The Portuguese Army purchased 5,000 7.65mm Luger pistols in 1908, and the Navy followed suit the next year – but the Navy opted for 9mm ones, with 100mm barrels. A contract for 350 was placed in November 1909, with the guns delivered in 1910. These were in a standalone serial number range starting at 1, and they had a crown over anchor crest on the chambers in recognition of King Manuel II. Manuel was overthrown in 1910, however, and the followup order for an additional 300 guns were delivered with “RP” over anchor crests, for the Republic of Portugal (the final delivery was August 1912). These pistol were ordered with holsters, lanyards, double magazine pouches, and three magazines with each gun.
Select-fire Rifles
Evolution of the Dutch-Made AR10
The AR-10 rifle was developed in the United States (Hollywood California, specifically) by Eugene Stoner, but the Armalite company did not have a suitable large scale manufacturing facility to produce the number of guns they […]
Light MGs
Madsen LMG Disassembly and Functioning (RIA)
The Madsen LMG is of particular interest to me because it is both a very mechanically unusual design and also a very early successful design. Madsen light machine guns were first used in combat in […]
Light MGs
Portugal’s MG-13: the M938 Light Machine Gun
The MG-13 is a transferrable machine gun being sold as lot #746 in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction. The MG13 was an interim machine gun used by the German military in the 1930s […]
Few people know that it was Portugal, not Russia, that was the first nation-state to become a socialist republic by armed revolution. Their revolution in 1910 predated the October Revolution by nearly eight years.
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