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The Best of Both Worlds
Espingarda 6,5mm m/1904
ŒWG Steyr and Mauser Oberndorf had been vying for arms contracts all around the world when the Kingdom of Portugal, a traditional Steyr customer, decided to take a middle path, combining the two offerings into their new service rifle
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History
When smokeless powder hit the world stage in 1887, the Kingdom of Portugal was in the process of adopting the Austrian designed Kropatschek m/1886 as their newest service rifle.
Although not dead on arrival, the m/1886 and its Mauser M1871 derived action was not fit to deal with smokeless powder cartridges on par with 8mm Lebel (note that the Portuguese did create smokeless loads for their Kropatscheks).
And thus almost immediately the search for a replacement started.
Similar to Sweden, the Portuguese supplied their support troops, as well as their navy with a modern smokeless design first. Adopted in 1895, the Portuguese bought a number of Romanian pattern Md.1893 carbines for cavalry, artillery and other support troops.
The navy also received Md.1893 rifles, however, the Portuguese Navy became the only adopter of a Steyr produced Mannlicher intermediate length rifle in the Mosqueton m/1895.
José Alberto Vergueiro (1851-1908)
The m/1895 was a stop gap solution for the navy that profited from Romania having ordered a large number of their own newly adopted Md.1893 rifle. The production lines having been set up by and large already meant that Portugal could buy these for relatively cheap
The infantry, having a much larger demand for rifles, took more time. After a commission was formed to determine the model to go with in 1898, a number of requirements were formulated, such as the type of action, magazine capacity, single loading capability etc.
As with nearly all trials processes of the time on the European continent, the Portuguese one also boiled down to a showdown betwen ŒWG Steyr and Mauser Oberndorf., with Steyr sending the Md.1893 of the Romanian pattern into the ring, as it was already familiar to the Portuguese, while Mauser Oberndorf provided the Spanish pattern M1893, a system that set the stage for Mauser's worldwide success.
Although the Md.1893 saw a slight preference with the commission, the tables were turnt, when a visit by Peter Paul Mauser to Portugal introduced the then new M98 Mauser action, an upgrade to the former Mauser patterns, and now an even stronger contender.
While all this took place, a third contender also sought to enter the field - a native design by captain of the infantry José Alberto Vergueiro, who combined the two rifles into a single system, taking the strengths from both as he saw fit.
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A simplified action taken from Steyr's export line
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A Mauser M98 pattern double-stack magazine
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The newly introduced stock with pistol grip of the Mauser M98
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A Mauser 98 export pattern sight setup, with a tangent rear leaf
Although Vergueiro even laid down his commission to ensure no conflict of interest could be found with his design, it initially did not garner much attention.
Mauser Oberndorf had taken the lead when ŒWG Steyr introduced their own newest export design.
The Mannlicher-Schönauer M1900 removed the most glaring flaw of the Md.1893 and its en bloc clip that required an ejection port. The new rotary magazine was closed up and provided an even smoother and reliable feed, while the rifle maintained the familiar action and introduced a pistol grip as well as their own tangent rear sight.
The new design quickly took the lead and won the final vote, although by a relatively small margin.
However, after the fact the issue became a political debate and was publicly challenged as involving foul play, ultimately forcing the Minister of War, Luís Augusto Pimentel Pinto to declare the vote null and void.
A second commission, this time almost exclusively made up of infantry officers, would vote again on another set of rifles that included the two aforementioned export patterns from Oberndorf and Steyr, a hybrid design with a Mannlicher-Schönauer action fitted into Mauser stock and fittings, and Vergueiro's design - which became the winner.
Officially adopted as the m/1904 in a custom 6.5x58mm cartridge, Portugal ordered 100,000 rifles from DWM in Germany (formerly known as Ludwig Loewe & Co). Due to delays in the procurement of the barrel steel as well as minor refinements while setting up tooling together with Portuguese officials, including Vergueiro, the first half, supposed to arrive in mid-1905, didn't reach the Portuguese until mid-1906, with the rest following in 1907.
