WW1 Dutch Carbine

[tony75]

Hello
What are your thoughts on this Dutch Carbine?

* Its all matching
* It appears to be in great condition
* A few markings that I do not understand
* I'm not firearms guy
I have a few more rifles to post later when I get the time

Thank you
Tony

[Narcis]

Beautiful and rare!

[Martin3]

I was about to say: the famous FN Mauser Juliana carbine! Which once bruised me SERIOUSLY because these have to be shouldered firmly. Darn, that hurt...

But no, the 1916 Hembrug!!! What a rare piece of history you found, congrats!!!
You might know the Hembrug factory's name later changed to Artillerie Inrichting, where the famous AR-10 was developed? Which was further developed to the M-16, AR-14, M-4, et cetera...

Ah, what would have become of us, without these Dutch inventions. Wet sox because no dykes, cold feet because no clogs, chocolate chip cookies because no stroop waffles, all AK's because no gas operated assault guns.

Thanks for showing this nice piece of history!

[emileverbunt]

Nice carbine! You have a so called "Marechaussee karabijn". These carbines were used by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) in Indonesia.

The Marechaussee was a special forces unit, that was founded at the end of the nineteenth century as an answer to the guerrilla tactics of the fierce Acehenese warriors. (Aceh is a situated in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia). The Marechaussee used counter guerrilla tactics and were armed with carbines and the klewang (a cutlass).

Aceh was never completely pacified, but just before WW1 guerrilla activity diminished. The operations of the Dutch lasted over 40 years. From the 1870's till WW1.

Cheers,
Emile

[tony75]

Hello
Thank you all for the information and help
Always learning something here and very grateful for the help
Thanks again
Tony

*How rare is this carbine?

[emileverbunt]

I believe the production total of this carbine model was 35.000. Indonesia rebarreld some to .303, so not many survived in original state.

[tony75]

Hello Emile
Thank you very much for the information
Very helpful and thankful for it
Tony

[Kilian]

I have this strange fetish for stamps and markings. The crown over Z is an acceptance mark from an inspector at the Hembrug factory, which was located in the north of Amsterdam. Crown over R, B, or W would also be inspection marks. Does anybody know however what the markings on the stock could mean?

[earlymb]

The left marking looks like a Waffenambt? Maybe it was captured and re-purposed by the Germans in 1940?

[Kilian]

Yeah, there is an obvious resemblance to the WaA mark, but to my knowledge the Germans did not put WaA marks on captured weapons. As the mark is stamped deeply into the wood, I find it hard to see the details.

Being a kingdom, Dutch acceptance marks usually have a crown. An eagle I would associate more with an empire.

What puzzles me is the condition of the carbine. These were used in the Dutch East Indies by the KNIL, until their surrender to Japan in 1942.

This carbine was made in 1916 but it does not look like it was used for over 25 years in the tropical climate of Indonesia. I see a couple of dents in the wood, which may be caused by handling during storage in a warehouse, but I see no obvious signs of use or routine cleaning by the troops. So it is possible it was never shipped to Indonesia.

Is anything known about the provenance of this carbine? Is the calibre still 6.5 mm?