Shortly thereafter, the Ottoman Turkish Empire adopted an almost identical derivative for its military and they even went with the same caliber. In 1889, Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre began manufacturing a Mauser-type rifle for the Belgian Army that was chambered for the rimless 7.65×53 mm rifle cartridge. When Argentina sought to adopt a modern, repeating rifle for its military in the late 1880s, it was at a time when Paul Mauser’s recent designs offered the state-of-the-art. Sometimes the members of this honor guard are from Ejército Argentino (the Argentine Army) and are armed with 19th Century Rolling Block rifles, but sometimes the members of the honor guard are from Armada de la República Argentina (the Argentine Navy) and they carry the rifle that transitioned the country from the 19th Century to the 20th-the Model 1891 Argentine Mauser. Their reverence is such that, on most days, an honor guard is posted at the Memorial to the Fallen at Plaza San Martín.
It remains a sore subject in a country that is respectful of the men who survived the war and reverent of the men who did not. Sailors from the Argentine Navy carry the Model 1891 Mauser as part of honor guard duties.
