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Concept
Siamese Mauser style rifle
Summary
Facing the threat of Western colonial expansionism in Southeast Asia during the later part of the 19th century, King Rama V of Siam (now Thailand), sought new weapons as part of a modernization program to ensure the kingdom's independence. After experiments with other rifles, the Siamese military decided to purchase a Mauser rifle based on the Gewehr 98 design as their principle service rifle. Through various modifications, adaptations, and using various cartridges, the Siamese Mausers served as the main infantry weapon of Siam until after World War II.
Siam's king, Rama V (Chulalongkorn), considered modernization an important check against French colonial expansion from Indochina and British colonial expansion from Malaya following territorial concessions forced upon Siam by both powers. Many countries yielded to pressure from France and Britain and refused to sell Siam modern weapons.
The Siamese military was able to buy out a defaulted Bulgarian contract for Austrian Mannlicher Model 1888/90 rifles. They decided against adopting the Mannlicher, straight-pull bolt action, but the Siamese were impressed with the Austrian 8x50mm rimmed cartridge.
Despite the Britain and France's efforts, Siam also managed to buy a license to build Mauser's Gewehr 98 rifle. However, Siam lacked the necessary manufacturing capability. Japan did have the required capability and Siam contracted with Japan's Koishikawa arsenal to build their rifles.
The first Siamese Mauser used the Gewehr 98 bolt with the cock-on-open action, but removed the recoil lug with the narrower lines of the Mauser model of 1896. Some features and characteristics of the Japanese Type 35 rifle (under development in the same arsenal at that time) were also incorporated, such as the sliding dust cover and long wrist tangs. Some Siamese Type 46 rifles also have a split buttstock common on Arisaka rifles. Although the design was licensed from Mauser, none of the components of the Siamese rifles are interchangeable with other Mauser rifles.
Official source
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