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LOT 3410
Unique SIG Mondragon Model 1908 Semi-Automatic
Rifle with Ultra Rare Drum Magazine - Serial no. 2578, 7
mm Mauser cal., 25 inch round bbl., blue finish, walnut stock.
Manuel Mondragon was an officer and later general in the
Mexican army who designed several weapons that were
some of the most advanced specimens of their time in the
1890s-early 1900s. Mondragon developed a series of bolt
action rifles having “slamfire” capability starting in the
1890s, then invented the Model 1900 semi-automatic rifle,
with a patent application filed in 1904 for its improved
successor, referred to as the Model 1908 as manufactured
in Switzerland at the SIG factory and officially adopted
for use by the Mexican Army in the year 1908, and
chambered in their standard rifle caliber of 7 mm
Mauser as used in the Mexican Model 1902 Mauser
bolt action rifles and smokeless Rolling Block rifles then in
Mexican military service.
SIG was one of the few arms makers, at this time, capable of producing weapons with such a
high degree of fit and finish as required by General Mondragon. Although Mexico originally
contracted with SIG for 4,000 rifles, it is estimated that only 400 Model 1908 Mondragon rifles
were ever delivered to Mexico before 1910, when the Mexican Revolution broke out, with
the remaining rifles all subsequently sold to Germany in 1914. The Imperial German Flying
Corps adopted the rifle, re-designated as the Fl.-S.-K. 15 (Flieger-Selbstladekarabiner, Modell
1915 - Aviator’s Selfloading Carbine, Model 1915), and issued two rifles accompanied with
these 30-round drum magazines to each aircraft crew. The rifles themselves are extremely rare
with very few even surviving today in any condition, and the drum magazines are virtually
unheard of! Consequently, a rifle such as this one in exceptional condition combined with an
original drum magazine, is nearly nonexistent in the most advanced collections today. The
Mondragon employed several unique features such as; an early gas-operated system that has
an operating rod that extends from the gas port under the front of the barrel to the front of
the bolt to cycle the rifle, and the charging handle also features a switch that allows the bolt
to disengage itself from the gas system, allowing the rifle to effectively operate as a straight-
pull bolt action rifle.