![]() ![]() As Type 45 rifles were damaged it was common to rebuild them to the newer Type 46 pattern, so they too are designated as Type 46 rifles. The designation Type 46 however applies to more than just the rifles from this second contract. When Siam moved to the new calendar however they decided to apply a new designation to the rifles with these changes to denote that these rifles have differences from the original Type 45 pattern. 121 like the previous batch and marked as such. Despite these changes, the rifles were still designated as the R.S. When Siam contracted the second batch of 20,000 rifles (serial numbers 20,001-40,000) there were some slight changes made to the design.* These changes were made due to the Japanese-sourced wood having an inherent weakness that could lead to the stock splitting. If you have ever had an interest in, or are just plain curious about the Siamese Mauser this should give you a pretty good overview of the basics to help you on your way to discovering this unique take on the Mauser. Unfortunately as a result of lacking easy access to data on Siamese/Thai firearms there has been a lot of outdated (and some downright false) information being passed around about these rifles. Thailand didn’t keep the best records on their firearms so a lot of what is known about them is based on observations of examples that have been found on the collector’s market. Despite the uniqueness of their firearms, they are often overlooked by collectors. Due to Siam being in a unique position they wound up developing, though not a completely new rifle, a very unique twist on one of the best designs in the world at the time. ![]() In pursuit of modernizing its military, Siam began looking for a modern rifle to equip its infantry. Part of those efforts was a modernization of the military. In order to ensure the Kingdom’s continued existence, he initiated plans to rapidly modernize Siam in hopes of being recognized in the eyes of the European powers as a legitimate modern civilized country with the same standing as any European country. The King of Siam, Chulalongkorn (also known as King Rama V), knew that the existence of his Kingdom was tenuous at best, and reliant completely on the powerful European countries allowing them to be. Both countries, which historically didn’t always get along, mutually decided to leave the Kingdom of Siam to its own autonomy as a buffer zone between their territories. The British had claimed the territory to the west of the Kingdom of Siam while the French claimed the territory to the east. This wasn’t due to them being inaccessible or being militarily strong enough to resist, but rather a quirk of luck. While the European Colonial powers were claiming all the territory in Asia that they could, Siam was left to exist on its own. Siam (modern day Thailand, which I’ll refer to interchangeably depending on context) in the 1800’s found itself in some rather unique circumstances. If you come across any Siamese or Thai firearm you think maybe an abnormal example please let me know so I can document it and pass that information on to other collectors. ![]() However, since the group dedicated to collecting them is so small, it is relatively easy for rare examples to be completely unknown to the dedicated collectors. As Thailand has not produced much in the way of documentation, most of what is currently known about Siamese Mausers comes from the direct observations of collectors. ![]() This guide is certainly not all-inclusive and there is likely going to be oddities in Siamese Mauser variants that don’t exactly match up. This guide will hopefully be able to provide you with a good base of understanding of the basics of the Siamese Mausers. ![]()
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