It called his name as he walked through the Brownells retail store. What else could he do? Roy Hill, Senior Brand Communication Manager at Brownells, shows us his "new" Model 1891 Argentine Mauser. The 1891 is closely patterned after the path-breaking Model 1889 Belgian Mauser, which was the first Mauser to be chambered in a SMOKELESS powder cartridge, the 7.65x53mm Mauser, the same round the 1891 uses. Smokeless powder (nitrocellulose-based, as opposed to black powder) hit the military rifle world in 1886 with the French Lebel rifle. The 7.65x53 Mauser is very similar dimensionally to the 7.62x51 NATO, and its ballistics are very similar to the .308 Winchester.
The Argentine Mauser 1891 differs from the Belgian 1889 in having a simple wood handguard on top of the barrel instead of the 1889's large barrel jacket. The 1889 was the first mass-produced rifle to be loaded from stripper clips, which the 1891 retains. The 1891's 5-round single-stack magazine can be detached for cleaning, but it's not meant to be loaded by swapping mags like a modern AR-15. The "cock on closing" bolt requires extra oomph to close in order to cock the firing pin. (The "cock on opening" system would arrive on the Mauser 1898.)
We put "new" in quotes above because a 130-year-old rifle is hardly fresh off the production line, but Roy's gun sure looks brand new! Its parts have MATCHING serial numbers (even on the cleaning rod!) that indicate it was manufactured in 1896, so it has the improvements introduced to Argentine-pattern Mausers in 1893. These include a longer handguard, a retaining screw to prevent accidental opening of the magazine, and a steel-tipped cleaning rod instead of the original brass-tipped rod. The sights on Roy's gun are set up for use with 7.65x53mm ammo loaded with spitzer bullets, rather than the round-nose bullets of the early ammo.
The good news here is that the era of finding an unaltered original Mauser rifle in excellent condition, at a price the average workin' stiff can afford, is NOT over yet. You may have to look harder for these gems, but eventually one will call your name!