So I've been reading about the early mausers recently, and I'm a bit confused as to why the cavalry carbines weren't more successful. In particular, the 1894 Swedish Mauser and the 1895 Spanish Mauser were both really neat little guns. They were light, short guns with small bore high-velocity ammunition and turned down bolts. When I look at my 96 Swedish mauser (which is a cool gun) I feel like it is somewhat a step back. I'd much rather lug something shorter and lighter around a battlefield. Through WWI and WWII though, much longer heavier 8mm mausers were dominant - anyone have ideas as to why?