discussion of various Mausers - which are most wanted?

[tackdriver]

DOes anyone know what type Mauser "Mitchells Mausers" sold? I believe they were made in Czechoslovakia?

[SVT-40]

DOes anyone know what type Mauser "Mitchells Mausers" sold? I believe they were made in Czechoslovakia?

The majority were Yugoslavian M-48 types, including the M48A also.

[tackdriver]

The majority were Yugoslavian M-48 types, including the M48A also.

Yes, you're right... All those "slav" countries sound the same to me. Thx

[smle-man]

The most desired used to be G33/40s, for the action to turn into sporters. I don't know how many remain as issued, but it can't be many of them.

https://www.guns.com/news/2021/01/11/g33-40-the-wwii-mountain-mauser

[joefrank64k]

The most desirable for me was the Nicaraguan Mauser.

Took me years (and years, haha!!) to find one.

Some pics of my Nicaraguan Mauser.

Story goes (always buy the gun, not the story haha!!) that Nicaragua ordered 1,000 of these back in the 30?s. A very small number (I?ve heard 100-500) were imported to the US.

I?ve been looking for one for over 20 years. One popped up about 10 years ago and was trashed: sewer pipe bore, cracked stock, the works. I very reluctantly passed, thinking another would pop up soon.

Well?I finally found one last year. This one was owned by a former warehouse manager at CAI. He was there when the batch came in, and this was the one he picked for himself from the batch (again, don?t buy the story).

This one is numbers matching for barrel, stock, and receiver. The bolt doesn?t match (which is normal for these) and is 25 numbers off.

The Nicaraguan cartouche is crisp, the stock is sound (other than lots of handling marks), and the bore is like a mirror with great rifling. Cleaning rod was included as well.

Mine also has the ?mystery ring? on the receiver (not all Nicaraguan Mausers have it). I?ve heard the ring means the rifle is special in some way (maybe accuracy) and I?ve heard the ring means it was a reject of some kind from the BRNO factory, haha!!

[Mustang]

Damn that stock cartouche is cool

[joefrank64k]

Funny how this works.

The minute I post about how long it took me to find a Nicaraguan Mauser, one pops up on the "grey blanket" of sreisel, haha!!

Typical for sreisel: The description says "not import marked" when the pics clearly show the CAI stamp on the barrel, and he lists it as 7mm when they're 8mm (as it says on the import stamp, haha!!).

https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/1020587191

[eaglemike]

Funny how this works.

The minute I post about how long it took me to find a Nicaraguan Mauser, one pops up on the "grey blanket" of sreisel, haha!!

Typical for sreisel: The description says "not import marked" when the pics clearly show the CAI stamp on the barrel, and he lists it as 7mm when they're 8mm (as it says on the import stamp, haha!!).

https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/1020587191

That shows an incredible lack of attention!
When I was just out of high school, one of my friends was into mil surplus long guns. He had a few 98k's, and couple of SMLE, etc. They were sooo cheap back then. I was always on the back end of the curve, money-wise. I went shooting with him a couple of times, and enjoyed shooting the SMLE more than the 98 family. Just seemed friendlier, but I also knew almost nothing about shooting back then.
I'll have to dig out and make a list of the stuff I have now. I ended up with a lot of them when my friend's now ex-wife got an ex-parte restraining order and he had to dispose of a decent collection. He was supposed to buy it back after getting his rights back (which he did with Jason Davis' help) but he's never followed through on these long guns.
It's become a lot harder for me to do stuff (after chemo, etc) even though I'm only 69. I can only work a few hours a day right now, then I hit the wall and need a nap. I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy shooting most of them, which kind of sucks. I know there's been mil-surp gatherings in the greater LA area, but not much here.

Thanks to everyone discussing here. Sharing your knowledge is greatly appreciated.

[SVT-40]

Some pics of my Nicaraguan Mauser.

Story goes (always buy the gun, not the story haha!!) that Nicaragua ordered 1,000 of these back in the 30?s. A very small number (I?ve heard 100-500) were imported to the US.

I?ve been looking for one for over 20 years. One popped up about 10 years ago and was trashed: sewer pipe bore, cracked stock, the works. I very reluctantly passed, thinking another would pop up soon.

Well?I finally found one last year. This one was owned by a former warehouse manager at CAI. He was there when the batch came in, and this was the one he picked for himself from the batch (again, don?t buy the story).

This one is numbers matching for barrel, stock, and receiver. The bolt doesn?t match (which is normal for these) and is 25 numbers off.

The Nicaraguan cartouche is crisp, the stock is sound (other than lots of handling marks), and the bore is like a mirror with great rifling. Cleaning rod was included as well.

Mine also has the ?mystery ring? on the receiver (not all Nicaraguan Mausers have it). I?ve heard the ring means the rifle is special in some way (maybe accuracy) and I?ve heard the ring means it was a reject of some kind from the BRNO factory, haha!!

That's a neat and rare rifle. I've never owned one.

The crest in the stock is very interesting. It has elements of the Argentine crest in it. Both have the slouchy hat on a stick as a central theme... Don't know what that means...

Pic of the Argentine crest on a 1909 rifle.

[SVT-40]

If you want to end up with a very nice Mauser, tag a long with SVT-40 at a gun show. He can spot nice ones from across the room, and knows everything about them. I picked up a very nice Venezuelan 1930 he decided not to buy, because he already had a couple. I would have never considered it, but when he pulled it out of the vendors rack, it was stunning. Unfortunately, now I am going down the South American Mauser rabbit hole and need to sell a couple of things to buy a few more of them.

LOL. I had a great time at the show, and you got a exceptional FN made Venezuelan 1930 rifle. The figure in the stock is amazing!

It was by far the best C&R rifle at the show!

[joefrank64k]

That's a neat and rare rifle. I've never owned one.

The crest in the stock is very interesting. It has elements of the Argentine crest in it. Both have the slouchy hat on a stick as a central theme... Don't know what that means...

Pic of the Argentine crest on a 1909 rifle.

I asked my wife (who?s from Nicaragua). It?s called a Phrygian cap. Allegedly it?s a symbol of freedom and of a country ruled as a republic vs as a monarchy.

The stick is a spear. Symbol of willingness to fight for freedom, etc.

[Bullwinkle]

German handguns are just fun to shoot!

I shot my P1 last month for the first time (bought it 20+ years ago). Dang that was fun. Horrible sights (and hence, accuracy), but just plain fun to shoot.

My son bought a Mauser C96 from Discount Gun Mart several years ago. Poor kid... it had Red Nine grips on it, so he just assumed it was an authentic one; but after reading up on it, I noticed it didn't have any of the proof marks that are supposed to be on them. A fellow CalGunner responded to a post I made about it, indicating that it was most likely a refurbished model from, IIRC, someplace called Federal Arsenal? Apparently they got a bunch of shot-out C96's, hacked off the barrel about an inch or so from the frame, then welded a new barrel onto the remaining stub, refinished it, and finally rechambered them to 9mm Parabellum. I gotta tell you, they did a really fantastic job of it--you can just barely see the seam--but I never had the heart to tell my son he doesn't have an authentic Red Nine.

But back to the point... man, that's a pretty fun gun to shoot also! We plan to have semi-regular "Vintage German Pistol" trips to the range now.