Steyr M1912 info sheet.
Randy Rick
I hope the following observations will help others who are
contemplating buying one of the Steyr manufactured Model 1912 Mauser
rifles (98 Mauser variant) with Chilean crest.
There are 4 variations available.
1) Rifle with 29 inch barrel, 7mm
2) Rifle with 29 inch barrel, 7.62 Nato converted
3) Short Rifle with 21.5 inch barrel, 7mm
4) Short Rifle with 21.5 inch barrel, 7.62 Nato converted
also
5) Possible, but not confirmed, Carbine with 18(?) inch barrel.
The front of the receiver is stamped deeply with the
crest of Chile, on the left of the crest is a standing stag, on the
right a standing eagle, in the center a shield with a large 5-pointed
star and with plumes out the top and boughs underneath the shield.
Modelo 1912 is stamped under the crest on the receiver.
The left side of the receiver side rail is stamped "WAFFENFABRIK
STEYR" with "AUSTRIA" underneath.
The crest is also stamped on the left of the stock with 1912
underneath. This is opposite the stock disk on the right side which
is stamped with crossed miner's hammers, another Chilean Proof.
The sling is retained at the rear by a quick-release attachment.
There is a sling attachment in the normal place behind the
stock's pistol grip. A second possible rear sling attachment is
in the front of the trigger guard. The front of the sling is retained
by a loop under the lower barrel band around the fore-stock and
wooden hand guard, about midway on the barrel. The sling also comes
with a heavy wire loop which may be used to pull the sling tight the
length of the fore-stock to a hook which is on the underside of the
"H" type Mauser nose cap.
The receivers and bolts of these rifles were origonally 'in the
white'. The 7mm rifle and SR are still that way. It appears the the
7.62 Nato SR are also still in the white.
The 7mm short rifle's rear sight is a tangent type, graduated
to 14 hundred meters.
The (long) rifle's rear sight is a tangent type graduated up to 20
hundred meters. This longer (than on the 7mm SR) tangent sight is
also found on the 7.62 NATO short rifle!
The 7mm short rifle has a turned down bolt, as do the short rifles of
this vintage from other manufacturers. The 7.62mm SR has a straight
bolt!
All four variations have a lower barrel band retaining clip on the
right side of the fore stock. Both variations of the long rifle have
a second retaining clip on the right side behind the nose cap.
The 7mm SR does not have this second retaining clip. However, the
7.62 Nato SR has a second retaining clip on the left side of the
forestock; and its noted that the forestock of the SR is not long
enough for two retaining clips on the same side of the rifle.
*I am led to the conclusion that the 7.62 Nato short rifles are
*conversions from 7mm long rifles.
The 7.62mm SR conversions appear to still be 'in the white'. They
have the stamp "NATO" underneath the factory "MODELO 1912"
stamp in the receiver. Further, the stamp "-61" is to the right of
the "MODELO 1912"; ie: "MODELO 1912-61" The Nato SR's have
a 2 groove barrel.
The 7.62 long rifle conversions appear to be much more recent than
the SR conversions. The long rifles have been re-blued, to include
bluing of the receiver. The rear of the long rifles receiver is
stamped with "7.62" over an "N" . The long rifles have 4 groove
barrels. These rifles do not show much wear since conversion.
These guns were all made between 1912 and 1914. Production ceased at
the outbreak of WWI.
The normal way of serializing guns at the Steyr factory was to
produce weapons without a alphabet letter and up to 4 (or 5) digits,
from 1 to 9999. Then the serial number would add an alphabetic prefix
or suffix. The case (upper or lower case) of the alphabetic character
is significant and would differentiate differont production series.
Having said that, I have not observed any M1912's without an
alphabetic character in the serial number (yet).
The full serial number appears in 4 places on the rifles:
1) left front of receiver
2) left side of stock, just under the left front of receiver.
3) top of bolt handle
4) underneath the rifle in front of magazine well.
The guns had matching cleaning rods serial numbered to the guns.
The long rifle cleaning rod is 15.5 inches long while the SR rod is
9.75 inches. The cleaning rods are standard Mauser-type & function.
Bayonets. The guns had bayonets and scabards serial numbered to the
gun. The blades measure 10 inches in length. The right of the blade
has the Chilean shield with star on it in front of the hilt. On the
left side of the blade is the "OE" over "WG" for Oesterreichische
Waffensfabriks Gesellschaft. The serial number on the blade is on the
right side of the hilt. There is a small hole thru the handle, behind
the hilt which I presume is for a security rod to lock up the
bayonets. The sheath has the serial number stamped into the button
for the leather frog. Unfortunately, I have not seen any frogs.
It has been reported that there is a possible year-month code stamped
inside the stock of the weapon. I have not confirmed that yet, or
tried to correlate the date with serial number, if so.
Observations. All serial numbers observed have been between A.nnnn to
D.65nn. All 7mm carbines seen have been A. 3nnn-A.5nnn.
Conclusion; about 37,000 guns were manufactured.
I will post this info sheet at my web site and send it to the FAQ:
http://www.stc.net/~randyric/collect.htm
I appreciate any additions that you may make to my observations, and
I will include them in any update to this information.
Randy Rick HomePage: http://www.stc.net/~randyric/
Steyr/Austrian Weapons Collector
High Power Rifle Competitor (M1A)
Dahlonega, Georgia USA