The military rifle cartridges of Guatemala.

The region known today as Guatemala was home to several ofMesoamerica's earliest civilizations. By 1000 BC, several stateswere established whose ruling classes built large cities and it becamethe cradle of the Mayan civilization. Despite their culturalsimilarities, these states were often at war with each other.

In 1523, Hernan Cortes sent a force of Spanish soldiers commandedby Pedro de Alvarado to conquer northern Guatemala. He took advantage ofthe ongoing conflict in the region, making alliances with one groupagainst another. In 1530 Alvarado turned against his allies and subduedthem, and by 1548 the Spanish were in complete control of the region.

A three-tiered society grew up in most of Central Americaconsisting of native born Spaniards (criollbs), who owned most of theland, controlled the government and business; the mixed-race population(ladinos) who made up the middle class and more prosperous farmers;while the poorest classes consisted of native peoples (indios).

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In 1821, the. Captaincy-General of Guatemala proclaimed itsindependence from Spain and was incorporated into the Mexican Em-pire,which was dissolved two years later. It was then part of the so-calledUnited Provinces of Central America, until the federation broke up incivil war in 1838-1840. Guatemala's ruling class and officer corpsof criollos dominated the country and her "Presidents" wereusually military officers who took power through political chicanery orcoups.

In the late 1860s, Guatemala began purchasing the new breed ofbreechloading rifles for their army and police while others went toequip the private militias that large landowners and most politicalparties maintained. As in most Latin American countries, the mostpopular were the Remington Rolling Block and Winchester Model 1866 and1873 lever-action rifles.

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* 11mm Remington Spanish-the Rolling Blocks were chambered for the".43 Spanish," a centerfire cartridge with rimmed,bottlenecked case 58mm long, loaded with a 375-grain lead bullet that 78grains of blackpowder pushed to 1380 fps.

* .44 Henry--the Model 1866 Winchester used a rimfire cartridgethat consisted of a copper case.815"(20.7mm) long topped with a200-grain flat-nosed lead bullet that 28 grains of blackpowder propelledto approximately 1200 fps.

* .44 WCF--the Winchester Model 1873 used the.44 Winchester CenterFire (.44-40) cartridge, known in Latin America as the ".44Largo." This consisted of a rimmed, tapered case 1.3 inches (33mm)long whose 200-grain flat-point lead bullet was propelled to 1325 fps by40 grains of blackpowder.

Justo Rufino Barrios came to power in a coup in 1871 and worked tomodernize the country and improve trade. During this era, coffee growingbecame the basis of the country's economy. Barrios also hadambitions of reuniting Central America and took the country to war in anunsuccessful attempt to attain this, losing his life on the battlefieldin 1885 against forces in El Salvador.

In the late 19th century, the Guatemalan government purchasedquantities of Model 1895 Mauser rifles from DWM, while the policeobtained Remington Ml897 Rolling Block and Winchester Model 1894 rifles.

* 7mm Cartucho para Mauser--the Mauser and Rolling Block riflesused the 7 x 57 Mauser cartridge with a rimless, bottlenecked case 57mmlong, loaded with a 173-grain, round nosed, full metal-jacketed bulletmoving at 2300 fps. In the early 20th century, a load with a 139-grainFMJ spitzer traveling at 2790 fps was taken into service.

* .30-30 WCF--widely distributed throughout Latin America, the"Treinta-Treinta" cartridge had a rimmed, bottlenecked case2.04 inches (52mm) long with a softpoint or FMJ bullet of 150 grainsthat achieved a muzzle velocity of approximately 2390 fps.

From 1898 to 1920, Guatemala was ruled by the dictator ManuelEstrada Cabrera. It was during his presidency that the U.S.-based UnitedFruit Company (UFC) became a major force in the country and wouldcontinue to be for many decades.

The UFC poured investment capital into the country'sinfrastructure and in return was given control of 40% of the best landand de facto control over Guatemala's only port facility. As aresult, the government was often subservient to the interests of theUFC. With some of the UFC largess, the Guatemalan army began Upgradingits equipment, and after World War I, purchased a number of 98-typeMausers in 7x57 that were known as the Modelo 1910. These weresupplemented in the 1930s with 7mm and 7.9mm vz. 24 and vz. 33 Mausersmade by Ceskoslovenska Zbrojovka.

* 7.9mm Cartucho para Mauser--the CZ-made rifles were chambered forthe "7.9mm Mauser" cartridge that used a rimless, bottleneckedcase 57mm long with a 198-grain FMJ, boattail spitzer bullet moving at2575 fps.

