Bucksnort1
New member
Gents and Ladies,
My father was a 2nd Lieutenant in Heidelberg, Germany from 1946 to 1949. During this time, he "liberated" as he said, two Mauser 98s which were sporterized; one had a Mannlicher stock. I don't know what he meant by "liberated" and I never pursued the issue. I always wondered and again, I did not question him on this, if the rifles were sporterized military 98s or if they were made as sporting rifles inititially. Both rifles were equipped with Hensoldt scopes. The Mannlicher stock 98 has long since been gone but the other rifle was in my hands until ten years ago when I gave it to my nephew.
Does anyone have any infomation about whether these guns were converted or made as sporting rifles initially?
An interesting feature of these rifles is, the barrels are stepped. I have seen some sporting Mausers and photos of same but none have the stepped barrels. This includes the photo of two sporter Mausers in the latest NRA American Rifleman magazine. I found a You Tube video of a disassembled 98K. It has the stepped barrel. Because my father's rifles have stepped barrels, does this mean the rifles ere originally military and later converted by a gunsmith to sporter rifles or by Mauser?
My father was a 2nd Lieutenant in Heidelberg, Germany from 1946 to 1949. During this time, he "liberated" as he said, two Mauser 98s which were sporterized; one had a Mannlicher stock. I don't know what he meant by "liberated" and I never pursued the issue. I always wondered and again, I did not question him on this, if the rifles were sporterized military 98s or if they were made as sporting rifles inititially. Both rifles were equipped with Hensoldt scopes. The Mannlicher stock 98 has long since been gone but the other rifle was in my hands until ten years ago when I gave it to my nephew.
Does anyone have any infomation about whether these guns were converted or made as sporting rifles initially?
An interesting feature of these rifles is, the barrels are stepped. I have seen some sporting Mausers and photos of same but none have the stepped barrels. This includes the photo of two sporter Mausers in the latest NRA American Rifleman magazine. I found a You Tube video of a disassembled 98K. It has the stepped barrel. Because my father's rifles have stepped barrels, does this mean the rifles ere originally military and later converted by a gunsmith to sporter rifles or by Mauser?