An interesting Commercial DWM in 7x57 cal w/Lyman 35 Site

I purchased this rifle about 11 years ago. Its a vintage Mauser that has a DWM marked receiver with the left wall is marked "Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabrik Berlin".

It also has an original vintage Lyman #35 receiver site which is original to the time of building. It has added markings for 175g and 139g bullet zeros. LOP is 13-3/4" to the front of double-set triggers.

"Made in Germany" after the serial number is one-line stamped on the bottom of the stock. 3 digit serial number with last 2 digits matching on all the parts including the Double-Set Trigger assembly. A "7" is on the top of the barrel ring ahead of the receiver indicating it is 7x57 cal.

This is a Professional Factory built rifle as opposed to a Gunsmith project. The 22" stepped barrel is factory original and not a cut-down. The rifle weighs exactly 7 pounds.

as always ... comments are most welcome.

I got info about this unique rifle from Axel E.

"Though this rifle may look like a sporterized surplus military rifle, it is not. At the time it was proofed there were no "surplus" M98 rifles, as these were still state of the art military rifles.

The CROWN-crown/N proof mark shows it was civilian proofed according to the rule of July 23, 1893, using the special "4000 atm proof powder". This proof was in use mainly before 1912, though Zella-Mehlis apparently sometimes used up left-over powder up to 1922. This rifle was proofed before WW1.

In those innocent days around 1900 it was usual practice to include some sporting rifles in the military calibers into each shipment of military rifles to foreign countries. These were meant as "presents" to the decision-making officers. Mauser, Oberndorf sent C-type "Army Hunting Rifles", for example some in 7.65 mm for Argentinia, see Jon Speed's first book "Mauser-OOSR" page 111.

Ludwig Loewe/DWM also had sporters, the so-called "Plezier rifles" built on left over M93 Spanish Mauser actions and shipped them, together with the military M95 7x57 Mausers, to the South African republics Orange Free State and Transvaal, where the sporters were not only used for hunting, but for shooting Brits too. These plezier Mausers are now rare and sought-after collector items. All these rifles show civilian proofmarks.
This DWM made, civilian proofed sporter served as a present (or bribe) when it was shipped to a South American country. At least, it looks somewhat similar to a Mauser C-type with the military stepped barrel and front sight base. Though DWM did not offer sporters to the public, they made several hundreds at least, but not for sale."

Interesting to me on this rifle is the set trigger arrangement. The spring of the double set trigger is the long Mauser factory type, not the short V-type of the contemporary Suhl-made rifles. But the set trigger assembly is mounted into the trigger guard with a separate housing, other than the Mauser commercial ones. The two small cross pins holding the housing are visible in one of the photos. The Magazine-trigger guard unit with hinged, button release floorplate apparently comes from either Argentine 1909 or Portuguese Vegueiro production, both are the same.

The load information "2.57 gramm Gewehrblättchenpulver = rifle flake powder / Stahlmantelgeschoss = steel jacketed bullet" is of the type used up to 1912, so this rifle was civilian proofed before.
The stock looks more like a pre-1912 Mauser B one instead of the usual "sporterized military" C type one.

That is a beautiful rifle with some amazing history.

That is fascinating. Thanks for sharing it with us.

That Lyman 35 will fetch its weight in gold. I have one on my JP Sauer and sons Mauser 30-06, its pretty neat in that it also performs as a bolt release!!

That is really neat! I’ve never seen a Lyman sight that did double duty as a bolt release! Someone needs to make reproductions of these!

quote:

Originally posted by Wildcatter:
That is really neat! I’ve never seen a Lyman sight that did double duty as a bolt release! Someone needs to make reproductions of these!

It doesn't do double duty, it merely attaches to the existing bolt stop. Pretty kool actually.

Used, these sell for $400. I doubt anyone could make a buck producing them in today's market.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r: It doesn't do double duty, it merely attaches to the existing bolt stop. Pretty kool actually.

Used, these sell for $400. I doubt anyone could make a buck producing them in today's market.

Yes, I love these sights. Used ones sell for up to $700 on Ebay. Its the same sight that's on my Husky 9.3x62 that I posted on the Big Bores Forum.
https://forums.accuratereloadi...4711043/m/6751062772

They sure do work, I would not take $700 for mine.

The two most valuable collectable sight items in the gun world today are probably a Lyman 35 and a Leupold Alaskan scope!