| Oviedo Model 1893 |
| The Oviedo Model 1893 was made from 1896 to sometime between 1928 and 1941 depending on which source you care to believe. Distinguishing characteristics of the Oviedo Model 1893 are: 1) Oviedo logo consisting of crown, "Fabrica de Armas Oviedo" and the year of manufacture on the top of the reciever. 2) Most have 29" barrels. Some examples with 22" barrels have been reported; these appear to have had their barrels shortened and fitted with new front sights, presumably by an importer. 3) Folding leaf, a.k.a. "flip up ladder" rear sights. 4) No thumb cutout on the left side of the receiver rail to facilitate cartridge charging. 5) Gas escape holes in the left side of the receiver itself appear sometime between 1917 and 1922. I don't have any more specfic information than that yet. 6) The bolts have a flat surface on the bottom of the face, which was supposed to provide more reliable feeding. 7) Original bolts have straight handles |
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| Years of Production/Serial Numbers: 1) The "regular" series: The earliest observed Oviedo Model 1893 has an 1896 date, and a three-number serial. From that point on, the serial numbers follow a regular pattern of a letter followed by four numbers. After they reached "Z" in about 1912, the series apparently continued with the number "2" preceding a letter, then four numbers. My estimate is that about 500,000 of these were produced, based on the ones I have recorded. There are serial numbers that do not fit the pattern. 2) The "plain serial number" series: These do not have a letter in the serial number, and they are not old enough to have preceded the "A" series (only 1896 production is this old). There does not seem to be any pattern to the numbers, and I assume at present that they were reserialed, but the Oviedo crests/dates were not altered during the process.. One of them with a 1922 date has a serial number of 74XX, while another dated 1917 has the number 80XX. My estimate as of today is that about 40,000 of these were produced, assuming of course that they are part of the same series.. 3) The "RE" series: These have a plain four digit number or alphanumeric combination (e.g. A1234) preceded by "RE". The ones I have seen so far have dates from 1928 to 1933. The latest information that I have received (from Javier Sanchez) indicates that "RE" means "recompuesto entubado", or "refurbished entubed", which would mean that the rifle had a barrel sleeve inserted when it was refinished. They must have been old rifles that were reserialed and recrested when they were refurbished. My guess is that production of regular Model 1893's at Oviedo ceased in 1928, and old rifles were refurbished from then on. My estimate as of today is that about 18750 of these were produced/refurbished. These are not shown in the graph below. |
| Photo by Jean Plamondon, used with permission |
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| John Robb photo, used with permission |
| Ed Burgess photo, used with permission |
| Page Updated on 01/20/11 |
| The graph above shows production of Model 1893 Oviedo Mausers by date correlated to serial number. Cumulative production number of a given rifle is calculated from the serial number, e.g. serial number X1045 is rifle number 241,045. I did not make any attempt to remove out-of-sequence serial numbers; the data are presented "warts and all". What the graph shows is that there are two production periods - through 1916, then starting again in 1921. If you look at the serial numbers page, you can see that there is only one from 1917, and none from 1918 to 1920. I assume what happened is that production was suspended in early 1917 about the time that production of the Model 1916 began, then started again in 1921. |
| Major Variant |
| While most Model 1893 rifles had the standard 29" barrel, a quick look at the serial numbers page will show that there are several with 22" barrels. I believe this was a sporterizing job involving shortening the barrels to about 22" to make these rifles more saleable in the U.S. Observations are as follows: : 1) All of the short-barrelled Model 1893's have a step milled or ground into the end of the barrel to accomodate the front sight band, just like a normal Model 1893.. 2) Measurements taken on a 22" barrelled example that I own show that all dimensions except barrel length are identical to a standard 29" barrel. The rear sights of all examples reported to date are the folding leaf sights found on the 29" barrelled Model 1893's. 3) The new barrel crowns added to the cut off barrels are professionally done as opposed to merely cut off and ground/filed straight. 4) All examples reported to date are sporterized. No short barrelled Model 1893's have been reported in original military configuration. 5) Most examples are painted black rather than blued. Far cheaper to paint than re-blue. For more details including pictures, see the Odds and Ends page |
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| O32 |
| O33 |
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| Revised 01/20/11 |