Chinese Mystery Mauser: Fake FN Model 30

"Arming the Dragon" by Dolf Goldsmith is now available and shipping:

One of the most common rifles in Warlord-era China was the Mauser Model 98 short rifle. Various Chinese armies bought large numbers of them from the Mauser, CZ, and FN factories, chambered predominantly for the 8mm Mauser cartridge. In particular, FN sold some 24,000 Model 24 Mauser rifles to China between 1930 and 1934, and another 164,500 Model 30 Mauser between 1937 and 1939. And, of course, several major Chinese arsenals set up manufacture of high-quality copies of these patterns.

As with pistol production in China at the time, crude artisanal rifle copies were made by a variety of small shops and craftsmen. These are of visibly poor quality, and DEFINITELY NOT SAFE TO FIRE. They are, however, really interesting - at least to me. Thanks to viewer Jason for loaning me this one to film, which is a copy of an FN Model 30.

[ekim]

Forgotten Weapons remains an absolute outlier in terms of the quality of it's content and delivery. Ian is an invaluable asset to the world of firearms history.

[GCho]

Ethiopian Copy Mausers: Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!

[Jimtheneals]

My favorite of these is still the "Wauser" pistol. Every time I think about it, I still laugh.

[LGUK]

I wonder if the small details such as the windage burrs on the front sight are more from the original 'source' rifle being used to create the casting die.
So the entire front sight assembily, in this case, would be used to create a sand die, then when the cast is created it ultimately results in hold overs such as this, where the original function is lost, but it's aesthetically copied.

[afwalker]

The sight of the nails used to hold the furniture together takes my breath away.

[azmanabdula]

Makes you wonder how many in history were given a firearm, gone to war and never even fired at anyone
Just never had a chance, leaving the rifle unused, sitting somewhere rusting to bits

[SearTrip]

I got a cheap group of the Chinese rifles back when they came in the U.S. One of them was about a quarter of the weight of the others, but same configuration. I think the metal in the whole thing was pot metal.

[ForgottenWeapons]

Interested in Chinese Warlord Mausers? "Arming the Dragon" by Dolf Goldsmith is now available and shipping:

[johnfisk]

Thank you for this Ian. For all its faults I would be so impressed with myself if I could even approach this good with the kit the gunsmith probably had to hand. For a hand made item he did not too bad. FWIW Insusoect that it had a copy cast FN butt plate which went missing, probably at the same time as the butt split, and the sheet tin replacement made to replace it on the field. The wood splint looks like it is replacing an actual cast butt tail.

[JD-tnlz]

Regardless of these weapons' quality or lack thereof...

You have to admire someone's entrepreneurial spirit and hard work. Seriously.

Whether this "rifle" is junk or not, how many guys do you know that wake up someday and say "look at this pile of crap, I think I'll make something sort of useful out of it and find someone to pay me money for it."

Balls. Big brass pair.

[TheRogueWolf]

"The enemy cannot kill me if my weapon does so first."

[danilonakazone]

I really love how those copies are made to look like but might not function properly. The people who made such weapons are truly talented craftsman

[cedhome]

Love to see a bore scope pushed down the barrel 🤔

[kevintaylor]

One of the things I love about your channel is you generally leave your opinions out (beyond, I thing this is cool/interesting), but one opinion I'd love to hear, especially with a rifle like this, "Would I shoot it? Yes or no?"

I'm not even really a gun person. I like history, I like engineering, and I love simple, clever, mechanical things so I get a lot of gun stuff in my feed.

Love your work Ian, Keep doing what you do.

[BrianJRichards]

Artisanal is my absolute favorite way to describe these firearms. No shade to the manufactures, however “low production, hand crafted, and custom order” are descriptors your want in your chocolate truffles or furniture. Still, looks way better than anything I could do!

[michaelblacktree]

Chinese Warlord: "We have Mauser rifles at home."

[panqueque]

9:20
That's a good point. Even if the rifle itself wouldn't work for too long, if you're desperate and all you need is a quick rifle for a skirmish or two before you can get a real one, then I guess it does its job.

[Matt_The_Hugenot]

I reckon that functioned surprisingly well for some time. An awful lot of work has gone into making it, far more than most of the warlord pistols.

[kbjerke]

It looks crude, but not quite Khyber Pass crude. Thanks for the video, Ian!

[chrisstephens]

We all know what sorts of machines that are used to mass produce rifles but i think it would be intrresting to see just how these knock offs are made, a file and a hammer or something more exotic.