Mannlicher-Schönauer (top) & Ottoman pattern export Mauser
Even though both sides had their main armies equipped state-of-the-art rifles, the African theatre for the most part saw use of old equipment like the Kropatschek m/1886 or Mauser M1871, especially in the hands of local untis
The first time the m/1904 would see combat was at home in the 1910 revolution. Its true trial by fire came with Portugal entering the fray of the First World War. Although skirmishes and incursions into Portuguese colonies had been happening since 1914, Portugal and its new rifle officially entered the Great War in 1916.
While the majority of Portuguese troops saw combat on the Western Front in France, their rifles stayed at home. Instead, for ease of logistics, they were equipped by the British. However, the m/1904 saw its share of the war in the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique.
Stationed there it was one of the few truly modern models in use in the African theatre, fighting alongside its older Kropatschek brethren against the German Schutztruppe.
Over the course of combat the model was used by both sides, with the Germans capturing a number of them in their attacks on Portuguese outposts.
Curiously, the largest user of the system was a third party - the South African Union Defence Force, which ordered 20,000 m/1904 rifles and corresponding ammunition.
While generally well liked by the South Africans, there were complaints about the action not being very resistant to debris entering.
The m/1904 remained the standard rifle for the Portuguese army until 1937, when the m/937 was adopted, a K98k pattern rifle as used by the German Wehrmacht.
Due to this, the rifles still in inventory went through a conversion program to align them to the new standard, which required a shortening of the barrel, as well as rechambering to the newly adopted 8x57mm cartridge. Additionally, a front sight protector akin to the m/937 was added.
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Portuguese troops training with their m/1904 rifles
Mechanism
Bolt
The m/1904 bolt and action is the big part inherited from the Mannlicher export line.
Similar to its predecessors, the classic turn-bolt utilises a separate, non-rotating bolt head with a bolt handle sitting in front of the split bridge receiver when closed and acting as an emergency safety surface.
What differs is the overall simplification of the bolt down to the bare minimum by utilising more simple shapes and losing features like the guide rib.
The loss of this rib, which negates the ability of the cocking piece to rotate out of lock and decock, means that the m/1904 can in theory be decocked while in battery, however the spring tension alone should prevent this from happening on accident.
Unlike the Mannlicher rifles, the bolt stop and ejector are of a Mauser pattern, with a lever arm instead of a push button.
Magazine
The magazine is a standard Mauser M98 style staggered box magazine with five rounds being fed in an alternating pattern to be picked up by the bolt.
As with all smokeless Mausers, the m/1904 is loaded via stripper clip, which can be ejected via the bolt moving forward.
As requested initially by the commission, the magazine can be loaded with single cartridges as well.
Markings
Crest
Atop the receiver ring the royal sigil of Carlos I. can be seen in the form of a C and roman I numeral overlaid over one another underneat a crown.
Interestingly these did not get removed after the 1910 revolution.
Manufacturer & Model Designation
On the left side of the receiver wall the manufacturer and model designation can be found reading
ESPINGARDA PORTUGUEZA 6,5 MOD. 1904
DEUTSCHE WAFFEN-UND MUNITIONSFABRIKEN BERLIN
(Portuguese Rifle, 6.5 Model 1904
German Weapons and Munitions Factories Berlin)
Serial Number
The serial number will be an alphanumerical code with a letter prefix. It can be found on the receiver, bolt and stock.
Proof & Acceptance Marks
Smaller marks can be found on the receiver signifying proof and acceptance by both DWM and the Portuguese.
The Greek letter codes are DWM markings found on a variety of export models.
Stock Markings
Another royal sigil can be found on the right side buttstock in the form of a "CR" under a crown for "Carlos Rex".
Additionally, colonial examples will often show a "D.M.G.L.M." marking on the right side stock near the action and left side buttstock near the comb. This abbreviation stands for "Direçao General Militar de Lorenço Marques", an arsenal in Portuguese Mozambique. The accompanying number is the rifle's arsenal number.
UDF Marking
The rifles sold to the UDF during the Great War were marked as such. A "UDF" in conjunction with a number, can usually be found on the receiver ring, but still also show up on other parts like the buttplate.
