Finally - found a really nice Brazilian M1935 short rifle

[7x57]

After two unsuccessful attempts I finally found a nice "little brother" for my long Brazilian M1935. For a short rifle it is in pretty good condition with a bright bore with sharp rifling and absolutely all-matching. Even the cleaning rod is the original Mauser pattern, not that Czech-made ones so often seen with these short rifles (if they are coming with a cleaning rod at all).

Here some pictures:

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The bayonet is from my supplies, so its serial number doesn't match that of the rifle. But it is a correct Brazilian M1935 one. The frog is generic.

[7x57]

And here the serial numbers I found on this rifle:

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[7x57]

And some more serial numbers:

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[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice one, I am in the middle of cleaning a 71/84 Mauser that is fully matching and I am as always amazed at the amount of work it must have taken to serial number even the smallest parts. Even the screw holding the triggerguard to the stock , a screw that is inside the stock and can't be seen without a full strip down of the rifle has the last two digits of the serial number on it.

[capt14k]

Beautiful Rifle. Super Rare. Especially in that condition.

The reason for all the number markings is German Precision and Excellence.

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[7x57]

Yes, they are rare. According to original Mauser factory documents I had access to only 1,000 SHORT Brazilian M1935s were ordered in 1935 (together with another 7,000 long rifles, divided in two batches of 3,000 in 1935 and 4,000 in 1937). In contrast to their long cousins which to a large extent never saw any service (many of them even never became uncrated from their sealed original shipping crates until sold as surplus in the 1970s) all the short rifles saw extensive service, making it even more difficult to find a nice and all-matching one.

All short rifles I observed so far had serial numbers in the 1xxx range, but I also know of about a handful of long M1935 rifles with serial numbers in this range. So actual production of short rifles might have been even less than the 1,000 ordered - as long as no "compensation" examples with serial numbers outside the 1xxx range show up.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I am surprised the Mauser factory had time and resources to make these rifles at all. 1935-37 was a period when the Wehrmacht was rapidly expanding, I would have thought that would keep anyone making military rifles in Germany very busy filling government orders.

[capt14k]

I am surprised the Mauser factory had time and resources to make these rifles at all. 1935-37 was a period when the Wehrmacht was rapidly expanding, I would have thought that would keep anyone making military rifles in Germany very busy filling government orders.

The contract Mausers were a way for Germany to dig out of the hole they were in. It also allowed them to get the factories up to speed for the military build up that was coming without being seen as violating the Treaty of Versailles.

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[7x57]

And the numbers of rifles of these contracts were for the most part comparatively small. For example one of the largest was that for M1935 carbines for Chile - just 10,000 rifles. The only really large numbers IMO were Standard models for China. Some orders didn't materialize at all (e.g. the M1935 short rifles for Argentina), indeed due to heavy commitment of the Mauser company to German military orders.

A weird story happened with Persia. Originally the Persians intended to place the large orders for their 98 model based Mausers with Mauser Oberndorf. But as everybody here knows, in the end these rifles came from Československá Zbrojovka at Brno. Why this? Well, the Persian purchasing commission was at Oberndorf during the carnival season - an event not only celebrated at Rio de Janeiro. And one evening they went out for a dancing event at Oberndorf, together with some Mauser employees taking care of them. It was the era of the Third Reich with its "commitment" to the Aryan race - and these Persian people didn't look like Aryans at all (despite the fact that the Aryans actually have their roots in this Middle East region). And a drunk political "supervisor" at that dancing event had no better idea than to try to arrest the Persians and let them bring to Stuttgart for jail, thinking they were Jews who in those days were forbidden to attend any events like this. This guy obviously was much too drunk to understand what the Mauser employees tried to explain to him. In the end the Mauser director was informed in the middle of the night and, using his good connections with Hermann Göring, managed to have this nonsense stopped after a number of telephone calls. Nevertheless (and understandably) the Persian commission was so upset about this incident that they left Oberndorf on the next morning and went to Brno, placing their order there (AFAIK about 150,000-200,000 Persian Mauser rifles were produced at Brno later).
Only a few days ago I had the opportunity to see the original Mauser documents they had prepared for the production of the Persian rifles, including photos of the prototypes. Everything had been prepared already, only the signing of the contract was still lacking. In the end only the Persian Luger pistol order was signed, however. Maybe only because there wasn't a competitor at hand for this order...

