Turkish 1903Maser question

[gun toting monkeyboy]

The 1935 date is the date they rebuilt your rifle. It is not the manufacture date. I have a Turked 1888 that is marked 1938 and none of them had been made since 1895. You can use the Turk surplus ammo in any of the 1893 or later model mausers, but I wouldn't recommend it in anything but the 98 varients. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it. Also, look at the wood on your stock. They often replaced the original german made stocks with new ones made of Turkish walnut when they rebuilt them. I have 2 that had absolutely gorgeous stocks hidden underneath the layers of grime. As for shooting them, I have one 1903 varient and one refurbished 1893 that will group under 3" at 100 yards if I do my part, open sights. If the barrel is in good shape, these are just as accurate as any other military mauser out there.

As for the Savage with the 2 lans, that was the wartime expedient used only by Savage for the rifles they produced for the Lend/Lease act. They were reasonably accurate, but usually replaced when when the rifles were FTR'd. They command a slight premium, as do those with US markings.

-Mb

[nick]

Good to know, thanks. The stock is walnut, and it looks good without even me having cleaned it yet.

Do you know if there's a way to approximate the original date of manufacture, whether it was rebuilt for 8mm mauser or if it was originally made for it, things like that?

Also, is it safe to shoot modern 8mm mauser ammo from these? I'd imagine the pressures went up a notch since early 1900's, or is the ammo still made to original (old) specs? I'd rather not shoot surplus ammo, it's all corrosive, and I try to give myself a better margin of error, in case I don't clean it right away, don't clean it well enough, etc.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Any of the major US brands are more than safe for just about any 8mm mauser rifle. It is loaded to about .30-40 Krag pressure levels, and uses a slightly under-sized bullet. This is because people are stupid, and would try to load .30-06 level loads into old 1888 Commision rifles with under-sized bores, and blow their faces off, then try to blame the ammo companies. So to avoid this, they have somewhat anemic loading for would could be a .30-06 class round. It is still effective enough for deer hunting, mind you. But in a 98 action, you can do so much more. If you plan on shooting your rifle much, it is better for you to get into reloading. You can decide what level to load for your gun, and it has the added benefit of being cheaper.

As for what date you gun was made, there is no real way to tell from what I have seen. The Turks didn't really care when they rebuilt them in the 1930s. They put .323" barrels on all of them, so Turk guns are the larger bullet diameter 99% of the time. They also brought them up to par with their current military issue of that time period. The only ones that you can date easily are the 1888 and 1893 variations. They were all made before 1895 and 1897 respectively. However, most ATF field agents will not classify them as antiques because that have a remanufacture date stamp from the 1930s, and field agents are generally too lazy to do their homework. There is a date, that must be the date it was made... >:-/

With regards to original calliber, the only ones you can be sure of were the 1893 and 1891 varients. They were both made for 7.65x53. The 98 varients were made for 7.65 until after WWI. The Germans had dumped literally tons of 8mm ammo on the Turks during the war, and it was fast becoming the standard military round around the world at that time, so they switched. Most of the 1888 rifles were aquired second-hand after WWI, and have always been 8x57. Though they were originally the .318" bore diameter, all of the 88/05 models were upgraded to .323" in Germany when they were converted to /05, and most of the rest of the Turkish ones were upgraded when they were rebuilt in the 1930s. Most of the 88s also received a new bolt purchased from the Czechs at that same time. Look for a "z" in a triangle underneth the base of the bolt handle to identify the new bolts. Have fun, and good luck.

-Mb