Collector's Club Meeting June

The meeting was well attended and was thoroughly enjoyed.

Gary brought a Spanish Mauser M95 Cavalry Carbine:

• This rifle was originally made in 1914 in 7x57mm for the Spanish military and was generally issued to Cavalry units.
• In the late-1950s, the Spanish government re-chambered these rifles to 7.62 CETME.
• Dimensionally similar to .308 Winchester but loaded to different specifications.
• Once re-chambered, they were issued to the Police and other auxiliary units as needed until they were brought onto the world surplus market.

Rhys brought an M-1886 Portuguese Kropatschek rifle with bayonet and frog:

• Ethan contributed greatly to the discussion. Having owned a similar rifle for many years, he was able to bring many historical points to the group discussion.
• The Kropatschek rifle was designed in Austria by Albert Von Kropatschek and used an 8-round tubular magazine.
• Portugal adopted the rifle in 1886 after cancelling half an order of single-shot Guedes rifles.
• Chambered for the black-powder 8x60R Guedes cartridge, this rifle represented the forefront of military arms technology for less than six months before the French adopted the M-1886 Lebel rifle chambered in the (first) smokeless-powder 8x50R Lebel.