Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I am Ian McCollum, and today we're taking a look
at a Belgian Model of 1889 Mauser.
These are notable because they're in fact the first
smokeless powder Mauser rifles developed,
the first ones actually purchased by anyone, I should say.
This was the result of an extensive series of
competitions and trials in Belgium looking for a
new modern magazine-fed rifle.
And if you're interested in the whole developmental history of this rifle,
I would suggest you go check out the C&Rsenal video on that subject,
which I will have linked at the end of this video.
What I want to talk about today is this specific example,
because it was manufactured by the Hopkins & Allen Company of Norwich, Connecticut.
This is one of the World War One rifle contracts that came to the United States
before the US actually got into the war, and it's kind of an interesting one.
So Belgium of course was ... basically the first country
invaded by Germany on their way down to France in 1914.
The majority of Belgian rifle production had taken place at Fabrique Nationale,
which was in fact a consortium of smaller manufacturers
that got together to be able to fulfil this Belgian military contract.
Well, when the Germans started occupying Belgium, the Belgian government evacuated
its state arsenals, as much of the tooling as they could get out, and they got those out to France.
However, they didn't evacuate FN, because this was a private company.
And this left Belgium with not a whole lot of arms production capacity.
So they took some of this tooling and they were able to set up a ... workshop
for repair and refurbishment of small arms in Calais.
However, this was within artillery range of German forces,
not a good place to set up a full-scale production line.
That ended up happening in Birmingham, England.
Belgian workers and equipment were able to be relocated to England,
and February of 1916 the factory there was able to start production.
And so you will actually find Belgian Model 1889 Mausers that are marked "Birmingham".
However, that took some time to happen,
and in the meantime Belgium was in very significant need of rifles.
The problem was they didn't need as many as the other western Allies.
So, as with everyone, they went to the United States to look for a company
that would be willing to make guns for them.
And they were kind of like they weren't offering enough, and they were a little too late.
The British were looking for guns, the French were looking for guns,
the Russians were looking for guns, and you see all of these contracts getting signed in the US.
The Belgians weren't looking for as many guns,
because they had a much smaller army than all of the other major Allies,
and they weren't offering particularly good terms.
The price was fairly low for the guns, they didn't offer any down payment,
which most of the other countries did to cover tooling up costs that they knew
would be involved in making hundreds of thousands of guns of a new design.
So Belgium actually sort of lucked out, they were unable to find anybody,
until the Hopkins & Allen Company became available on very short notice.
Hopkins & Allen had been involved in a contract to manufacture Lee-Enfield rifles for the British.
It's a long story: the short version basically is that an investor consortium told the British,
"Oh yeah, we represent all these manufacturers, we've got a factory ready to go. How many rifles do you want?"
And the British said, "We'd like 400,000 rifles please."
And they sign a contract, but this consortium doesn't actually have a factory.
They are still trying to find someone who can actually make the guns,
and they are unable to do so.
They ... sign up Hopkins & Allen, but then discover that like this isn't going to work,
they're not going to be able to get the parts, get the labour.
The whole thing falls apart in July of ... 1915.
And it is right about that point that the Belgian military kind of appears,
and in this moment of saving grace and Hopkins & Allen is available.
And they've ... put a bunch of work into the factory in preparation for this contract,
and then it falls through, and then they sign a contract with the Belgians and all is saved.
So they did produce rifles: in total the order was for 140,000 rifles and 10,000 carbines.
... The Belgians paid $28 apiece for the rifles and $27 apiece for the carbines,
but it wouldn't go smoothly.
So let me show you the gun itself,
and then we'll talk about how this contract actually came through.
The Belgian Model of 1889 is a pretty classic very early pattern Mauser.
Of course very distinctive for having this exposed magazine.
That is exposed because it is a single-stack magazine.
Eventually, ... actually only a few years after this,
Mauser would improve and come up with a double-stack magazine
that still held 5 rounds, but flush within the stock.
So the Argentine and the Belgian guns are the ones that are traditionally
seen with these early pattern magazines.
There is a big ol' marking on the top of the receiver identifying the manufacturer,
which of course in this case is Hopkins & Allen Arms Company of Norwich, Connecticut, USA.
You'll also find them made in the state arsenal in Birmingham,
you'll find them marked by Fabrique Nationale, those are the major manufacturers.
The rifles are chambered in the 7.65 Mauser cartridge,
although that's not actually marked anywhere.
We have a little small Belgian ELG proof mark there.
That is a military inspection proof that indicates that this was approved and accepted
by the Belgian inspectors in the Hopkins & Allen factory.
The serial number is going to be located in about seven different places on the gun.
They used a four digit serial number with a single letter [suffix],
so every 10,000 guns you increment the letter up.
This one is 5,000 C, which means this was about the 25,000th rifle manufactured.
