The rifle is a single-shot bolt-action using a modified Mauser action, with rounds manually loaded into the chamber and is 5' 7' in overall length with a 39' barrel. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments.

The Mauser Company responded with the 13mm T-Gewehr and began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The makers of the gun were inspired by weapons used to hunt African big game, like the Elephant gun. This prompted the development by the Germans of a heavy caliber and high-velocity rifle as an anti-tank weapon. By June 1917, the German Army faced the Mark IV tank, and found that the standard armor-piercing 7.92 mm K bullet was no longer effective.

The first use of armored fighting vehicles (tanks) was by the British at the Battle of FlersРІР‚вЂњCourcelette in September 1916 and were followed by the French. Both Britain and Germany used high-powered rifles, such as elephant guns from their African colonies, for this purpose. During the First World War the onset of static, trench warfare saw the rise in the use of armor plate for personal defense, and the development and use of armor-piercing ammunition to counter this. Item Description: Translate description The Mauser Tankgewehr 13mm anti-tank rifle was the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets and the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I.

First world war german mauser rifle