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Commercial? Mauser Identification
bigtire
Member Posts: 24,800
I bought what appears to be a nice commercial mauser at a gunshow today. It is chambered in 8mm with a stepped barrel, a nicely checkered German style stock and double set triggers. It has a ramp front site and a 100-200 meter flip up rear site. The bolt release has an ear that curves up to the stripper clip grooves. I have never seen stripper clip grooves on a commercial mauser. It also has the skinny european style sling swivels.
There is no crest and stampped on the left side of the reciever ring is:
Albert Weiss
Gardelegen
(crown with cross proof) St.m.G
The underside of the bolt handle has a (crown with cross over N) nitro proof.
Is this a commercial mauser or a military mauser that was expertly sporterized in Germany?
What's it worth?
There is no crest and stampped on the left side of the reciever ring is:
Albert Weiss
Gardelegen
(crown with cross proof) St.m.G
The underside of the bolt handle has a (crown with cross over N) nitro proof.
Is this a commercial mauser or a military mauser that was expertly sporterized in Germany?
What's it worth?
Comments
First off, CONGRATULATIONS on your terrific acquisition! That is a rifle to be proud of and to hand down to the next generation if possible.
Some of this stuff can be cleared up rather easily but some of it will have to remain a little bit of a mystery.
In general, the clip slotting and side thumb notch do not mean that the rifle was or is a military derivation at all. In fact, the large majority of Mausers M98's, military and commercial up through 1946 had both of these attributes as a standard. There were minor exceptions:
15 - 'K' type (Kurz length) receivers with solid left sides made in 1902 Various individual or very limited runs of target and experimental actions
The stepped barrel is not an indication of military origin either. These were used on a large number of standard M98 sporting rifle designs. The stepped barrel was a design idea of Paul Mauser to control barrel harmonics in an attempt to achieve greater accuracy. There were 3 other barrel designs used throughout the M98 manufacturing:
Round tapered Octagon to round full octagon
The hard part to explain is the bolt stop/bolt release which does resemble the ones used on Argentines. But even some of the earlier Mauser records admit that some of the assembly record keeping was not as good as it should have been and that during certain periods of time some parts were used by special request of the customer or from lack of another other choice at the time. This is what I think happened here, the gunsmith asked for the part specifically for his customer.
We can identify the stock design as having the distinctive features of the Pre-WWI lightweight Sporter style stock. The checkered, round knob pistol grip was found on pre-1908 Sporters and the tapered, slim forend was used in the pre-1913 period of manufacturing.
Double set triggers were standard on rifles made for the European trade and an option for the American and British market.
The St. M.G. marking designates this as using a 'Stahl Mantel Geschoss" or steel jacketed bullet. If you take the barreled action out of the stock there should be some additional numbers that will help finish off this part of the story. These should include the bore/groove diameters, powder charge and type along with the bullet weight.
The sights and swivels are typical of those produced for a Sporting style package not a conversion of a military rifle. I know this will put me at odds with some of the others but with what you've told us, this is my opinion.
No matter what, it is still a fine example of German craftsmanship that you can continue to enjoy for many, many years.
Best.
I think nononsense gave the best description of where it is from. I can only add regarding your question of, "How much it's worth?"
I wouldn't let it go if it was me that got hold of it. You have a fine rifle that woudn't be duplicated (new/custom)in todays market for less than $2,000. Made in a style that was as functional as it is aesthetically pleasing to look at. Provided the bore is good and you have some patience with reloading for it I would bet this could be a sub-moa shooter as well as a quick handler...and again doing it in style! -Good luck with this rifle.
the bottom to to remove the ammo. I forget the name, but if I am not
mistaken it is called a Magazine plate?
Jerry