Cugir Model 92 “Dragana” Mauser: Hunting Rifles From MG34s

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With the fall of communism in Romania, the Cugir Arsenal complex lost its government financial support. Looking for commercial products to sell to keeps its workers employed, the factory turned to producing hunting rifles for the domestic Romanian market. This was possible because the factory had a stock of spare parts for maintaining the older weapons of the Romanian Patriotic Guards (equivalent to a territorial home guard). These included vz.24 Mausers and MG34 machine guns.

The Model 92 was a rifle built on a vz.24 Mauser action. The first 500 or so were chambered for 7.92x57mm Mauser, using turned-down spare MG34 barrels. When these barrels were exhausted, Mauser barrels were used instead and chambered for .30-06. A few thousand in total were made between 1992 and 1996, and remained available for sale into the late 2000s. The fancier versions have features like double set triggers and Cugir-made telescopic sights. This particular example was given as a gift to the Romanian Prime Minister in 2006.