As some of you might have deduced I am quite the fan of historic military firearms. So when i saw this baby at my local store I just had to pick it up.

The Steyr Model 1912 rifle is a Gewehr 1898 pattern rifle designed and made by famed Austrian Firearms company "Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft" (ŒWG, Austrian Arms-Manufacturing Company) and produced in Austria-Hungary and chambered in the 7x57mm rimless cartridge as a export rifle for foreign militaries around the turn of the century looking to upgrade their inventories from previous generation rifles. One of the largest purchasers of the Model 1912 was The Republic of Chile who adopted it under the name of Modelo 1912. At the outbreak of World War One Austria-Hungary pressed into service around 115,000 rifles destined for South America (67,000 for Mexico, 5,000 for Colombia, and 43,000 for Chile) and designated the rifle as the Repetiergewehr M.14, these rifles can be told apart by the larger front sling swivel used by the Austro-Hungarian Army along with the blue'd receivers as Chile ordered their rifles "In the White" meaning that the metal was not treated with a rust prevention agent, leaving them looking silver. This rifle has a blue'd receiver indicating its use in the Austrio-Hungarian Army in Europe before its transfer to Chile post war. Sadly the Receiver, Bolt, and Stock, all have mismatched serial numbers, meaning that its nearly impossible to trace this rifle's direct linage, unless you count the Receiver as The Heart of The Gun and just use that.

In 1961, in a bid to keep the rifle up to date and usable on the modern battlefield and ease supply chains, Chile domestically rechambered their rifles for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge with a redesignation to the Modelo 12/61. The rifle is still in service with some of the Armies that bought them over a century ago mainly as a parade and display rifle as it is used in Chile, who as have taken a large visual influence of Prussian militaria for their parades.