Background
Peter Paul Mauser was born on June 27, 1838, at Oberndorf am Neckar, Germany. Andreas, his father, was a master gunsmith at the government arms factory, and young Mauser went to work there as a gunsmith at the age of 12.
Peter Paul Mauser was born on June 27, 1838, at Oberndorf am Neckar, Germany. Andreas, his father, was a master gunsmith at the government arms factory, and young Mauser went to work there as a gunsmith at the age of 12.
A brief period of service in the army in 1859 allowed him to study gun designs.
Mauser's first invention was a small breech-loading cannon and a special steel projectile for it. His first rifle invention was an improvement in the breech mechanism of the Prussian needle gun, originated in 1865 and later improved, especially as regards the ignition system.
In 1867 Mauser and his older brother Wilhelm moved to Liège, where they worked for about two years on an improved bolt-action design. After they returned to Oberndorf, their bolt-action single-shot metallic-cartridge rifle was adopted by the Prussian army in 1871. This event marked the beginning of the Mausers' successful careers as arms inventors and of the great Mauser plant at Oberndorf.
The next Mauser improvement was a repeating model of the 1871 rifle; then, as smokeless powder appeared, Peter Mauser developed the charger-loading smallbore bolt-action rifle, upon which most later infantry arms have been modeled. The dominant characteristic of this rifle is a box magazine holding a staggered column of cartridges loaded from a charger that does not enter the action, with a bolt handle at the rear of the bolt.
Over 20 nations soon adopted the Mauser rifle, in one or another of its modifications. The final development of the Mauser was the model of 1898. Mauser also invented automatic pistols, semiautomatic rifles, and ammunition used by his rifles.
