Portuguese Mauser price

Ltlwilli

I am looking to get a ballpark figure to lace on a M04/39 Portuguese Verguierro Mauser. It is good shape, with no cracks and few dinds. The stock is beautifully tigerstriped almost all the way up and down both sides. All numbers I can see match--Bolt, barrel, receiver, rear site, stock, bottom mag cover, and triggerguard. The bore is great and it shoots and functions wonderfully. The "C" over "I" for King Carlos on the receiver crest is still readable, but worn some... No cleaning rod is the only setback I can think of...Any help will be most apprciated.
Thanks,
Rick ~ LtlWilli

1KYDSTR

If the crest is faded, it likely has undergone another refurb after the 39 conversion.
How is the wood to metal fit? Is the metal proud of the wood in any places? It should be the other way around even after the refurb in the late 30's. These are neat, if somewhat anachronistic rifles, and are reputed to be excellent shooters. I would hesitate to go over about $200 since the crest is faded as that means a great deal to me. If you are not so concerned about the crest...about $250 would be tops in my book, but I would want to see pictures to go even that high. Now, if it was a '41...THAt would be worth a few bucks! Those are gorgeous and have a really neat history what with the Nazi's pulling the orders and arming their own troops with them!

Maalox

I Purchased a Portuguese Mauser a couple months ago. It is a model 1904 made by DWM. How could I determine if it is a 39 a 41 or neither?

Thanks

1KYDSTR

I'll try to keep this short (fat chance...I never do!). The 04 Portuguese was an interesting gun in the development of bolt action military rifles. There was a split bridge, and by virtue of this the bolt handle is far forward, much like the mannlichers. The original round, as I recall is the 6.5 x 52 (check that...not too sure)that was by comparison to the Swede 6.5 a bit aenemic. The Portuguese decided that the 8mm would be a better choice and retooled in the late 30's to modify the guns to that round (along with a few other mechanical changes). This did not greatly alter the appearance of the rifle but surely moved it into the realm of more usable military chamberings.

These old Verguero's soldiered on, but were getting a bit long in the tooth and were becoming largely un-rearsenalable, so they decided to go to the K98 configuration with the model '41. One big difference is in the crests. The Vergueiros had the aforementioned King Carlos crest, but the '41's had the national crest that was a shield with a bunch of laurels around the edge. The placement of the bolt handle also will be a dead give away as the '04/'39's is nearly in the middle of the bolt and the '41's is near the rear like any other K98 variant you will have seen. In reality, aside from markings, it is nearly impossible to tell them apart from German wartime/shortly pre-war guns. The Portuguese 41's I have seen that were in excellent shape also had a very light color wood (NO idea what it is though). The Germans confiscated many of the guns that were intended for the Potuguese arsenals and issued them to their army as stocks of K98's began to become more precious due to battlefield losses etc... As I recall many of these guns went to the SS (and Luftwaffe too) as the Wehmacht rarely released German made guns to the competing branches of service. Consequently, contrary to what one would think in the retrospect of history, the SS/Luftwaffe was armed early in the war with an odd sortment of largely conquered countries contract mausers from Poland Chechloslovakia etc..at least until they began to make their worth felt and had better support from Berlin as to what armaments they recieved. Toward the end of the war, the Werhmacht was considered less reliable than the SS due to the SS's personal pledge of loyalty to Hitler and the fact that the Wehrmacht's regular soldiers were beginning to see the handwriting on the wall and many would have liked to surrender to the U.S./English (not the French...they were still too pissed to take many Germans prisoner by that time!)and avoid being killed in the losing effort or worse, getting taken prisoner by the Russians who were still REALLY pissed about, well, EVERYTHING the Germans had done on the last 4 years.

One of the reasons the Luftwaffe was delivered these model '41's was the fact that they were as close a copy to the issue K98 that could be found anywhere in Europe, and, well, they were being MADE in Germany so I'm sure that the easy intercept had a lot to do with it too.

If you (Maalox) are trying to determine if your verguerro is a true '04 or the later conversion, simply check the bore diameter...the conversion went to 8mm from 6.5 (I sure hope I'm right on that chambering) and the difference is quite noticeable. As mentioned earlier, the placement of the bolt handle is the easiest cue! Hope this helped.

Maalox

IKYDSTR,

Thanks for the information. Looking this over I would say the handle is near the middle of the bolt. It has the King Carlos creast but still says 6.5 next to the model number. I will check the bore diameter later. Here's a pic and thanks again for the info

1KYDSTR

NICE! It looks like yours is unaltered! They remarked the barrels to indicate the conversion as well as I recall. If you have any 6.5 bullets (not ammo if you can help it) around simply stuff one into the rifling at the muzzle. If it falls through you have an 8umm. If not, you are in business! As an aside, I was wrong on the original chambering...it was 6.5 x 58, not 52mm...sorry, memory is n it what it used to be!

Maalox

Thanks,

I don't have any 6.5mm bullets or ammo. Measuring the end of the barrel, it seems to be at 6.5mm (1/4") not 8mm (5/16") but my measuring may not be that accurate. I will find a 6.5 bullet and give that a go.

Thanks again,

1KYDSTR

Hey there...I am really getting slow in my advanced decrepitude! The "notch" at the front of the reciever means it has been converted to handle the 8mm Spitzer bullet...sorry I missed that.

Maalox

Thanks