Infanteriegewehr M.71, 1871 Mauser
The Mauser Model 1871 adopted as the Gewehr 71 or Infanterie-Gewehr 71 ( I.G.Mod.71 first of many military rifles manufactured to the designs of Peter Paul and Wilhelm Mauser of the Mauser company.
During 1870-71 trials with many different rifles took place, with the "M1869 Bavarian Werder" being the Mausers' chief competitor. The Mauser was provisionally adopted at the end of 1871 pending the development of an appropriate safety. It was adopted by the German Empire excluding Bavaria. The action was not based on its predecessor, the Dreyse needle-gun, which had been in service for 30 years.
The Gewehr 71 is a conventional looking bolt action single-shot rifle using black powder cartridges. The action included only a bolt guide rib as its single locking lug, locking forward of the receiving bridge. The now well recognized Mauser "wing" type safety lever was developed for the Gewehr 71. The cartridge was a metallic 11 × 60R bottlenecked case, holding a charge of 77 grains (5.0 g) of blackpowder, capped with a 386-grain (25.0 g) round-tipped bullet.
Read more about this topic: German Military Rifles