When Century Arms in Vermont was selling off a bunch of junk I bought two of these Chilean Model 1895 Mauser rifles chambered in 7.62 Nato. In examining I noticed a silver colored ring at the breech of the barrel. Probably not real noticeable to a lot of fellows but I can be inquisitive at times. Having a vertical milling machine in the shop made this a no-brainer. I removed the barrel and sectioned the breech end of the barrel. Apparently this was a 1st in internet history. My webpage on this rifle has been online for twenty years and is heavily visited.
http://dutchman.rebooty.com1895Chile.html
This conversion was a matter of military expediency. Lots of rifles in an obsolete caliber. What to do? Cheap solution was to re-purpose them in the current caliber of 7.62x51 Nato. Was it a good solution? For them it was. For shooters in the 20th century..... not so good. I'll leave the debate to others since my mind is long ago made up. If you have one of these and want to shoot it I suggest only cast bullets with moderate pressure levels. And I'd bet money they'll fail a field headspace gage.
I also cut off the receiver barrel threads to show better the bolt lug races, upper and lower, showing lug set-back. This happens when the bolt lugs push back heavily and repeatedly into the lug races. This is one of the main causes of excessive headspace. It turns a rifle into a piece of wall art.
Prior to the Gun Control Act of 1968 rifles like this one were imported in as-new, unissued condition like this one below. Today, in 2021, this rifle would bring over $1,500, IMO. Could be closer to $1,800.
This Chilean 1895 is a beautifully manufactured rifle that takes second place to no other rifle. They were manufactured by Ludwig Loewe and later DWM. In my opinion the Ludwig Loewe firearms were the finest firearms manufactured by the hand of man. The quality and workmanship was as good as was humanly possible. And that was in 1895. They were manufactured into 1902 and differ from Model 1893 in a couple features so they are not identical to the Model 1893 Mauser. Original caliber was 7x57 Mauser.