SOLD – VERY RARE ANTIQUE BELGIUM MODEL 1889/16 CARBINE….GERMAN WWI CAPTURE AND BELGIUM RE-CAPTURE

This would have to be the most obscure and complicated WW1 era Rifle that we have ever taken on.   We have an 1889 FN manufactured  Belgium Army Model 1889/16 carbine that was captured by the Germans during WW1 and converted to 8×57 Mauser and subsequently re-issued by the German Army with added Imperial German inspection markings.  After the war ended in 1918, the rifle was repatriated back to Belgium where it was  re-converted back to the original caliber, 7.65 Belgium Mauser.  It would have remained in service with the Belgium Army into WW2, and then in 1940 it would have been surrendered or re-captured by the Nazi Germans who likely reissued it as well.  It was captured a third time and became a US WW2 Vet bring back………WHEW!.  Everything matches but a screw and a band.  The bore is excellent and it is very well cartouched. This is a fairly uncommon FN Belgium Military carbine with a highly unusual story to tell.