Mauser rifled action ID? (pics)

[older than dirt]

Long post. Hi, just got for free this SR Mauser rifled action from a friend who got it from a friend about 10 or 12 years ago & never did anything with it. It has some rust issues here & there. I haven`t scrubbed the bore yet & it is dark, but has crisp rifling. The barrel is 23" long from muzzle to barrel ring at receiver & the action screws are 7 7/8 ". Not much of any kind of markings on it except on the receiver it`s stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" & on the barrel & receiver ring it`s stamped 111. Also on the under side the barrel ring by the front screw mount is stamped 7.22. The under side of receiver is also stamped with numbers & letters which don`t show up very good in the pics. The bolt has the blow back slots & blow back shield on it. On the under side of bolt handle were it locks in the receiver notch it`s stamped with 2 Swastikas. The trigger is a 2 stage one & has the #665 on one side & the letter C with a symbol by it on the other side & it`s machined out for double set triggers & has 2 small holes for the trigger unit fasting pins. The follower has a crown over some kind of symbol & the #61 stamped in it. The barrel has a ramp F sight & a 2 blade fold down R sight. There is also sling stud sweated on the barrel. Thank you in advance for any ID help on it.

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[older than dirt]

more pics

here are some more pics.
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[Calif Steve]

Kar98a post-WWI sporter job. No wood? Too bad, might have been a nice stock.

[dave]

Very likely! Small ring action, new sporter barrel, 7.22 bore dia? Impossible to ID at this point from pics. A mixture of parts---bolt from WW11 era (nazi). If you do anything with it be sure you have positive ID of caliber.

[Tuna]

To me the whole thing appears to be a commercial made Mauser done likely by a gunsmith Guild member in Germany about 1939 and made for export. Not a top end rifle like the ones from the 1920's and most likely made to be used to hunt with. Too bad about the rust on it but it can be worked on and saved but you really do need to get the caliber checked as it could be anything from 7mm to 9+mm.

[dave]

Germans are pretty carefull about marking cal. on barrels, all military rifle have bore dia. stamped on them and sporters I have seen do also. I think its part of their law on gun making. Military on top in front of rec. and sporters usually under the wood line. Bore dia is easy to confirm and I would bet its 7.22 as stamped. However the exact cartridge is open to question. Not worth putting allot of money into, in my opinion, but a 'do-it-yourself' project

[kcw]

Germans are pretty carefull about marking cal. on barrels, all military rifle have bore dia. stamped on them and sporters I have seen do also. I think its part of their law on gun making. Military on top in front of rec. and sporters usually under the wood line. Bore dia is easy to confirm and I would bet its 7.22 as stamped. However the exact cartridge is open to question. Not worth putting allot of money into, in my opinion, but a 'do-it-yourself' project

German military and commercial markings are two separate things. In cases where guild makers use surplus receivers, the old military markings will likely remain on the receiver, and the barrel too if the original GI barrel remains; but there will always be commercial (civilian/guild) markings on the underside of the barrel also as in Europe the "barrel" is the gun. Typical commercial/guild markings on the barrel will include a caliber designation, type of proof done, and a code for the commercial proof house where the gun was proofed. A date of manufacture may also appear.

[kcw]

I should also add to my previous remarks that this is an obvious sporter job, but where was it done? If it was done in Germany there should be caliber, type of proof stamps and the code for the proof house used on the underside of the barrel. MADE IN GERMANY doesn't mean that it actually was worked on or exported from Germany. In nay event, a chamber casting would be a good idea.

[Tuna]

The more I think about it I feel this is a sporter made well after WW2 with the bolt being of WW2 vintage. The crown over a stag horn and with 61 being the year it was proofed? Lots of possibilities with this one. The 7.22 on the bottom of the barrel could very well be for a 7mm but as kcw said a chamber cast should be done.

[older than dirt]

Thanks for all the replies. I forgot to say in my post that an 8mm round will chamber & the bullet will not go all the way in the bore at the muzzle, but a 30cal bullet will.

[kcw]

The more I think about it I feel this is a sporter made well after WW2 with the bolt being of WW2 vintage. The crown over a stag horn and with 61 being the year it was proofed? Lots of possibilities with this one. The 7.22 on the bottom of the barrel could very well be for a 7mm but as kcw said a chamber cast should be done.

The five point stag horn mark was originally used from 1939-45 as the Oberndorf proof house mark. With the rebirth of commercial arms production in 1951 it became the symbol of the Ulm proof house. As I said before, all commercial markings should be on the underside of the barrel. The 7.22 on the barrel ring could be the bore marking for 7mm, but it could also signify a proof date of July 1922, as was the practice in that era. My hunch is the latter situation. The milling for the double set trigger and the express rear sight would be typical guild guns for that era too. A stag horn proof mark may indicate that it was reproofed as required under the 1939 Nazi law. Very few people actually bothered to have their guns reproofed and the demands of the war gave the government few resources to enforce it.
So how did it get in it's current condition? My hunch is that this rifle was one of many of the thousands turned in by civilians at the end if war under Allied orders. Typically they were either picked over by U.S. soldiers and sent home, or run over by a tank track and burned. However this one obviously ended up in commercial distribution (I'd love to see the politics involved with that!) where it was worked over, including a refinishing, which ruined the original, under barrel markings; and the installation of a surplus bolt and an original two stage, GI type trigger. (original bolts were typically removed when the gun was surrendered). All of that is just a theory based on the evidence at hand. Of real concern would be the actual chamber AND BORE SIZE. For example, if the chamber is 8x57, is the bore .318 or .323?