ordered rifles to be manufactured in the United States. This example was manufactured by Remington Armory in 1917. Proofs show it was shipped to Russia and then later to Spain before it returned to the United States. The bayonet shown with it is a Russian made example.
The fifth rifle is a Russian contract Winchester Model 1895. Chambered for Russian 7.62x54R cartridges, with special provisions to be able to use the standard stripper clip to load the 5 round magazine. This is another example of a rifle that was acquired by Russia to fill a shortage. It bears the proof marks that show it has been shipped to Russia and then to Spain before returning to the United States, most likely in the 1950s. Stalin sold most of the rifles made in the United States to the Spanish communists, as he had a strong dislike for everything American, probably due to the invasion of Russia in 1918. The bayonet shown is a Winchester long model musket bayonet, as shipped with the rifles.