And we'll see that serial number here on the barrel jacket,
in the stock (that one's kind of hard to see, but it's right there),
on the bottom of the magazine,
on the back side of the bolt handle,
on the butt plate right there,
and the last two digits are actually included on the front sight blade.
In general, these rifles are really completely identical to the Belgian production 1889s,
but there is one slightly distinctive feature to the Hopkins & Allen production.
And that is the muzzle protruding here through the barrel jacket.
This is about 4.5mm on Hopkins & Allen guns, the Belgian produced guns are about 8mm.
So almost twice as much barrel sticking out the front of the barrel jacket.
This is inconsequential from any sort of practical perspective,
but it does give you an interesting difference with the American produced ones.
These used a fairly early style of rear sight.
You can see settings for 100 out to 400 metres there, which use this notch.
And sliding that up lifts it up.
And then the ladder goes out to 1,900 here, and 2,000 metres if you use this very top V notch.
The carbines by the way at this point: when the contract was originally signed
the Belgians had sort of a standard carbine pattern of this rifle
that was just the same thing, but shorter.
However, Hopkins & Allen had decided to make the carbines last.
So they did 140,000 rifles first, and then 10,000 carbines at the very end.
And by the time they got to the carbines, which - spoiler - would be 1918,
the Belgians had actually developed a new pattern, the 1889/16 carbines.
And Hopkins & Allen would go ahead and use that pattern for their production of carbines.
So I should point out, on that serial number the rifles go from A through Q.
They skip I and O because those potentially look like numbers themselves.
And then the carbines are the R series.
Hopkins & Allen signed a contract to produce these 150,000 guns in August of 1915.
They then set to work expanding their factory facilities in Norwich,
because they didn't have enough space to do something of this magnitude.
They buy up extra property, they start building worker housing, this is going to be a big endeavour.
It's February of 1916 by the time that their new expanded factory is ready.
And by the way, that's just about exactly when the Birmingham facility
full of expat Belgians is able to start producing rifles.
At that point work can begin from Hopkins & Allen,
but it would be September of 1916 before the first rifle deliveries are actually made.
So it's been like 18 months, depending on how you calculate it, 13 to 18.
But they're finally able to start shipping rifles.
And things go a little slowly, but the quality is good.
In fact the quality is very good, there's a pretty low reject rate.
The Belgians of course have an inspector staff in the factory to make sure that the guns are all up to par,
and they really are, they're great ... quality guns.
But things are a little slow, and by ... June of 1917 Hopkins & Allen has gone into receivership.
The problem was the Belgians weren't offering that high of a price for these guns in the first place.
Hopkins & Allen had been kind of desperate for the contract when they signed it back in 1915,
and they just accepted the Belgian terms, which were no down payment and $27 to $28 per gun.
But then material costs have gone up, labour costs have gone up.
Everybody in the East Coast of the US, it seems, is making guns for the Allies.
And they're all buying up the same material, and they're all chasing the same workforce.
And Hopkins & Allen just didn't plan it out right.
They needed that contract, they didn't think it all the way through,
and they end up literally, legitimately, bankrupt.
So this would take a couple of months to resolve. In October of 1917
the Marlin-Rockwell Company comes through with an offer to actually buy the company.
And they buy the entirety of the Hopkins & Allen Company for $65,000,
which is basically peanuts, because they accept it with all of its obligations,
including its obligation to complete the Belgian contract.
Now the Belgian government is willing to negotiate with them
to make sure that the guns actually show up.
At this point about 12,000 guns have been produced and shipped to Belgium.
So 10% of the contract, the Belgians still really need these guns.
They're trying to get loaner materiel from the French, and it's not good.
So the Belgians are willing to negotiate, they bump the price up from $28 a rifle to $42.50 per rifle.
So a significant price increase, and that gives
Marlin-Rockwell the cash flow that it needs to actually complete this contract.
But it would take them another entire year to do so.
The last recorded data is from September of 1918,
so literally just [two months] before the war is over they have shipped 131,000 of the 140,000 rifles.
So the contract was probably finished up in October of 1918. ...
It was basically right at the end of the war when ... the contract was finally actually concluded.
That said, they were still of significant value to the Belgian military.
They would continue to use these guns for several decades after the war.
In the 1920s they went through a refurbishment program.
They did one little modification to them,
which was to add an extra barrel band up here with a stacking ... swivel,
because otherwise there hadn't been any good way to stack these rifles
... They basically come up with a new design of universal short rifle in 1936.
And they will start converting everything else that's in their inventory
to this new intermediate length pattern.
Unfortunately, part of the process is they actually scrubbed the receiver markings.
So Hopkins & Allen guns that got turned into Model 89/36 rifles
are no longer identifiable as Hopkins & Allen guns.
The distinctive features at that point are basically all gone.
So these guns remain really quite scarce,
especially in their completely unmodified World War One form.
So I thought ... this was a cool opportunity to bring this one to you guys,
give you some background on the various shenanigans involved
in Belgian rifle production in the US during World War One.
Hopefully you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.