This is an exceptionally rare example of the Mondragon Model 1894 "Type II B" bolt action rifle serial number "2" that was designed and developed by Colonel Manuel Mondragon of the Mexican Army in early 1894. The Model 1893 design proved to be unsuccessful and was very short lived. It allowed the development of this second and improved model, the 1894 rifle. These early Mondragon rifle are extremely rare with only a very few even know to exist in the world today. Most are in very advanced private collections or in museums. It is believed (though not confirmed) that this rifle may have been in the SIG factory museum. General Manuel Mondragon was educated at the French Military Academy at St. Cyr and received his military training in both the French and the Mexican Armies. In his career, he played a significant part in the design and development of the French 75mm field gun, which turned out to be one of the best lightweight cannons in the world at the time. He later went on to design and develop the Model 1908 semi-automatic rifle, which was also the "first" semi-automatic rifle to be adopted by any nation. Early in his military career, he made a close association with various engineers from the SIG factory in Switzerland, which began a long standing association with that company. Certainly in the 1893/94 time frame and later on in 1908 (at the time of the development of the semi-automatic rifle) the SIG factory was one of the foremost leading weapon manufacturers in the world. Consequently he relied on their expertise as being the only company capable of producing weapons designed and manufactured with watch like tolerances that he demanded. This rifle is a Model 1894, Type II B, as it has a 21 1/2 inch barrel without any bayonet lug on the underside of the front barrel band. It has several unique features: the first is that it has a three position selector switch on the right side, marked "A, L and R". When the switch is in the "A" position it fires from the close bolt position firing singularly like a regular bolt action rifles; in the "L" position it is on safe and in the "R" position it will fire like a semi-automatic rifle (when you continuously hand cycle the bolt). Second, it has an "enbloc" type clip (that probably holds 6-8 cartridges) that is the same design as used in the M1 Garand, only it proceeded that rifle by 34 years! It has two rows of 5 locking lugs (five at the front and five at the rear of the body body), which are clearly influenced by the Swiss Rubin rifles at the time. The large bolt handle rides on a machined rail on the side of the receiver, which has a small sliding pin that engages the side of the bolt. It has a two piece stock assembly (a buttstock and "one-piece" forend that actually is more like a barrel shroud) that has two small finger grooves on each side. It has the inverted barley-corn front sight with a very late tangent rear sight. The rear sight is graduated from 4-18 (400-1800 meters). Serial number "2" is found on the left side of the breech end of the barrel and receiver ring, the underside of the bolt and on top of the magazine follower. The walnut forend and buttstock are both numbered "5" on the left side. (Most likely changed during testing as the wear is equal to the metal). Also included with this rifle are three 5.2X68 mm cartridges. The cartridge headstamp is marked: "POLTE MADDEBURG".