Turqua – Turkey’s First Sporting Rifle
THE Turqua sporter is a first bolt action rifle to be manufactured in Turkey, a country which has always issued contracts and bought their military rifles. Throughout the last century, the Turks were one of Mauser’s best customers and purchased large quantities of the Model 1890, a modified form of the Belgian model in 7.65mm followed by the Model 1903 rifle and 1905 carbine – variations of the Gew 98 – prior to the first World War in 7.92x57mm. Following the War of Independence Turkey rearmed with Czech Model 98/22 rifles produced by Brno. Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and even Poland delivered rifles to Turkey after 1924. These were in either 7.65mm or 7.92mm. I had a rifle built on a Turkish M98 action marked “:Ankara” which was unusual in having a large ring receiver with the small ring receiver thread.
Coming from a country with no history of making any kind of rifles, the Turqua sporter may be seen as a departure from tradition. Certainly it’s an engineering innovation from ATA, Turkey’s leading firearms manufacturer who exports to over 70 countries. As such, this classic
