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Sitting on the Fence
Pușcă Model 1893
The Kingdom of Romania was the first nation in Europe to officially adopt Steyr's vision of an improved Gewehr 88. Having a king with ties to Germany and a populace desiring unity with their cultural kin in the Hungarian kingdom meant Romania had to prepare for an almost inevitable state of war no matter how the die may fall
History
Romania as an independent nation was one of the great many changes in the Balkan region resulting from the devastating victory of the Russian coalition in the war of 1877-78 against the Ottoman Empire.
When the country officially became a Kingdom in 1881 headed by Carol I. born Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
This heritage is likely the reason why in 1883 the Kingdom would enter a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary, who themselves had entered the Dual Alliance with the German Empire in 1879, instead of the Russian Empire.
With the precarious situation at least temporarily settled, the new nation could focus on building itself up, including its armed forces. Initially this was done by standardising on the M1879 Martini-Henry rifle - a British design that was produced under license by ŒWG Steyr for the Romanian army.
Although relatively modern at the time of adoption, the dawn of reliable magazine repeaters and smokeless powder in the later half of the 1880s had the army wont for a rifle combining these two advances in order to keep pace and eventually realise territorial ambitions when the opportunity arises.
Carol I. (1839-1914)
While the actual content of the legal settlement is unknown as of now, Germany's infringement on the patented Mannlicher clip design appears to have awarded ŒWG Steyr exclusive rights to the Gewehr 88's action for export. The German Empire was limited to production for their own needs
When Romania started looking around for potential candidates for their new service rifle, the two driving forces at ŒWG Steyr, Ferdinand Mannlicher and Otto Karl Schönauer, had been at work to improve the German Commission Rifle 1888.
This new design would become part of an export roster that over the years, with minor changes and improvements became adopted in several countries.
After the Kingdom of Italy already took inspiration from the system resulting in their own new service rifle, the Fucile Mod. 91 Carcano, Romania followed suit, ordering a total of 8,000 rifles from Steyr in 1891 and 1892.
Formally called Md.1892, it differed from its ancestor, the Gewehr 88 in a number of ways:
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The bolt head was modified in a way to allow for a controlled instead of a push feed
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The extractor/ejector was changed to a floating design sitting atop the left hand locking lug and acted
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The left hand lug was also modified so that it would not allow the bolt to be inserted without a bolt head, which was possible in the Gewehr 88
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The bolt body received a large guide rib for smooth operation
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The en bloc clip remained unidirectional, but was modified for the new, rimmed 6.5x53mmR cartridge paired with the rifle
During extended testing with the new rifles, the Romanians noticed several problems they communicated to ŒWG before full adoption.
The changes seen were as follows:
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The ejector would be moved to the back of the receiver, removing it from the extractor entirely
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The bolt's guide rib was lost
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The magazine received a reinforcing rib to strengthen it against deforming
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A stacking rod was added to the front band
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Finger grooves were milled into the stock
With these alterations the model designation was updated to Md.1893, which the Romanians officially adopted.
By 1912 the army had received about 350,000 rifles and 60,000 carbines of the Md.1893 pattern, however the Second Balkan War, which Romania used as an opportunity to annex Southern Dobruja from Bulgaria, proved that this number was insufficient to equip the army in case of full mobilisation.
Thus, another order for 230,000 additional rifles and carbines was placed in 1913 to be delivered in mid to late 1914.
Roughly half of the 200,000 infantry rifles and almost none of the 30,000 carbines had been delivered when the Austro-Hungarian government stopped all exports from ŒWG to equip its own army with any rifle they could conjure up.
This meant that like in the case of the Greek Mannlicher-Schönauer rifles, the roughly 80,000 Romanian service arms in ŒWG's warehouses saw combat before Romania did.
Unlike the Schönauer magazine rifles, the Romanian model did lend itself to adaptation, which led to an Austro-Hungarian variation in their native 8x50mmR M.93 cartridge.
Md.1892 (left) and Md.1893 (right) bolt
Portugal seized the opportunity to get a good deal out of Steyr and ordered several thousand shortened Md.1893 rifles for its navy. Seemingly happy with both the core action and the 6.5mm cartridge it came with, the design influenced their own adoption process of the M/904 Mauser-Vergueiro
Interestingly the model is specifically noted to have been well liked by Austro-Hungarian troops.
Despite initially declaring neutrality in 1914, Romania herself joined the war in August of 1916 after both pressure and grandiose promises of support on the side of the Entente. Austria-Hungary being engaged in the East against the Russian Empire, the West against Italy and needing to keep troops for occupation of Serbia in the South meant that the Romanian army made quick gains in Transylvania which it sought to annex over its majority Romanian population.
