#FMAP-DM

Having been a long-time (since the early 20th century) user of bolt-action Mauser rifles and carbines in 7.65x53mm chambering, Argentina’s armed forces began thinking in adopting a semi-auto rifle shortly after World War II, if possible, with local manufacture.  This was more strongly implemented in the early 1950s during the second administration of President Jan Domingo Perón.  An early attempt ( http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/05/04/argentinas-sturmgewehr-setting-record-straight/) was the CAM 1 clone of the German StG44 Sturmgeweher in the original 7.92x33mm, which did not progress beyond the construction of a handful of prototypes. This was followed with copies of the M1 Garand by FMAP-DM – Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles -Domingo Matheu, in Rosario, and the M1941 Johnson by IAME – Industrias Aeronáuticas y Mecánicas del Estado, in Cordoba, both in 7.65x53mm, which went no farther. It is reported that Argentina was, at one time, also interested in Melvin Johnson’s M1947 auto carbine, the “Daisy Mae”. It would take twenty or so additional years until another step was taken.

Following WWII, Argentina’s State-owned FMAP-DM (Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles – Domingo Matheu), located in the city of Rosario, Santa Fé Province (380km Northwest of Buenos Aires), carried out production of the .45ACP caliber Colt M1911A1 pistol (about 70,000 examples), and the 7.65x53mm Mauser M1909 cavalry carbine (20,000) for Argentine Army use, having used primarily machines and tools acquired from the German firm Fritz Werner. Also, under the direct supervision of three Italian designers from the city of Brescia – Bergonzi, Ruggieri and Sustercic – the Factory designed and manufactured about 50,000 examples of the P.A.M.1 and P.A.M.2 submachine guns, 9x19mm weapons based largely on the U.S. .45ACP caliber M3A1 ‘Grease Gun’ ( http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/25/p-m-1-p-m-2-argentinas-grease-guns/).

Back in 2011, TFP published a “reader” Ronaldo Olive contribution (http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/02/11/fmap-dm-cam-1-the-argentine-stg44-clone/) on CAM 1, the Argentine copy of the WWII German Sturmgewehr assault rifle granddad made in that South American country in the early 1950s. In the text, it was stated that the gun was chambered to the (then) Argentine standard 7.65x53mm Mauser cartridge, information that was passed to me when visiting FMAP-“DM” (Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles-“Domingo Matheu”), in Rosario, Santa Fé Province, in 1990.