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View Full Version : Can anyone help me find out what kind of mauser I have?



drg56
03-11-2014, 10:06
I have an old mauser , it has no serial numbers on it. On the barrel by the ring, it has an imperial eagle and GERMANY stamped on it on the receiver on the left side it has Rw E . The bolt has the numbers 818 and two stamped marks , one is the imperial eagle , but the other I'm not sure of , could be Peter 1st. Then it has 64 stamped it two places. It has double triggers a lot of engravings on it around the action, on the ring also on the floor plate and the trigger guard , even the screws holding it together are engraved. I can't find any info. on this weapon. Anyone have any ideas?
Danny

kcw
03-12-2014, 05:57
A picture would be of great help for starters. If it weren't for the "GERMANY" stamp on it my 1st guess would be that it was a German "guild" gun made between the wars, utilizing a surplus WWI era mauser , which was then subsequently "liberated" by a GI after WWII and brought back to the U.S. The "GERMANY" stamping however indicates it to be commercially imported, I'm thinking pre 68' as there is no importer/distributor name also stamped along with the country of origin, but who knows what has been scrubbed off it if the serial number is also gone too. Question: what, if any, stamps are on the underside of the barrel (you'll need to remove the stock). If it's a guild gun there may be commercial guild shop stamps on the underside of the barrel, such as a caliber designation.

Tuna
03-16-2014, 05:18
After WW1, guns made in Germany and exported had to be stamped Germany on it. I think kcw is pointing towards the rifle being a commercially made one made between the end of WW1 and the end of WW2. Double set triggers is usually a give away pointing to a commercially made rifle but many after both wars were made on military actions. But as kcw said pictures would sure help.

dave
03-17-2014, 10:04
As far as I know the country of origin had no law that said it had to be stamped Germany or such, it was the importing countries law, England for example. I own a couple rifles made in Austria with no such designation. However they are post WW11. Also a guild rifle w/o 'Germany', probably a GI bring back. I do not think the US had such a law until after the war.

kcw
03-18-2014, 12:20
The U.S. government started requiring a "country of origin" stamp on commercially imported goods in the Tariff Act of 1930. Why it is that much (most?) of the surplus military arms imported on the post WWII heyday of approx. 1955-1965 wasn't stamped is unclear to me. Could it have been that the government inspectors felt that arsenal
markings were a significant enough indicator of national origin?

da gimp
03-18-2014, 04:02
Dave, we have a Steyr 98 K Mauser, marked made in Austria on the receiver, in caliber .30-06, dbl set triggers, matching numbers, that was purchased at the factory prior to WWII by a local attorney that was a military attaché (with our embassy in Austria)............it initially had a Mannlicher style full length stock & Bob had them put a conventional style sporter stock, with cheek piece, that was longer than usual on it (he was very tall & lanky), unfortunately he did not get the full length stock on it when he picked it up....... This was before Hitler annexed Austria I was told..............