Mauser Help

K

Krispyz

Inactive
Hello everyone. This is my first real post here, so I'd love to stir up some discussion and get some assistance. My father recently passed away and I inherited a lot of guns. Most I'm familiar with, from trips to the range, but a few I'm having problems with since Dad never really shot them.

I have two Mausers that my grandfather brought back from World War II. One is labelled Mod. 98 and has nazi insignia on it, but that's about all I know (from what I've tried to research, there are a lot of types of 98s, but I haven't been able to find a gun that looks the same). The other Mauser has very little in ways of markings, besides the serial number and what I believe says "Carl Gustafs Stads Gevarsfaktori". Most of it is hidden under a scope mount and I'm not sure if I should remove the mount to confirm. It also appears to have been modified to some extent. In any case, I'll post photos and leave it at that. I can answer any questions, of course, to the best of my ability.

The Model 98. (Forgot to rotate some photos, I apologize to your necks).

The Carl Gustafs Mauser
 
You won't find any original pictures, except under the "sporter" heading, because both of these arms have been modified from original military configuration, which removes collector value. Carl Gustav is the Swedish arms factory so that designation identifies the gun as a Swedish Mauser. The date of production will appear under the scope base. This gun appears to have nice wood and seems to be the more attractive sporter. The stock of the 98 is a cut down military stock.
 
Both rifles have been altered/modified from their original military config, and made into sporting rifles, aka: "sporterized" - the Swede more thoroughly than the German.
They are easily verified as originally military rifles because commercial versions usually omit the large thumb cut (dip) in the left receiver wall, for reloading strips of clipped ammo.

The Model 98 appears to have once been a standard, cock-on-opening, German Army 7.92mm (8x57) rifle, with the original bbl, that's had the issue stock's forend cut back, the bolt handle bent down & then ground for scope clearance, and D/T'd both for the scope mounts and on the receiver bridge for a peep sight. The receiver bridge has also apparently had it's clip loading guide bulge ground or filed down/off smooth to accommodate the rear scope mount, and the rifle reblued.
The safety is an aftermarket Buehler Lo-Swing, also to clear the scope.

What looks like a cock-on-closing 1894/96 Swede also appears to still have it's original bbl, in 6.5x55 Swede, but with an entirely new/aftermarket stock fitted, as well as being D/Td for scope mounts, the Buehler safety, and the bolt handle altered/lowered.
it lokks like the receiver bridge's clip guide buklge has also been ground down flush on this rifle, to accommodate the rear scope mount.
The bolt body has been decoratively "jeweled" and the "L-shaped" rear end of the firing pin's cocking piece has either been removed or replaced with one from an 1893/95 Mauser.

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As has been stated, you have a German K98k and a Swede Mauser of some sort that have been sporterized in to hunting rifles. To know more you will need to remove the front scope mount.

I expect the K98 is late war production due to the 5 digit serial number, If the "byf" stamping are original to the rifle (big "if" ) then it was made by Mauser AG Oberndorf, possibly in 1944 or later based on the serial number. Earlier rifles had a 4 digit S/N with a letter suffix. It is in a cut down military stock.

There is a good source of information on the K98k here:
http://mauser98k.internetdsl.pl/indexen.html

The Swede could be a M1896 or M1938, in a sporter stock. I supposed it is possible your Grandfather brought it home from WW2, but not likely, as Sweden was neutral.

Here is a page showing Swedish Military rifles, so you can see what it started out as:
http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/rifles_se/rifles_se.htm
 
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