The Brazilian Model 1935 Mauser Banner Short Rifle is a fascinating piece of military history, embodying a unique blend of design, functionality, and legacy. Originating from Germany, this firearm was purchased alongside the Model 1935 Rifle, marking a significant phase in Brazilian military armament. While the exact number of units issued to Brazilian troops remains unknown, the Model 1935 Short Rifle stands out for its distinctive features.
One of the key differences between the short rifle and its longer counterpart is the design of the bolt handle. The Model 1935 Short Rifle features a bent bolt handle, elegantly designed to fit into a specially crafted cutout in the stock, accommodating both the handle and the bolt knob. This ergonomic design not only enhances the rifle’s appearance but also improves its functionality in the field.
With a total length of 42.0 inches and a weight of 9.0 pounds, this rifle is comparatively more compact and maneuverable than its longer counterpart. The barrel, measuring 21.5 inches, is designed for precision and accuracy. The rifle is chambered for the 7 x 57mm cartridge, a caliber known for its balance of power and manageable recoil, making it suitable for various military applications.
The rifling of the barrel features a 4-groove, right-hand pattern, contributing to the rifle’s accuracy and longevity. The turnbolt action is a classic Mauser feature, known for its reliability and ease of use, especially in challenging conditions. The feeding mechanism includes a 5-round, staggered column, flush, box magazine, which allows for rapid reloading and uninterrupted firing in combat situations.
For aiming, the rifle is equipped with a tangent leaf rear sight, graduated up to 1400 meters. This sight system provides soldiers with the flexibility to engage targets at varying distances, enhancing the rifle’s versatility on the battlefield.
In terms of aesthetics and historical significance, the Brazilian Model 1935 Mauser Banner Short Rifle is adorned with the Brazilian national crest on the receiver ring, adding a touch of national pride and identity. The Mauser Banner logo, prominently displayed on the receiver bridge, signifies the rifle’s origin and quality, as Mauser is renowned for its exceptional craftsmanship. Additionally, the manufacturer’s markings on the side rail provide a glimpse into the rifle’s production history.
The Model 1935 Mauser Banner Short Rifle is not just a firearm; it’s a symbol of a historical era, representing the evolution of military technology and the close ties between Brazil and Germany during that period. Its legacy lives on among collectors and historians, who value it for both its technical merits and its historical significance.
The Vasa was built to project Swedish power, terrify rivals, and dominate the sea. Instead, this lavish 1628 warship barely made it off the dock before tipping over and turning into one of naval history’s most spectacular disasters.
A GunsAmerica History Detour That Reaches Back to 1626
If you’ve followed these history articles for very long, you come to appreciate that there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of them. I send an example in once a week, my editors work their magic, and then something shows up most every Monday. I have no idea how they decide what runs when. I’m just as surprised as you are.
I try to craft everything around a military or firearms-related theme. It is called GunsAmerica, after all. Some of these are drawn from the latest headlines. Most spawn from WW2. That was the most expansive conflict in human history, so it stands to reason. I can’t recall how far back we have reached, but today’s project might set some kind of record. Our tale begins in 1626, when the world was a very different place.
A Brave New World of Sail, Steel, and Imperial Ambition
The 2003 Peter Weir epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a perennial favorite. Drawn from a couple of Patrick O’Brian books that chronicle the adventures of Royal Navy sea captain Jack Aubrey, Master and Commander stars Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany and is a simply magnificent watch.
I’ve read a few of O’Brien’s books, and they were great. The movie, however, is indeed a masterclass in naval filmmaking. It cost $150 million to produce and still made a decent profit. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. You’ll thank me later.
There is a timeless allure to naval combat in the era of sail. Like submarine movies, it is easy to find drama in that space. It is tempting for modern students of military history to speciously lump all that together as a single era. Nowadays, military tech evolves so quickly that war in 2026 is fundamentally different from combat in 2003 and unrecognizable from the same stuff in 1944.
By contrast, the era of sail spans from the battle of Lepanto in 1571 all the way up to the mid-19th century and the development of steam-powered warships.
In fact, a relative of mine commanded the USS Lanikai during the frenetic evacuation from the Philippines at the beginning of WW2. The Lanikai was a hastily commissioned schooner press-ganged into service in 1941 during a particularly harrowing period in US Navy history.
To my knowledge, the Lanikai was the last US Navy sailing ship to participate in combat operations. Once I have a chance to reread my cousin’s exploits, we will likely explore that in this space as well.
Master and Commander was set in 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars. The ship we will discuss today was launched in 1628. The point simply being that this period in military history spanned centuries.
Sweden’s Age of Greatness Set the Stage for the Vasa
Nowadays, Sweden is best known for IKEA, Volvo, ABBA, and lots of hot Viking women who look like the elves from The Lord of the Rings. Back in the 17th-century, however, Sweden was a major military superpower. They called this period Stormakststiden or the “Age of Greatness.”