However, with the Russian army being unable to properly reinforce and the Western Allies not fulfilling their promises of arms and supply deliveries, the Central Powers, were able to withdraw veteran troops from the frozen frontlines in the West and inflict devastating defeats on the Romanian and Russian armies operating in the area.
By mid to late 1917 Romania had lost the majority of its territory as well as hundreds of thousands of rifles being captured or lost to attrition, leading to the treaty of Bucharest in May of 1918.
Though draconian, the treaty did not hinder Romania to declare war on the Central Powers once more on the 10th of November, a day before the guns fell silent.
The Great War had cost Romania almost all of its Md.1893 rifles, with a mere 80,000-90,000 still being in service after WWI and the following Hungarian-Romanian War.
The Austro-Hungarian used examples were either repatriated, or given out as reparations to the emerging nations born from the collapsed empire.
With ŒWG Steyr being out of the picture, the rifle would be replaced by Czechoslovakian Mausers Vz.24 in the interwar period, although it still saw use in the rear echelon during WWII.
Romanian soldiers with shouldered Md.1893 rifles
Mechanism
Bolt
The bolt is a turn bolt design with a main bolt body and a separate, non-rotating bolt head fitted at the front. The bolt head carries the extractor, while the bolt body rotates around it.
Lockup happens via two symmetrical lugs at the front of the bolt body, positioned directly behind the bolt head. When the bolt handle is turned down, these lugs engage their recesses in the receiver and take the firing load. The left hand lug is milled in a way where it will block the bolt from being inserted into the receiver should a bolt head and the corresponding extractor not be present - a safety mechanism.
The receiver has a split rear bridge. The bolt handle passes through this split as the bolt moves. Although the handle does not sit against the bridge, it may still act as an emergency safety in case of catastrophic failure.
The action cocks on opening. Lifting the bolt handle unlocks the lugs and draws the striker back against the mainspring. The bolt is then pulled fully rearwards to extract the fired case, which is ejected as it meets the ejector, situated at the rear of the receiver, being tipped up at the end of the stroke.
Magazine
The magazine is a fixed, integral box designed for five rounds, meant to be used with Mannlicher’s five-round en bloc clip.
The full clip is pressed down into the magazine from the top and remains there, guiding the cartridges as they feed.
As each round is chambered the clip stays in place. After the fifth round is fed and fired, the clip latch at the back of the magazine has nothing to hold on to, and the empty clip is ejected through the opening in the bottom of the magazine housing.
Unlike the M.95's, the Romanian Md.1893 clips are symmetrical, so they can be inserted either way up, which simplified loading under field conditions.
Markings
Crest & Model Designation
Atop the receiver sit the Romanian crown, underneath which you can find the model designation "Md.1893".
Contract Marking
As was typical with contract rifles out of ŒWG Steyr, the manufacturer, simply abbreviated as Steyr, as well as the year of manufacture can be found on the left side receiver wall.
Serial Number
The serial number will be an alphanumerical code with a letter suffix. It can be found on the barrel, receiver, bolt and stock.
Proof & Acceptance Marks
The Romanian eagle mark can be found on the right side bolt raceway on the receiver, next to the official proof.
Stock Cartouche
The Romanian coat of arms was branded into the left hand side of the buttstock.
Sequestered Rifles
Sequestered (top) and regular Md.1893 (bottom)
When war broke out in 1914, the Austro-Hungarian army was in desparate need for rifles, leading to the government banning ŒWG Steyr from further exporting arms abroad.
At this point around 82,000 Md.1893 rifles destined for Romania were stored in either finished or ready to be finished state. While those that were already completed were given out as they were, the ones not yet completely assembled were reworked slightly to ease supply to units equipped with them.
This meant rechambering the rifles to the Austro-Hungarian standard 8x50mmR M.93 cartridge - then called "8mm M.93 Adaptiertes Rumänisches Repetiergewehr" (8mm M.93 adapted Romanian repeating rifle).
For this, the rifles received new 8mm barrels, the magazine was extended slightly downwards. The ejection port was elongated.
The rechambered rifles shared a sight setup with the standard M.95 straight pull rifles, with the ladder sight simply being reused. In order to open up the sight picture, the upper handguard was milled down in the middle.
These examples will also not bear the Romanian crown or stock cartouche, though the model designation remains on the receiver.
Aside from these outer visible features, the sequestered examples will also bear a Wn-14 stamp on the top of the barrel underneath the handguard.