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That was only the beginning.
In the early 1930s, the Mexican government decided it could make a profit trying to market the weapon on the international stage.
At the time the Mondragón was still quite advanced, with its only true rival being the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR).
It was sold to many Mexican allies, including Chile, Brazil, Peru and the Republic of China.
The Weimar Republic and later Nazi Germany purchased rights to license manufacture the weapon, along with Austria and Japan. (Japan however, manufactured less than 5,000.)
In the Philippines, a few rifles were used by guerrillas in World War II.
A number of examples rifles also made their way into the Lithuanian Army by World War II.
Several copies, called Mandragon by the Lithuanian military, can be found in 1936 and 1939 armament lists.
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