afm

Hi Astro Curiously the main difference is exactly the action which being similar in aspect to the Steyr Mannlicher (i.e. 8x60R Kropatschek 1886 and the 6.5x53R carbine 1896) is neither a real Mauser action nor a Mannlicher - it is the kind of hybrid "Vergueiro" action, a unique Portuguese originality created by Capitan Jose Alberto Vergueiro, simpler and very effective! Should you be interested I can try to post some photos.

Hi, from Portugal! I am a new member in this forum and noticed this discussion on the Portuguese "Vergueiro" Mauser rifle. 100.000 of these rifles in their original calibre of 6.5x58mm have been ordered in 1904 and delivered during the following 2-3 years. On 1915 Portugal sent 20.000 to the UDF of South Africa, then under pressure from the German army and about another 20.000 to the African Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique. These rifles were well used by the UDF, the Portuguese and even the Germans when capturing them, as they were better than their 1888 Mausers! Portugal entered the IWW in 1917 in France, under the British Sector and for logistic reasons adopted the .303 Lee Enfield during this period. The Vergueiro rifles that remained in Portugal – about 60.000 – were later converted in 1939 to 7.92mm (8mm Mauser), as Portugal had purchased on 1937 100.000 98K rifles from Germany and it was convenient to unify calibres for logistics simplicity!The 8mm variant can be distinguished visualy from the 6.5mm variant with the 1939 modifications including a shorter barrel, distincive front sight protector and ground down rear sight base This means that the sole rifles still in the original 6.5x58mm were those sent to Africa! These are really nice rifles, although very rare nowadays and a collector’s item! They were well manufactured and still shoot very well! I have both the original caliber (one of the rifles sent to UDF in 1915) and one of those modified to 8mm. To shoot the original we can surely make the brass cartridges from 30-06, .270 or 8mm mauser, with some hard work and patience. But I use another method much simpler and very efficient – I buy 6.5x57 Mauser cartridges (PPU and Sellier & Bellot manufacture them, no need to form from 7x57!) and modify them which is a simple passage with the die to push the shoulder a couple of millimetres down! The result is a cartridge about 1mm shorter than the original, but this makes no difference at all! This brass is easily available in Europe. I hope this may be of assistance and would like to learn about your experience and loads used for the calibre!