The Swedes had not quite shaken off their Viking heritage, so they were quick to get into everybody else’s business. With a powerful central government, Sweden developed an exceptionally efficient military organization. That meant a formidable land army as well as the capacity for some pretty serious power projection at sea.
Naval Engineering Before Computers Was Art, Nerve, and Guesswork
In the Information Age, computers design our weapons. Every single piece of a modern warship is electronically crafted to optimize its function. Today’s military hardware is exhaustively tested in the digital realm before a single component ends up cast or cut in steel. However, that was obviously not always the case.
As an example, some of the first combat submarines were designed in the 1870’s by an English pastor named George Garrett. These vessels were powered by steam. The rub was that any sensible person knows you cannot make a steam-powered vessel go underwater. As soon as their crews tried to fire a torpedo or maneuver these things, they promptly rolled over and sank. That didn’t stop Garrett and his investors from selling these deathtraps to Turkey, Greece, and Russia.
Back in the 17th century, shipbuilding was as much art as science. Massive ocean-going vessels hundreds of feet long were designed and built using nothing fancier than a ruler and a lot of on-the-job experience. The amazing thing is that some of them actually worked.
Meet the Vasa, the Swedish Warship Built to Terrify Rivals
In the early 1600’s, Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus was heavily engaged in an existential fight against Poland and Lithuania. Then as now, mighty warships both projected military power and embodied national pride. Whoever had the biggest ships with the most guns commanded the most respect. At a time when naval battles were won with withering broadsides and iron-willed men swinging on ropes, brandishing cutlasses, King Adolphus aimed to dominate all comers. His newest dreadnaught was christened the Vasa.
The Vasa was indeed a formidable beast. Spanning 226 feet long and 38 feet wide, she ran 152 feet from the bottom of her keel to the top of her mainmast. The Vasa sported 13,720 square feet of sail and displaced 1,210 tons.
The entire ship was configured for combat. This massive vessel was crewed with 145 sailors and carried around 300 soldiers, what we might call Marines today. She sported 64 serious guns. Forty-eight of these were massive bronze naval 24-pounders arrayed across two gun decks. She also included eight 3-pounders and two 1-pounders for close-range antipersonnel work.
Modern weapons are fairly utilitarian. The B2 Spirit stealth bomber is both beautiful and elegant, because that is the nature of its design. The A10 Warthog ground attack plane is so bug-ugly as to be attractive in its own weird way. Back in 1628, however, shipbuilders invested a little effort just making their warships look awesome.
As a result, the Vasa was richly decorated in a manner befitting her King’s royal ambitions. Her heavy oak hull sported almost feminine curves. At the time of her completion, the Vasa was one of the most heavily armed warships in the world.
The Vasa Looked Glorious, but Trouble Was Already Brewing
The Vasa took two years to build. She was crafted by a Dutchman named Henrik Hybertsson or “Master Henrik.” Hybertsson was under contract to build four warships for the Swedish regent. He laid the keel of the Vasa in February of 1626.
Throughout her construction, the Swedish king hounded Hybertsson to hurry. There was a war on, and Adolphus needed the firepower. However, Master Henrik fell ill soon after the project began. Construction duties were passed on to another Dutch shipbuilder named Henrik Jacobsson. Hybertsson subsequently died in the summer of 1627. Thankfully, for reasons we will discuss directly, he never got to see his massive creation take to the sea.
The Swedish industrial base was inadequate to source the materials needed to rig out a vessel of this magnitude. As a result, her flax sails came from Holland, and the hemp used to craft the ship’s extensive rigging originated in Latvia. Most of the oak timber was sourced from Swedish estates. The Vasa was astronomically expensive.
Before Launch, the Vasa already felt dangerously top-heavy
The Vasa was soft-launched in the spring of 1627, about the same time Master Henrik died. That bit went swimmingly. Shipbuilders finished out the sterncastle, the upper deck, and the beakhead while the big ship was afloat.
The beakhead was the ornate bit up front just above the figurehead. Ships of this era were extravagantly decorated, and the beakhead made the first impression on other ships, both enemy and otherwise. Curiously, that’s also where the ship’s latrine was located. When modern sailors hit the head for a little quality time, that’s where the term comes from.
Visitors to the ship commented that she seemed a wee bit top-heavy. Her draft when fully loaded was only 16 feet, and all those bronze cannons were pretty darn massive. In mid-1628, Captain Söfring Hansson arranged to demonstrate the ship’s stability to Vice Admiral Fleming. Captain Hansson had thirty members of his crew run back and forth across the upper deck to get the ship rolling. However, the admiral grew uneasy and put a stop to the test after only three cycles out of concern that the ship might capsize.
The Vasa’s Maiden Voyage Turned Into a Catastrophe in Minutes
On 10 August 1628, Captain Hansson took his place on the bridge and gave orders that the Vasa cast off her moorings. Draft animals on shore began the process by tugging on the anchor. The day was bright and clear with the tiniest breeze from the southwest. However, with so much sail to help her along, they did eventually get the big ship moving.
