In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms.

King Frederick I of Württemberg founded the enterprise as Königliche Waffen Schmieden (literally: Royal Weapons Forges) on 31 July 1811.

[4][2] Of his seven sons who worked with him there, Peter Paul Mauser showed an outstanding ability to develop methods of operation that were faster and more efficient.

A delay in the purchase forced them to buy real estate overlooking the Neckar River Valley, where the upper works was built that same year.

The adaptations usually consisted of shortening the foregrip and barrel, rechambering to accommodate popular British rounds, and minor alterations to the action.

Additionally, the comparative low cost of surplus military ammunition has served to continue their use by shooting enthusiasts, however, in recent years it is becoming more difficult to obtain as stocks dry up.

That being said, vintage surplus ammunition usually requires specialized cleaning regimens to prevent aggressive and rapid metal oxidation caused by corrosive salts (moisture attracting) contained in their priming compounds.

The first Western-made handguns introduced into South Asia were made by the Mauser company, and the term has entered the lexicon in India and the surrounding regions, to mean any heavy pistol.

Ludwig Olson wrote that an example had at one time been on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.[13] The rifle was patented in Austria by Samuel Norris on 24 December 1867.

[13] Although it is sometimes considered a close relative of the Chassepot rifle, and borrowing Dreyse's turning-bolt action lock, the most innovative features of the new weapon were the work of Peter Paul Mauser.

Production began at the Oberndorf factory for the infantry version, which fired a black powder 11×60mm round from a long 850 mm (33 in) barrel.

After the Mauser brothers finished work on the Model 71/84 in 1880, the design team set out to create a small caliber repeater that used smokeless powder.

Because of setbacks brought on by Wilhelm Mauser's death, they failed to have the design completed by 1882, and the German Rifle Test Commission (Gewehr-Prüfungskommission) was formed.

The main features were the ability to use stripper clips to feed the magazine (a revolution in rate of fire), and its rimless 7.65×53mm Mauser ammunition, advanced for the time.

In response, Mauser started small-scale production of the design in an effort to interest foreign nations, but failed to convince any of the European major powers.

The Belgian attache, however, urged his government to contact Mauser, hoping the design might give them a chance to found a domestic arms industry.

As with other early Mausers, most such arms were made by the Ludwig Loewe company, who in 1896 joined with other manufactures to form Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken.

These rare Mauser carbines and rifles—especially the Model 1895—can be easily identified by the letters "OVS" (Oranje-Vrijstaat [Dutch for "Orange Free State"]) either marked on the weapons' receiver ring and the stock directly below, or otherwise carved into the right side of the buttstock.

Initial production of the weapons was in Germany by Waffenfabrik Mauser, with the remainder being manufactured under license by Sweden's state-operated Bofors Carl Gustaf factory.

The S Patrone provided the accuracy and barrel life improvements the German military was looking for and it was in response to the French adoption of a pointed boat-tail bullet, which offered better external ballistic performance.

Following the collapse of the German Empire after World War I, many countries that were using Mauser models chose to develop, assemble, or modify their own G98-action rifle designs.

The Belgians and Czechs produced and widely exported their "Mausers" in various calibers throughout the 1920s and 1930s, before their production facilities were absorbed by Nazi Germany to make parts or whole rifles for the German Army.

To take advantage of the widespread and popular German single-shot 8.15×46mmR cartridge for use in a military firearm, a modified Gewehr 98 referred to as a "Wehrmannsgewehr" was designed.

It rapidly evolved into the Karabiner 98 Kurz, which was adopted by Nazi Germany as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 and saw service until the end of World War II.

The Karabiner 98k "Mauser" (often abbreviated "K98k" or "Kar98k"), adopted in the mid- 1930s, became the most common infantry rifle in service in the German Army during World War II.

In this system, gases from the bullet were trapped near the muzzle in a ring-shaped cone, which in turn pulled on a long piston rod that opened the breech and re-loaded the gun.

Both models also included inbuilt 10-round magazines that were loaded using two of the stripper clips from the Karabiner 98k, utilizing 7.92×57mm Mauser rounds, which made reloading relatively slow.

During World War II, the Mauser factory in Oberndorf was strategically bombed by the Allies, resulting in the deaths of 26 workers and the destruction of the company's power plant.

French forces entered Oberndorf (which they subsequently occupied for some time) on 20 April 1945 when the town's mayor and planning committee surrendered without any resistance; no blood was shed there on that day.

The plant was dismantled by the occupying forces for the purpose of war reparations, most factory buildings (approximately 60% in total) were demolished and the records destroyed on orders of the local French Army commander.