I ran across a gun that I have had kind of a love affair with ever since I first saw one many years ago, the Model 1871 Mauser rifle. This was the first design by the Mauser Brothers and led to every design afterwards that we all know. The 1871 was a single shot, the later 1871/84 was a tube magazine version of this gun, and what was amazing is how these guns saw service well past the adoption of better and newer designs. During WWI the Model 1871's were present in Africa where the German backed local troops and police were armed with them.
The Mauser 71's were in the Boer War, Balkan Wars, and during the Boxer Rebellion, the Chinese troops were armed with the 1871 facing off against German troops armed with the 1871/84. The last real known use of the 1871 was when some were handed out to the Volkssturm in the last ditch defense of Berlin.
This particular gun was made in Amberg in 1878, has a really nice bore and rifling, The metal and wood were cleaned at some point, but that's fine, I plan on shooting it every so often. The serial numbers all match except for a couple of parts, which considering everything down to the screw heads is numbered, is a feat. The buttplate doesn't match, which sadly is where the stamping would have been of what regiment the gun was assigned to.
One thing about this gun is that it is HUGE. It's a good three inches longer than my 1891 Mosin Nagant and a couple pounds heavier. I'm trying to imagine what lugging this thing around a pre-WWI battlefield must have been like. I ordered a box of ammo for it, which is pricey, but I also got a set of dies so I can at least reload the brass for it. The quality of these guns is amazing, and you can see the early start of the famous Mauser bolt and the flag type safety.
