Siamese Mauser style rifle

The Siamese Mauser style rifles were the bolt-action service rifles of the Kingdom of Siam, now Thailand, and the main infantry weapon of its army from 1903 until after the Second World War. King Rama V sought modern weapons to protect Siam against French and British colonial pressure, and when many countries refused to sell arms the Siamese bought a licence for the Mauser Gewehr 98 design. Siam lacked the means to build it, so the parts were made at the Koishikawa Arsenal in Japan and assembled in Bangkok. The family includes the Type 46 rifle, the Type 47 carbine, the Type 66 rifle that follows the Japanese Type 38, and rechambered Type 46/66 and Type 47/66 versions that took the 8x52mmR cartridge. After the war some were shortened for .30-06 Springfield and, in the late 1950s, .30 Carbine.