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The receiver ring on these rifles has an elaborate roll stamped crest marked, “Republica del Salvador-Modelo 1902” with “CAL. 7mm S.M.” (Spanish Mauser) marked ahead of the upper hand guard. Butt stocks may also be found with an assortment of rack numbers as well.

All in all, this variation should be classified as a special order affair in its entirety. Surviving Salvadoran defense records show that the first deliveries of the 5,550 rifle contract (but no carbines) began in the spring of 1902. In reality, this may perhaps make El Salvador the first customers of the so-called Model 1902 Remington rolling block featuring the improved automatic rotary extractor. The other half of the story is that the very presence of this marking may be the reason why all of the new rolling block rifles with this feature were responsible for the unofficial title of Model 1902. It should also be noted that some Model 1902 Remington rolling block rifles displaying those special features of the Salvadoran Model, such as the grooved upper hand guard minus the national crest, in many cases represent an “overrun” variation totaling somewhere in the range of an estimated 800 to 1,000 pieces. Furthermore, an unknown number were purchased by El Salvador in 1903 without the crest and were perhaps significantly lower in cost due to the absence of the marking. Such unmarked rifles do occasionally appear and are of interest to the collector. However, distinguishing an overrun piece from a genuine second order Salvadoran version is practically impossible. Surviving import records from the now defunct “Hunters Lodge” (also known as “Ye Olde Hunter”) of the 1950s and ‘60s do indicate that several hundred Model 1902 Salvadoran-type contract Rifles without the national crest were imported into the United States from both Honduran and Panamanian sources. These too may be considered contract overruns; however, their early origins cannot be determined.

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