A friend of mine has a mauser that he is thinking of rebarreling/sporterizing. I suggested that we check and see whether it has any significant collectable value beyond a 2-3 hundred$. The front ring has the following markings
WAFFENFABRIK
MAUSER A.-G.
OBERNDORF A/N
1916
On the left side of the action it is marked
GEW 98
There is some pitting on the barrel under the barrel band (typical), but otherwise the gun is in good shape. Would appreciate any feedback/help thanks Al

Is it the long rifle, not the short one with flat leaf rear sight?

ITS THE LONG ONE WITH THE HIGH MACHINED REAR SIGHT-29" +- BARRELL

Don't chop it. Find some other junker to salvage an action from. That one sounds like one of the original WWI rifles.

THANKS FOR THE INFO

If it is in good shape and even better, with numbered parts, don't butcher it.

I don't know the value in teh US but here the WW1 Gewehr 98 are quite valuable. Just look at the rear sight, what a nice piece of classical machining!

Staeco,

You've been given good advice. Your friend has a WW1 vintage (made in 1916 obviously) rifle made by Mauser.

Have your buddy look closely at all the pieces of this rifle, everything was serial numbered back in those days with some of the smaller parts having only the last 2 digits. Even the action screws were numbered. If all the numbers match he has an excellent find. Even if some numbers don't match, this sounds to be too nice of a rifle to chop. Have your buddy hang this one on the wall and find a model 48, 24 or possibly a VZ-24 in a local gun/pawn shop.

BTW, I have a rifle like your buddy's except 1907 manufacture, all matching except the action screws. There's no way I would sporterize it.

Regards,

Dan

It is a standard WWI German Army rifle. It's value is strictly contingent upon condition, as it is NOT rare.