Increasing social unrest led a coup by a group of dissidentmilitary officers, students, and liberal professionals in 1944. Thisstarted what is called "The Ten Years of Spring," a period offree speech, political activity ancLproposed land reform. A civilian,president, Juan Jose Arevalo, was elected in 1945 and he, and hissuecessor, Jacobo Arbenz, promoted social change, land reform, purgedthe army officer corps, legalized the Guatemalan Communist party andlabor unions.

Social discontent boiled over when landless indios began demandingredistribution of large estates and the land owned by the UFC. While putdown by the, army, the fear of a violent indio uprising caused a ladinoreaction to the reforms being attempted.

Claims that the government was being run by the communists led tostrained relations with the USA. In order to strengthen their position,the Guatemalans began purchasing weapons from communist Czechoslovakia,including ex-Wehrmacht Kar. 98k Mausers, Karabiner 43 semiauto riflesand MG34 light machine guns.

Fearing Guatemala's communist party might take over thegovernment, the CIA organized a revolt in 1954, financed in large partby the UFC, and led by a purged army officer, Col. Carlos CastilloArmas! The CIA armed Castillo's forces with numbers of obr. 1891gand obr. 1891-30g Mosin-Nagant rifles that were reportedly obtained fromSam Cummings' firm Inter-armco.

* 7.62mm patron 1908 L--the. Mosins fired the Russian designed(a;k.a. 7.62x54R) which featured a rimmed, bottlenecked case 54mm longtopped with a 147-grainspitzer bullet moving at 2800 fps.

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Castillo was assassinated in 1957 and replaced by Gen. MiguelYdigoras Fuentes, who worked closely with the CIA, providing trainingfacilities for anti-Castro Cuban exiles and airstrips for their illfated 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. At this time, the Guatemalan army beganreceiving military aid from the USA, including Ml Garand rifles andM1/M2, Carbines to supplement others obtained earlier.

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* Cartridge,.30 Caliber, M2--the Ml Garand fired thefamous.30-'06, which consisted of a rimless bottlenecked case 63mmlong, whose 150-grain FMJ, spitzer bullet was propelled to a muzzlevelocity of 2800 fps.

* .30 Carbine--the Carbine cartridge consisted of a rimless,tapered case, 33mm in length, loaded with a round nosed, 110-grain FMJbullet moving at 1970 fps.

In the 1960s, Guatemala reportedly ordered a number of AR-10 riflesfrom Interarmco, although how many--if any--were actually delivered isnot known.

Armed opposition grew, especially among the indigenous peoples,and, what became known as the Guatemalan Civil War would last from 1960to 1996. The 1970s saw the birth of several guerrilla organizationswhich united to form the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca(URNG). As rural and urban attacks against the military and its civiliansupporters grew, the country's military dictators increasinglydepended upon secret police and death squads to suppress opposition.

The guerillas were supplied with weapons by Cuba, the USSR andother Soviet bloc nations while the Reagan administration provided armsto the Guatemalan army. Among this collection of rifles were variousmodels of the AKM, M16A1 and CAR-15.

* 7.62mm Patron obr. 1943g--all of the variants of the AKM arechambered for the Soviet 7.62mm Patron obr. 43g. This consists of arimless, bottle-necked case 39mm long whose - 122-grain FMJ, spitzerbullet is pushed 2330 fps.

The Guatemalans also purchased arms from Israeli MilitaryIndustries (IMI) and obtained large numbers of Galil rifles whileIsraeli-surplus Kar. 98k Mausers were bought to equip civilian defensepatrols.

* 5.56mm M193--the M16A1 and Galil's (cartridge used arimless, bottlenecked case measuring 45mm whose 55-grain FMJ, boattail,spitzer bullet achieved a velocity of 3170 fps.

* 7.62mm NATO-the Israeli Mausers were chambered for the NATO standard cartridge with a rimless, bottlenecked case measuring 51mm witha 149-grain FMJ spitzer bullet moving at 2750 fps.

In 1995, UN-brokered negotiations between the government and theURNG were successful and after free elections the next year, theguerillas voluntarily disarmed and the army was reduced in size byone-third.

Since the end of the civil war. the U.S. has provided military aidin the form of M16A2 rifles and M4 Carbines. The Guatemalans continuedto purchase Gains and, most recently, JMI'sTavor bullpup rifle.

* 5.56mm M855--it uses a rimless, bottle-necked case 45mm toppedwith a,62-grain FMJ boattail bullet, moving at 3000 fps. The bullet hasa steel insert in its tip for improved penetration of body armor andlight vehicles.

Most recently, soldiers of Guatemala's special forces, theKaibiles, have served with UN forces in the Democratic Republic of theCongo, where they have seen combat against Ugandan rebels.

I would like to thank David Squier, Dave Fortier and Stuart Mowbrayfor providing photos used in this report.

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By Paul Scarlata * Photos by: Nathan Reynolds (unless otherwiseindicated)