[Junk Yard Dog]

I am surprised the Mauser factory had time and resources to make these rifles at all. 1935-37 was a period when the Wehrmacht was rapidly expanding, I would have thought that would keep anyone making military rifles in Germany very busy filling government orders.

The contract Mausers were a way for Germany to dig out of the hole they were in. It also allowed them to get the factories up to speed for the military build up that was coming without being seen as violating the Treaty of Versailles.

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1935-37 the military buildup wasn't coming, it was there in force, plus they were assisting the Spanish Nationalists forces, a busy time for weapons manufacturers in the Deutsches Reich.

[Junk Yard Dog]

And the numbers of rifles of these contracts were for the most part comparatively small. For example one of the largest was that for M1935 carbines for Chile - just 10,000 rifles. The only really large numbers IMO were Standard models for China. Some orders didn't materialize at all (e.g. the M1935 short rifles for Argentina), indeed due to heavy commitment of the Mauser Company to German Military orders.

A weird story happened with Persia. Originally the Persians intended to place the large orders for their 98 model based Mausers with Mauser Oberndorf. But as everybody here knows, in the end these rifles came from Československá Zbrojovka at Brno. Why this? Well, the Persian purchasing commission was at Oberndorf during the carnival season - an event not only celebrated at Rio de Janeiro. And one evening they went out for a dancing event at Oberndorf, together with some Mauser employees taking care of them. It was the era of the Third Reich with its "commitment" to the Aryan race - and these Persian people didn't look like Aryans at all (despite the fact that the Aryans actually have their roots in this Middle East region). And a drunk political "supervisor" at that dancing event had no better idea than to try to arrest the Persians and let them bring to Stuttgart for jail, thinking they were Jews who in those days were forbidden to attend any events like this. This guy obviously was much too drunk to understand what the Mauser employees tried to explain to him. In the end the Mauser director was informed in the middle of the night and, using his good connections with Hermann Göring, managed to have this nonsense stopped after a number of telephone calls. Nevertheless (and understandably) the Persian commission was so upset about this incident that they left Oberndorf on the next morning and went to Brno, placing their order there (AFAIK about 150,000-200,000 Persian Mauser rifles were produced at Brno later).
Only a few days ago I had the opportunity to see the original Mauser documents they had prepared for the production of the Persian rifles, including photos of the prototypes. Everything had been prepared already, only the signing of the contract was still lacking. In the end only the Persian Luger pistol order was signed, however. Maybe only because there wasn't a competitor at hand for this order...

I bet after that the drunks head ended up in a bucket, I have one of the BRNO Mauser's, they were very nicely made rifles.

[desdem12]

very nice

[qz2026]

You sure do find the nice ones. I've been looking for one of these for a while now.

Excellent find!

[capt14k]

You sure do find the nice ones. I've been looking for one of these for a while now.

Excellent find! [emoji106] [emoji106] [emoji106]

Heck I haven't seen one for sale for awhile. I bought one 2 years ago on GunBroker. Thankfully Thomas pointed out the issues with it and that it was previously returned by another buyer. I haven't seen another for sale since.

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[7x57]

Thanks, gentlemen.
Forgot to mention - this rifle even came with a complete set of replacement furniture (including some of the metal parts). It's an original Mauser-made stock and handguard, but restamped matching by the Brazilians:

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[capt14k]

As if I wasn't jealous enough already. You get a matching replacement stock too. Lol. In all seriousness you deserve it my friend. I am happy for you.

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[7x57]

A few more detail pictures:

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