The Turkish K.Kale M1938 Mauser represents a milestone in Turkey's military history, serving as the very first domestically manufactured Mauser-type rifle produced within the Republic. While the broad term "M38" was used by importers to describe a wide family of older Ottoman-era foreign rifles that Turkey modernized and standardized leading up to World War II, rifles explicitly stamped "K.Kale" featured entirely new receivers machined from scratch in Turkey. They were built between 1940 and 1946 at the Krkkale Tufek Fabrikas (Krkkale Rifle Factory) near Ankara.