I picked this up at a flea market this weekend:

Not a guild gun by any stretch, but a pretty nice job compared to some of the sporterized military 98's I've looked at. Well polished, good bluing, excellent wood-to-metal finish. The front ring is polished clean -- no sign of a crest, and has not been drilled and tapped. Nicely done island rear sight, and all in a nice piece of walnut.

Close-up of front ring and rear sight

Looks nice. The crest may have been ground off by the gunsmith that built the rifle, but it was most likely removed by a Soviet controlled country after WW II. Enjoy your new rifle, Mausers are great!!

Cannon,
A nice clean mauser...What caliber? Any idea as to the origin / type of 98 action? I have always liked the schnabel forend treatment...maybe from my Savage 99 collecting Jeff P

Pfeifer,

It's 8x57 -- I'm assuming the barrel is original. There's not much there in the way of markings; the front ring has been polished clean. I've got it out of the stock right now, so I may try to post some pictures of the few markings that are there sometime this evening. Maybe there's enough information there for Ray or Alf to identify it.

Cannon

[This message has been edited by Cannon (edited 11-09-2001).]

Cannon,
Geez, that is an ugly gun!! Why'd you waste money on THAT? You should send it to me so you won't be embarrassed taking it to the range.

Hello,
I would not buy a "sporterized" Mauser on a bet unless I knew the smith who did it...I am really worried about your safety. He could have built you a nice pipe bomb. That chamber could be way too long, could be that the metal had the temper drawn out of it, could be that the bolt is not matched correctly to the reciever, there are about a 100 things that can go wrong here, to end your life. And you cant even say for sure what caliber it is "You think..it is an 8x57? Could be an 8x58.........or one of a hundred "wildcats"....................

Better off, and I am only thinking of your personal safety here ....sending it to me. I will make a little cast of the chamber, and slap a mic and calipers on it, to insure proper cartridge selection...then I will "test" it for you, exhaustively, I might add.

Yep, for safetys sake, better send it to me. Only sane course of action here.

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Safety & Ethics,Accuracy, Velocity, Energy
Joe M

Gee, guys, I'm really touched by your concern

Cannon. Could this be a good one for building the 416 Medium? Any progress with necking up the brass? Have you thought of fireforming with fast pistolpowder? AKI

If anyone is interested, the link below shows the action markings. If anyone can shed some light on them, it would be appreciated

Mauser action markings

Aki,

I haven't given up on the 416 Medium, but it's on the back burner right now. So far, I've ruined 21 cases (either split necks or buckled shoulders) with no successes. Fireforming with pistol powder might do the trick, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money for a barrel to find out.

Cannon

Cannon,
41 is more than likely the year of manufacture and 55 is the serial number after the rebuild or the original serial number...I'm inclined from the stamps to believe it is a Turkish but I really don't know at this point...

I can tell you how to find out and that is to go to HA and find a post by Jack Belk and get his email and send him the photos..He will identify the gun.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

All I can say is, SCORE!

Very perplexing: have been through a couple of gunmark books and five Mauser books, but find nothing which permits a clean identification. The observation that the action may be Turkish is reasonable, given the suggestion of the sword and crescent, but the nature of the workmanship suggests more than the usual crude "sporterizing" of a former military rifle. The overall style of the rifle suggests what Mauser and any number of pre-WW II German gunsmiths used to do, ...and yet, it's different.

...I found myself wondering whether this might be the kind of hunting rifle a military arsenal or shop might prepare on the "request" of a ranking officer wanting a durable but nice-looking hunting "sporter." German taste and influence was preponderant in Turkey for several generations and might have been the pattern for this kind of work there.... It might be wise to value this rifle a bit more highly than the usual "sporters" done in the U.S........

Paladin,

The guy I bought it from was under the impression it was made by a local (Missouri) smith several years ago. Unfortunately, I have no way to contact him until the flea market reopens in March. The work certainly is much nicer than the average "sporterized" 98.

Ray, I think I will try to get in touch with Mr. Belk, thanks for the suggestion.

There was one more marking I failed to photo: on the barrel, immediately forward of the front ring, there is a "2" stamped -- an inspector's mark?

[This message has been edited by Cannon (edited 11-12-2001).]