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.
Bolt Action Rifles
Portuguese m/937B Kar98k: Back to the Standard Pattern
In the 1930s, Portugal was looking to update its small arms, and wanted to get some top-shelf K98k Mausers to replace its 1904 Mauser-Vergueiros. The country was on good terms with Germany, and so Portugal […]
Belt-fed
Belt-fed Madsen tank gun
We spotted this interesting gun at SAR West 2011. It’s actually a parts kit, as the sides of the receiver have been chopped up and discarded. But the remaining pieces make for a very interesting […]
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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