The 1871 was the first military rifle designed by the Mauser brothers, Paul and Wilhelm. Originally designed as a single shot rifle the 1871 was adopted by the German military in 1871, shortly after the Franco-Prussian war. The 1871 was originally a single shot. It was chambered in the 11.15x60mmR cartridge. It became apparent in the late 1870s and early 1880s that a repeater was needed. Around 1884 the design was altered for use with a tubular magazine. The tubular magazine could hold 8 rounds of the 11.15x60mmR cartridge, but these would be held in reserve until magazine fire was ordered by an office to avoid excessive waste of ammunition by soldiers. This was a practice that would live on up to the First World War. The 71/84 was put into production in 1884. There were no conversions of existing 1871s to the 71/84 pattern. The 71/84 would see a relatively short service life in the German military, it was replaced by the 1888 Comission rifle in 1890. There were approximately 3,000,000 1871s and 1871/84s, as well as other variants produced in total. This example is marked “Crown/Erfurt” and is dated “1887”. There are faint cartouches present on the right side of the buttstock. The buttplate is marked “30 R./16. 191." indicting it was issued to the 30th Regiment, 16th Company, and it was the 191st weapon issued to that company.