Mondragón (rifle)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mondragón was a Mexican automatic rifle.
| Fusil M-1908 "Mondragon" | |
|---|---|
| Type | Automatic rifle |
| Place of origin |  Mexico |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1899-1921 |
| Used by | Mexico Imperial Germany |
| Wars | Mexican Civil War World War One |
| Production history | |
| Designer | General Manuel Mondragon |
| Designed | 1894 |
| Manufacturer | Dirección General de Industria Militar del Ejército |
| Produced | 1894 |
| Number built | 75,420[citation needed] |
| Variants | automatic rifle, carbine, sniper rifle, light machine gun. |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 4.18 kg (9 lb 3oz) empty |
| Length | 1105 mm (43.5 in) |
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| Cartridge | 7 x 57 mm Mauser |
| Caliber | 7x57mm Mauser |
| Action | gas-operated, rotating bolt |
| Rate of fire | 750 rounds/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 710 m/s (2300 fps) |
| Effective range | 200 m to 550 m sight marks |
| Maximum range | 900m (984 yd) |
| Feed system | 8 round box; also 20 round box or 30 round drum |
| Sights | Iron sights or Scope |
The Mondragón was the first automatic rifle[citation needed] and was designed by General Manuel Mondragón. He began work in the 1890s and patented the weapon in 1907. It was gas operated with a cylinder and piston arrangement, now very familiar but unusual at the time, and rotating bolt, locked by lugs in helical grooves in the receiver; it was also possible to operate it as a simple straight-pull bolt action. The caliber was 7mm (.284in) Mauser with an 8-round box magazine; a trial LMG version had a 20 round box and provision for a bipod, like the BAR; the Mexican Army also used a 30-round drum magazine for a light machine gun variant produced in 1910.
Because of the Mexican Revolution, no facilities in Mexico were able to mass-produce it. Mondragón attempted to interest a U.S. firm, without success. He then turned to Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG), of Neuhausen am Rheinfall, who agreed to manufacture the rifle. It was issued to the Mexican Army as the Fusil Porfirio Diaz Systema Mondragón Modelo 1908.
With World War I, Germany bought SIG's entire stock, issuing them to the infantry, where they proved highly susceptible to mud and dirt in the trenches (a problem familiar even to less complex straight-pulls such as the Ross). Instead, they were withdrawn and reissued, with 30-round helical magazines, to aircraft crews as the Fliegerselbstlader Karabiner 1915 (Flier's Selfloading Carbine model 1915), until sufficient numbers of machineguns were available. Few survive.
[edit] Source
Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "Mondragón", in Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons and Warfare, Volume 18, pp.1933-35. London: Phoebus Publishing Company, 1978.
