At the range today I saw a very nice Mauser sporter, the likes of which I have not seen before....but then, I am no Mauser expert.

This was 7 m/m sporter. Appeared to be a factory job, not a home effort. Had about 24" or 26" barrel (didn't have a tape with me). Looked like the barrel might be original military, turned down,with rear sight removed and ramp front added. Stock was nice walnut with fiddleback but no crotch, Had a cheek piece of typical European features....fairly long and straight, no Monte Carleo, & square on each end.

Rifle had miltary-tyle safety, and action was definitely some version of a M98. Had nicely turned down nbolt handle, with the bottom of the knob still round but the top flattened with beautifully done, very fine spaced, metal checkering. Triggers were standard Germanic-style double-set.

The front receiver ring had the orginal crest still 100% present. Have never seen that particular crest before. Looked like an expanse of individual flames, side by side, with a 5-pointed star at the middle of the top of the flames. At the base of the flames were three letters too small for me to read in the dim light and right next to them were the letters "1943" in Very small numerals. Neither the letters or the numerals appeared to have been added separately from the crest itself, but appeared part OF the crest.

On the left side of the reciever was stamped a couple or three words in an alphabet I am not familiar with. Didn't look Arabbic, Cyrilic, or English to me. Have no idea which alphabet it was.

There were no waffenampts visible anywhere, but there did appear to be three (proof?) marks on the right hand side of the receiver ring. They were next to each other in a neatly spaced row just above the stock wood. None of us could read them (they were very small), but they appeared as if they each were topped by a very small crown, and all appeared identical.

Most interesting was the scope mount. It was a double lever side mount on the left side of the receiver. BUT, it was definitely NOT a G&H side-mount. It was all steel (both male and female parts of the base and the rings), and worked just like a G&H, but where the G&H is solid on the longitudinal part that contains the female dovetail and the rings, this one had a wide open slot the full length of the top except right at each end.

Gun was deadly accurate...first three shots by the owner all cut one hole at 100 yards, in the center of the bullseye.

DO know this isn't a very thorough description. I'm guessing the rifle was a "between the wars" sporter turned out by a small commercial shop in some eastern European country, but I have no clue as to which one. And between the wars doesn't jibe with the 1943 date... Any ideas what we are dealing with here?

The rifle was given, gratis, to the new owner by a friend at the gun club that he had done some favors for.......

Could be the Brazilian coat of arms. I see three different types of five sided star crests. One for the model 1904 mauser-vergueiro, model 1908 mauser, and a 1907 Brazilian mauser carbine. They are all surrounded by laurel wreath and two have sunbursts around them. Underneath the crests of two of them are F.P.D.F. and F.P.do D.F.
Model designations were stamped on the right side of the receiver. Could the three crown marks be similar to the Commercial mauser marks?
Bob

quote:

Originally posted by manhasset:
Could be the Brazilian coat of arms. I see three different types of five sided star crests. One for the model 1904 mauser-vergueiro, model 1908 mauser, and a 1907 Brazilian mauser carbine. They are all surrounded by laurel wreath and two have sunbursts around them. Underneath the crests of two of them are F.P.D.F. and F.P.do D.F.
Model designations were stamped on the right side of the receiver. Could the three crown marks be similar to the Commercial mauser marks?
Bob

There is nothing on the right side of this receiver, at least nothing above the wood line, except the three marks that look kind of like the crowned Kongsberg markings except in miniature. The flames do not appear to be inside a laurel wreath and are definitely not inside a sunburst. The 5-pointed star is small and in the dead center (from left to right) nestled into the top of the flames.

The three small letters followed by 1943 are all on one line nestled into the bottom of the flames, and are in VERY small print which appears to be an intebgral part of the roll stamped crest of flames,etc.

This sucker really has me stumped. I used to collect commercial Mausers, and this doesn't look like any commercial one I ever saw before. The style is the same as a lot of the small shop converted Mausers that came out of Germany in about 1920-25, but the 1943 date in the crest would sem to indicate much later manufacture.

The only markings on the left side of the receiver ring are the serial number. There is no armoury ID anywhere visible on the receiver, and absolutely NO marking of any kind on the barrel, except "7x57".

I wish I had had a digital camera with me at the range. Would like to be able to post a picture of it. I know the owner pretty well...he used to be President of our club. Perhaps I can arrange in the next couple of weeks to get a pic of it from him.

does the crest look like this?

If so, its a yugoslav mauser, either a model 24/47 or M48 or variant.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
does the crest look like this?

If so, its a yugoslav mauser, either a model 24/47 or M48 or variant.

Yes and no. Does not have anything under the letters and 1943 in the crest. Also does not have the "leaves" around the "flames". But, the flames themselves and the star look about right, as does he size of rhe print in the line with the 1943 in it, and that line is in the right place..

I asked him to see if a loaded '06 service (150 grain) round would fit into the magazine box, to get an idea of which length of Mauser it is, but haven't heard back from him on that yet. I did that because it looks slightly shorter than a M98-K to my eyes, and I ewondered if it might be one of the short Yugoslav or Czech actions... You may have nailed it, but I'm not sure which of those variations it may be, with the main part of the crest you show, but not the borders and none of the rest of the markings.