Mauser Model 1903

The Mauser Model 1903, also called the Ottoman Mauser, was a bolt-action rifle built by Mauser in Germany for the Ottoman Army. It followed the pattern of the German Gewehr 98 but was altered for Ottoman needs: a tangent leaf sight replaced the Lange Visier sight, the nose cap was simplified, and the rifle could take the older Ottoman M1890 bayonets. The bolt stop carried a curved arm that held the cartridge clip in place while rounds were stripped into the magazine, and the receiver was larger, with a longer cocking cam and firing pin than the German rifle. A shortened Model 1905 carbine served cavalry and artillery units. Deliveries went to the army, the navy and the gendarmerie in Ottoman Macedonia, and the rifle saw combat in the Italo-Turkish War, the Balkan Wars, World War I and the Turkish War of Independence. After the First World War most were converted to fire the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge, and some stayed in Turkish service into the 1960s.