Enter Mauser
Fusil d'Infanterie Mauser Modèle 1889
Mauser Oberndorf's first step into smokeless rifle design and onto the international stage came with the Mauser M1889, a model that would be amongst the first to receive its trial by fire when the German army violated Belgian neutrality.
Mauser's first smokeless cartridge would be capable of pushing its round nose projectile to more than 2,100 feet per second, putting it on par with the French 8x50mmR. The cartridge would also prove a commercial success, finding widespread use in South America, as well as the Ottoman Empire, who would become the largest user of this calibre until its collapse following the war
History
Like most European nations in the later 1880s, Belgium was in the midst of making the transition from single shot black powder cartridge rifles to an early repeater. The Albini-Braendlin and Comblain in use with Belgian forces at the time were about to be replaced with the Austro-Hungarian designed Mannlicher M.86 when the existence of France's Poudre B smokeless propellant and its new rifle, the Mle 1886 Lebel came into public view in 1887.
A new trial series was immediately started with the participants being tasked with working out the use of smokeless powder. In this trial, Peter Paul Mauser threw his very own smokeless design into the ring.
His design came as a response to Germany's own Kommissionsgewehr 88 (Commission Rifle 88), a model he had no part in despite certain features, such as the bolt (albeit modified to accommodate new requirements) being based on the Mauser 71.
In the end, Mauser managed to convince the Belgian commission of his rifle over 23 other designs, including heavyweights like Nagant and Mannlicher.
Having won the trials in summer of 1889, it was officially adopted in October of the same year as the Fusil d'Infanterie Mauser Modèle 1889 (Infantry Rifle, Mauser, Model 1889) by the Kingdom of Belgium.
One of the more revolutionary ideas that came with it was the introduction of the Ladestreifen ("loading strip"), a charging device allowing for rapid loading of the detachable* single stack magazine. This allowed for it to compete with Mannlicher's en-bloc clips when it came to ease of loading, while simultaneously keeping the entire magazine in one piece, whereas the en-bloc acts as the feed lips.
Despite a similar idea having been patented in the 1870s in the US, Mauser made the stripper clip a mainstake in martial long arms for decades to come.
Overall, the defining features of the M1889 were:
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A new, smokeless cartridge in the form of the 7.65x53mm that would become a popular chambering for Mauser's export line
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A barrel jacket akin to the Commission Rifle
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Stripper clip guides, with the left hand guide being part of the bolt stop assembly
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A single-stack detachable magazine protruding from the bottom of the receiver
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The sights as they were used on the earlier Comblain
In order to be independent from German deliveries the Belgians produced their new rifle domestically at the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre, known today as FN Herstal.
*Despite the magazine being detachable, this feature was not to be used to reload the rifle using a spare magazine. In the late 19th century, magazines were difficult and expensive to produce, thus equipping a soldier with multiple spares was not deemed economical. The magazine was detachable in order to clean and maintain it. However, both James Paris Lee and Ferdinand Mannlicher proposed the idea of using detachable magazines to quickly reload in the field.
The stripper clip allowed for a loading process almost as fast as Mannlicher's en bloc clip without the need to incorporate it into the magazine system itself, giving it a distinct advantage over the latter. Bullets can be inserted into a less-than-full magazine singularly, whereas the en bloc clip required removal of the entire clip before more rounds could be loaded.
Most M1889s ended up in the M89/36 configuration. The biggest differences are the length, sights and cocking mechanism, which was changed from the original cock-on-close setup to a cock-on-open one akin to the newly adopted Fusil Modèle 1935, as well as the change to a different bayonet lug and the removal of the barrel jacket.
Belgium being all but entirely occupied from the opening stages of the war, including the production facilities, meant that production had to be outsourced to Birmingham in England and later Hopkins & Allen in the United States.
Regardless of its flaws compared to the more modern designs appearing all over Europe in the 1890s and early 1900s, the Belgians would carry the first smokeless Mauser into the Great War and use it to great effect thanks to a population well trained in marksmanship. The rifle would also see use as a second-line model for the German army, who would rechamber it to their standard 8x57mm cartridge.
The M1889 would prove to be a solid basis for Mauser's first successful export pattern as well. First in the form of the Ottoman Model of 1890, which already saw the abandonment of the barrel jacket in favour of a stepped barrel to control heat expansion and addition of a handguard for handling, and later the Model 1891, which was adopted by several nations in South America.
Belgium herself continued using the M1889 until the 1930s when they adopted a, yet again home produced, Mauser 98 pattern short rifle. Most of the 275,000 produced 1889s fell victim to a thorough conversion program in 1936, resulting in the Mauser 89/36, a cut down version created in an attempt to get them as close as possible to the newly adopted rifle.
However, even in WWII the original models still saw use.
