Rock Island Auction time means we get to look at a bunch of really neat guns, thanks to Forgotten Weapons’ Ian. Today he examines one of the most important early selfloading rifles, the model 1908 Mondragon:

The Mondragon is widely recognized as the first selfloading rifle to ever be adopted by a military. As Ian notes, there are a couple predecessors, most notably the 1896 Danish Madsen-Rasmussen rifle. However, the Mondragon was really the first to be adopted and mass produced in large numbers. It would be another thirty years and more before the selfloading rifle concept met with real lasting success, with the perfection of the gas port modification to the M1 Garand rifle.