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Within military 8 mm firearms, the Repeating Rifle Mannlicher 1888, better known as the Mannlicher M1888, was a bolt-action rifle used by several armies from 1888 to 1945. Derived from the M1885 and later M1886 models, it was Ferdinand Mannlicher's third rifle that utilized the "en bloc clip".
It was succeeded by the Mannlicher M1895 as the standard service rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The M95 uses a more secure rotating-bolt, in contrast to the M88's wedge-lock bolt.
History
editThe M1888 was a direct and immediate descendant of the M1886 Austrian Mannlicher. This rifle too was a straight-pull, bolt-action, box magazine repeater. As early as the beginning of production of the M1886 the need and desirability for a small-bore rifle was evident. This rifle is virtually identical to its predecessor but for chambering a newly designed 8 mm cartridge, loaded originally with black powder and denominated 8×52mmR.
M1888-90 rifle
editShortly thereafter, the M88 cartridge was converted to semi-smokeless powder. The new cartridge was designated 8mm M.1890 scharfe Patrone and its dimensions were 8×50mmR. The sights of existing black powder 8mm Mannlicher rifles were converted to accommodate semi-smokeless ammunition by the functional arrangement of screw mounting re-graduated sideplates onto the outsides of the existing rear sight walls. The converted rifles were denominated M.88–90.
M1890 rifle
editWhen in 1890 semi-smokeless powder became available, manufacture of rifles with a longer and thus stronger chamber and modified sights began. Although the smokeless powder filled M.93 8×50mmR cartridge can be used in this rifle, the generated pressure at 40,000 psi (275.8 MPa) is marginal, as the wedge-lock bolt system this rifle uses was originally designed to be shot with less-potent black powder filled with 11×58mmR ammunition.
Kuaili 1888 Kiangnan rifle 7.62x55
editChina also used this rifle extensively during the Qing dynasty and the Republican era. China first bought Mannlicher 88 rifles before the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 and after that started production of the unlicensed Kuaili 1888 Kiangnan copy.[13][14]
Users
edit- Austria-Hungary
- First Austrian Republic
- Boers[15]
- Kingdom of Bulgaria[16]
- China[17]
- Brazil: Both sides during the Federalist Revolution.[18][better source needed]
- Republic of China (1912–28)[19]
- Chile[20]
- Czechoslovakia
- Sudeten German Party
- Ecuador[21]
- Ethiopian Empire: Some M88/90s would be cut-down to carbine length. These are functionally identical to standard M88/90s. [6][22]
- Nazi Germany: Used by Volkssturm.[23]
- Kingdom of Greece: Captured from Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War and at the end of World War I.[5][10]
- Haganah[citation needed]
- Kingdom of Hungary
- India[6][24]
- Kingdom of Italy[6][1][25]
- Persia
- Philippines[2]
- Second Polish Republic
- Kingdom of Romania: Before Second Balkan War Romania bought circa 60.000 Mannlicher M.90 and M.95.[26] During World War I a number of M.88-90 and M.90 Mannlichers were captured from Bulgarian and Austria-Hungarian forces. Others were provided as reparations after the war. They were still in use during World War II[27]
- Russian Empire
- Soviet Russia
- Kingdom of Serbia[28]
- Kingdom of Siam : According to Steyr sales records, 15,000 M1888 rifles were furnished to Siam, most in the 1890s. Some may have been used items, sold from Austrian military stocks.[29][30]
- Spain
- Second Spanish Republic[31][32]
- United Kingdom : Captured in Ethiopia, used by African or Indian troops in Garrison/Guard duties in Abyssinia in the 1941-42 period, and then ended up (along with all the rest of the captured Equipment) in India, the more modern rifles (M95s and Carcanos) and MGs, going to front line training ( Burma Front) and the rest (like M88) to straight training units and guard duty in the boonies of India.[6][33]
- Kingdom of Yugoslavia
References
edit- ^ a b "Fucile Mannlicher 1888". Euroarms.net. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ a b citation?
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Broń strzelecka polskiego wojska w wojnie polsko-bolszewickiej". ossow1920.pl. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Weapons Of The Greco-Turkish War Part 1Guns Magazine.com - Guns Magazine.com". gunsmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "M88/90 Mannlicher find. AOI and British?". forums.gunboards.com. 19 June 2015.[unreliable source?]
- ^ Nicolle, David (20 July 2012). The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 1935–36. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781782001324 – via Google Books.
- ^ Joseph, Frank (6 May 2010). Mussolini's War: Fascist Italy's Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935-45. Helion and Company. ISBN 9781906033569 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Spanishcivilwar1".
- ^ a b "Part I of the greek civil war the first battles of the "cold war": partisan groups in Greece were as eager or more to fight each other as the Germans. Even before the Nazis were gone, civil war was underway. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ [1] Archived 17 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Вход". gunbg.com.
- ^ "A Guide to Mannlicher's Straigh Pull Rifles : : C&Rsenal". Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Info" (PDF). www.mh.sinica.edu.tw.
- ^ "6 Rifles Used by the Afrikaners During the Second Boer War". 17 April 2017.
- ^ "Repetiergewehr M1888/90". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "Antique 1886 Austrian Chinese Marked". www.aagaines.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Na Revolução Federalista, em 1893, senadores chegaram a pegar em armas". www12.senado.leg.br.
- ^ Philip S. Jowett (2010). Chinese Warlord Armies, 1911–30. Osprey Publishing. pp. 43–. ISBN 978-1-84908-402-4.
- ^ John Walter (25 March 2006). Rifles of the World. Krause Publications. pp. 263–271. ISBN 0-89689-241-7. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ Robert W.D. Ball (2 August 2011). Mauser Military Rifles of the World. Gun Digest Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4402-1544-5.
- ^ "Mannlicher 1888/90 Ethiopian "Cut-Down" Rifles".
- ^ "Small arms of the Deutscher Volkssturm part I: Nazi leaders, many of whom already had their tickets punched for Argentina, preached last-ditch resistance to the German people, and provided a motley assortment of tools for the purpose. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ "Mannlicher 88/90 stock markings". 21 December 2016.[unreliable source?]
- ^ "Italian Mannlicher M95 Rifle and Carbine".
- ^ Philip Jowett (20 March 2012). Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13: The priming charge for the Great War. Osprey Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-78096-528-4.
- ^ "PART I: ROMANIAN WORLD WAR II: SMALL ARMS: PUSTI SI PISTOLUL MITRALIERA. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ "Tribute to Michael Kreca: The Rifles of Yugoslavia and Serbia". tributetomichaelkreca.blogspot.cz.
- ^ "Bayonets of Siam (Thailand)". worldbayonets.com.
- ^ Scarlata, Paul (September 2013). "Siamese Thai: Military Rifle cartridges". Shotgun News – via thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ de Quesada, Alejandro (20 January 2015). The Spanish Civil War 1936–39 (2): Republican Forces. Men-at-Arms 498. Osprey Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 9781782007852.
- ^ "Small arms of the Spanish Civil War" (PDF). www.forgottenweapons.com.
- ^ ""AOI"-marked Mannlicher M1888 and the Meaning of "St. 91"". forums.gunboards.com. 5 November 2007.[unreliable source?]
- "8 x 50 R Mannlicher - www.militaryrifles.com/Austria/88Mann.htm". militaryrifles.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2013.