The Mexican Mauser Model 1954, officially designated Mosquetón Mod. 1954, was a Mexican

Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arme ...

-type

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

rifle, produced in Mexico. Derived from the Mexican-made Mauser Model 1936, it used many of the

M1903 Springfield The M1903 Springfield, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century. The M1903 was first u ...

rifle features, including the .30-06 caliber.

Design

The Model 1954 was a simplified Mauser Model 1936. Its stock was made of

laminated Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a Raw material, material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength of materials, strength, stability, sound insulation, visual appearance, appearance, or ...

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

. Apart from being chambered in 7.62, it used the swivel and the rear sight of the Springfield M1903A3. However, some of the Model 1954 kept the Model 1936 tangent leaf sight. It accepted the bayonet of the Model 1895 rifle. It existed in both rifle and carbine configurations.

History

The Model 1954 was developed after the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National De ...

received many American weapons, such as the

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...

. Since more and more semi-automatic weapons became available on the surplus market, the production of the Model 1954 was reduced from 1955 but continued until 1959. Some of these rifles were supplied to the

Mexican Navy The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the ''Armada de México''. The ''Secretaría de Marina'' (''SEMAR'') (English: Naval Secretariat) includes both the ''Armada'' itself and ...

and marked ''Armada''. In the 1960s, the Model 1954 was still one of the standard-issue rifles of the Mexican Army. As of 2017, the Model 1954 is still used by the rural militia (

Rurales In Mexico, the term ''Rurales'' (Spanish) is used in respect of two armed government forces. The historic Guardia Rural ('Rural Guard') was a rural mounted police force, founded by President Benito Juárez in 1861 and expanded by President Porf ...

). In the civilian US market, it is listed as a ''curiosity or relics, still subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, the Gun Control Act of 1968'' in the 2018

ATF The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...

classifications list.

References

* * {{cite book, last=Ball, first=Robert W. D., title=Mauser Military Rifles of the World, year=2011, location=Iola, publisher=Gun Digest Books, isbn=9781440228926 Mauser rifles Rifles of Mexico .30-06 Springfield rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1954