This was a big day, and most of Stockholm came out to watch. To commemorate the event, Captain Hansson had the gun ports opened and fired the main batteries in salute as soon as it was safe to do so. Then a proper gust of wind hit the ship from the side.
The Vasa suddenly and severely heeled to port. In response, Captain Hansson dropped her sheets, and the massive ship righted herself. However, at the next break in the nearby bluffs, a stronger gust hit the vessel and pushed her even farther over. This time, the sea poured into the lower gunports, flooding the first gun deck. In short order, water filled the hold, and the hulking warship promptly sank. She was only 120 meters from shore. Thousands of spectators watched the whole sordid scene in horror. Thirty of her complement drowned.
Blame, Salvage, and 333 Years on the Bottom
There resulted the obligatory recriminations. The crew blamed the builders, and the builders blamed the crew. Eventually, everyone decided that the fault must lie with Henrik Hybertsson, mostly because he was dead and couldn’t defend himself.
Though the Vasa was a total write-off, her guns remained quite valuable. More than fifty of them were recovered using primitive diving equipment between 1663 and 1665. And there she sat on the bottom of the Stockholm harbor…for some 333 years.
The Vasa Rose Again and Became a Museum Time Capsule
In 1956, an amateur archaeologist named Anders Frazien used a homemade gravity-driven probe to discover a large wooden object in about the right spot. Divers subsequently spent two years excavating half a dozen tunnels underneath the wreck using high-pressure water jets. That operation required more than 1,300 separate dives. Over a series of eighteen sequential pneumatic lifts, the old wreck eventually broke the surface. The wooden structure then had to be soaked in polyethylene glycol for some seventeen years to stabilize it fully.
The Vasa museum officially opened for visitors in 1990. Since then, some 45 million people have enjoyed the exquisitely restored old warship. Period clothing, shoes, money, privately purchased items, and sundry ephemera were shockingly well-preserved and lend fascinating insights into naval life during the 17th century. The Vasa’s one and only voyage carried her a whopping 1,300 meters from her mooring. However, the Vasa nonetheless remains a time capsule offering a priceless connection to a very different time.
But I also know how much murder, terrorism, and violence Iran has inflicted on the U.S. and the rest of the world over the past 47 years. And I know how much more dangerous the world would be if Iran got its filthy hands on a nuke.
On July 12, three Saronic Corsair “unmanned surface craft” (sea drones) attacked an Iranian port, taking out at least one Iranian submarine in the process, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOMM).
CENTCOM released video of the attacks on the X platform, stating that this was the first time “American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations.”
In the video, the sea drones attack the port in a straight line toward a pier reported to be located at Bandar Abbas, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians mounted no defense against the surprise attack. According to reports, the submarine suspended above the water on a gantry appears to be a Ghadir-class midget submarine.
In its X post, CENTCOM stated:
Yesterday, using multiple one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran. Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations. Last night’s strikes degraded Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping.
U.S. Naval Institute News (USNI News) reported that defense officials said the U.S. Navy did not oversee this operation, and it was not part of the existing U.S. 5th Fleet’s Combined Task Force 59, “which has overseen unmanned operations in the region.” This was a CENTCOM operation.
“The attack is the first reported operational use of a lethal U.S. surface drones following extensive use of the technology by both Ukrainian forces and the Houthis in Yemen,” USNI News reported.
The unmanned boats used in the attacks, Corsairs, are 24 feet in length, and they can only travel at a speed of 40 miles per hour (35 knots). They can carry a 1,000-pound payload, and they have a range of 1,000 nautical miles.
The Military Times reported that these attacks were part of a larger operation that included dozens of attacks on Iranian military targets on July 12. The Times reported that, according to Corsair, it “supports a variety of missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); surface surveillance; and logistics in both permissive and contested environments.
Its embedded AI stack and open architecture allow rapid integration of sensors and autonomy software, making it a flexible platform for modern naval and defense applications.”
The attacks on some of Iran’s most valued and most vulnerable targets are tied to the end to the ceasefire that had previously been declared by the Trump administration and Iran.
I’m not sure about you, but when America attacked Iran, I wasn’t looking forward to the likely escalation that’s now happening, though not in the way the Trump administration’s critics predicted. At the same time, Trump’s declaration that Iran will not get a nuclear warfare capability is one I support without hesitation.
What that now means, at least to me, is that if you’re going to start something, then finish it — the sooner, the better. Iran has proven that no matter how many regimes the Trump administration takes out (I think the current one is the third-string JV team at last count), none will ever keep their promises, and they will continue to wage a suicidal war on the U.S.
So be it. It’s time to use every tool in your arsenal, shy of a nuclear bomb and putting occupying troops in the country, à la George W. Bush, to achieve unconditional surrender. That kind of force seems to be the only language Iran understands.