A friend picked up a neat little Mauser 93 or 95 that appears to be a factory sporter. It is a 7mm and was made in Berlin. There is no crest on the receiver ring and the only markings are the manufacturers marking on the left rail and the serial number and proof mark. It has matching numbers on the receiver, bolt, bottom metal and stock. The barrel has the military contour and is about 22" but I didn't measure it. It has a sling swivel base soldered to the barrel. The front sight is the military style with the top flattened. It shoots way high! The rear sight has two leafs on a rocker arrangement. It rocks forward or back for a high or low leaf. The butt stock has the standard military shape with a straight grip but the forend is sporter style with a schnabel. There is no cleaning rod hole in the forend and it does not look like a reshaped military stock.

It looks like a factory sporter. I have never seen a discussion of 93/95 sporters. Could this be one and are there many of these around?

If it is a straight grip is is most likely a sporterd Milsurp. Order a replacement front sight blade from Brownells and you can get the POI down.

If it was a military rifle wouldn't it have a crest on the receiver and evidence of a cleaning rod hole in the forestock?

quote:

Originally posted by Marc:
If it was a military rifle wouldn't it have a crest on the receiver and evidence of a cleaning rod hole in the forestock?

Ever hear of surface grinding? As for the cleaning rod hole, who's to say. The rod on some models is quite short. It could have been restocked.

What commercial proofs are on the action?

A pic might help. There were only about 20 Million mausers made.

Hello Marc,
I have one (from my Greatgrandfather!) exactly like your friend`s. In a thread in www.gunboards.com/military mausers (I whould try to find it and send to you)this was a topic. I participated in it and put some pictures of my rifle that next monday I will send to you also. The rifle is an original (very, very few were made) DWM M93 factory sporter. All were in 7x57. Mine is in very good shape, with their original bluing, rust bluing. These guns were extremely well made and my rifle shoot very well too with modern ammo and reloads. It has commercial proof marks, not military, in the left side of the front bridge, and under the barrel chamber it has the number 222,5, the rifling twist in milimeters, aproximately 1 turn in 8,7 inches.
Regards
PH

By PatagonHunter's gracious post, sounds like your friend has a nice winner on his hands- a rarity, and probably a shooter to boot in a classy caliber.

I'm going to check my Mauser Rifles book for it.

As usual in these situations, I'm green with envy- and now it doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether you've ever heard of surface grinding, or not.

Quite a few of what is essentially a 95 were made into sporting rifles for the Boers. All the ones I've seen had sporting style stocks. Though with Mauser it is hard to say they never made one with a military style straight stock.

Pics would help as would a description of the proof marks.

PatagonHunter, thanks! I thought somebody here would know. This rifle is also in very good shape except the bore has the typical fine pitting and the throat is well worn. It did not shoot well with the reloads my friend had. It may shoot better with a different load. It is a neat little rifle.

If I get my hands on it I will take some pictures. I don't remember the markings. All I remember is Berlin.

quote:

Quite a few of what is essentially a 95 were made into sporting rifles for the Boers

I saw no mention of these 95's in 'Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles" with the quick look I made. Were these guns produced by "outside" gunsmiths?

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My rifle is a M93. Has a square bottom bolt face and no safety lug. I am trying to post some pictures but I never did in this forum. Can anyone help me?
Thank you very much.
PH

And mine is not a Boer Plezier Rifle. It was bought by my Greatgrandfather in Europe or, more probably, just here in Argentina around the turn of the XIX / XX century. At that time we had some big Gun Stores with many fine guns from Europe and the United States of America. I have a lever action Winchester shotgun, a Deluxe Model in 12 ga, from my Ggfather as well.
PH

PH, you can send the pics to me and I will post them. I will send a PM with my email.

PatagonHunter's pics:









The rifle my friend has is the same as PatagonHunters except it isn't checkered and it has the original safety and bolt handle since it isn't scoped. The rear sight is the same and the front sling swivel too.

Halfway down this page is the twin to that rifle:

7x57 Mauser

z1r,
Yes! It is a twin of my rifle. Less than 200 nº appart. I am wondering if the double trigger is original. It appears to be.
Thanks,
PH

I took some pics of my friends rifle. Note the matching numbers on receiver, barrel, bolt handle, tail end of triggerguard and stock where it is stamped and also in ink. The number is also stamped on the top of the floorplate.






Pics of square bottomed bolt face, DWM marking and stock inletting with sleeve in rear guard screw hole.




Thanks to all who helped identify this interesting rifle.

Hi Marc,
Yes your friend`s rifle is exactly like mine (I don`t see the rifling twist numbers under the barrel chamber but it is a minor detail). Including the stock and sling swivels, all are the same. It is very interesting to see other rifles like mine! All I have seen (less than 10 and only in pictures) have a 3 digit serial number. Perhaps less than 1000 were made? Who knows...

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Alf,

I didn't claim the link was correct, I merely posted it because it was similar to the rfle in question. Although I'm sure his fanciful description was intended to justify the asking price.

My understanding is that there were two grades of Mauser rifles used by the Boers. The first, the Plezier, which as you point out was the higher grade sporting rifles in every sense of the word. The second a more utilitarian rifle more in a military configuration. This second grade I understand was sold at quite the discounted rate.

The rifles pictured on this thread and that link are obviously commercial rifles but to me anyway the maker is unknown.

z1r,
The rifle in your post, the rifle belong to Marc´s friend and mine, were made by DWM as original sporting rifles, with parts of military origin but made expresely for these rifles: The steps of the barrel does not correspond to any military model; the front sight is the same as in the military rifles; the rear sight is made using the military one but shortened; the stock is paterned on the military one but thinner and inleted on porpouse to those modified parts; the sling swivels are made for the sporting rifles, and the markings are commercial. In gunboards.com/military mausers, there was a thread on these rifles. Perhaps in AR, this matter is of little interest.
PH

PH, there would probably be more interest if it was a 98. And there probably aren't a lot of collectors here. As you said, these rifles must be very rare, there maybe less than a thousand worldwide so not many people have seen them. My friend was very pleased to get the information you had and also to see the rifle for sale in the link z1r posted.

I couldn't find the discussion on gunboards.com. I probably have to register to see the archives. Do you remember how long ago it took place? Thanks again.

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quote:

Originally posted by ALF:

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
Z1r:

The add link you posted IMO is in error in claiming that the rifle shown is a Boer war Plezier Mauser.

The Plezier Mauser was not a factory or any other aftermarket sporterized military 93, 95 96 or 97 Mauser.

The Boer War Plezier rifles were Sporting Mausers by DWM Berlin built on the 95, 96 and 97 dated action, not with stepped military barrels. They had sporting front and rear sights, They were also not issue rifles, the Boers had to buy them !

Uh, ok.