Definitely not in as nice a condition as the Swede, but from what I have found, it’s what you are likely to find when looking for one.

I wanted an original long rifle example in 7X57, but I don’t have a Bill Gates level gun budget. So I “settled” for one that was put through the conversion to 7.92X57 short rifle.

Still not the easiest to find, so I don’t mind the condition so much!

Bill R

12 grains of unique and a 205 grain cast bullet will make shooting that rifle A lot of fun...plus reloading and casting bullet will keep you busy and off the streets!

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
12 grains of unique and a 205 grain cast bullet will make shooting that rifle A lot of fun...plus reloading and casting bullet will keep you busy and off the streets!

Well... “off the streets” is exactly where I’m not allowed to be right now.

But as long as they keep paying that OT, there’s just that many more Mausers that get to find their way over my direction!

I do need to get working on reloading for rifle calibers soon. Not sure if 8mm will be the first go, I’m thinking of starting with the 6.5 Swede.

Bill R

Nice. I love the old Mausers. One of these days I will get more photo savvy and show off my collection.

I need to get some good photos of the various receiver crests on mine. It’s one of the coolest parts of collecting Mausers I’ve found.... There’s some very nice designs.

Bill R

quote:

Originally posted by stylophiles:
I need to get some good photos of the various receiver crests on mine. It’s one of the coolest parts of collecting Mausers I’ve found.... There’s some very nice designs.

Bill R

Indeed. If you like Mauser crests, you need to snag a copy of Ball's "Mauser Military Rifles of the World".

https://www.amazon.com/Mauser-...Robert/dp/1440215448

It's currently on its 5th Edition, and includes photos and descriptions for basically every flavor of Mauser military contract rifle ever made. Lots of photos of interesting crests.

(Some of the specific descriptive info is slightly incorrect and/or dated, so there are better resources out there for in-depth Mauser research for hardcore collectors, but MMotW is an amazing book just to flip through and ogle the photos.)

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:Indeed. If you like Mauser crests, you need to snag a copy of Ball's "Mauser Military Rifles of the World".

Grabbed it a while ago, just so I could try to avoid making any “expensive” mistakes in my random acquisitions...
It seems that with some of the more highly regarded reference books, you need to either bring the big bucks, or get lucky and find a copy second hand somewhere!

Bill R

Yep, I've slowly amassed by milsurp reference library over the past 20 years or so, with many of the volumes being fairly expensive nowadays.

You can keep an eye on some of the less well-known used book websites, and occasionally you'll find a gem. eBay is also a good place to watch, but competition can sometimes get fierce for especially sought-after volumes. (I've been lucky enough to score some pricey reference volumes off eBay for pennies on the dollar, often from the proverbial "little old lady whose late husband was into guns and now has all these dusty old books left over".) Milsurp forums are another source, but most of those guys know what they've got and what it's worth, although sometimes you can snag some decent deals on reference books.

It may sound obvious, but the best approach is simply to buy the books when they're new and readily available. When a new milsurp reference book comes out, buy it then for the cover price of $50-$60. The higher-end milsurp reference book market isn't that large, so they generally only have print runs in the few thousands. Once these few thousand books have sold out in a just a few years, that's when the same books immediately turn around and start getting bought and sold on the secondary market for stupid money (easily $100+, and sometimes up to $500+). It happens with almost every good limited quantity milsurp reference book that has been released and later sold out. Supply and demand, exacerbated by a rabid fanbase with excess disposable income.



Believe it or not, some of my most (relatively) profitable milsurp "flips" have been used milsurp books, not milsurp guns. Get lucky and drop $30 or so for a book that I already own and that's worth a lot more than that, and flip it for a quick few hundred bucks.

Here's my 1951 IDF Mauser .22 trainer I took to the range today:




My 98/22 Czech Mauser has no crest.

One of my favorite Mauser crests, kz1000. I have an IDF Mauser in 7.62 NATO with that same crest, but it's not in anywhere near as good condition. I think I paid $90 for it, due to its rough condition.




A large number of 7.62 IDF Mausers were sold by Israel to some Central American military (Guatamala, IIRC), where they saw continued hard use and poor storage conditions, before eventually being sold and imported into the US. So many of the IDF Mausers in the US today are in rough condition, like mine.


Another of my favorite Mauser crests is the Czech military rampant lion, like on this Vz. 24 (which I sold during my Great Consolidation a few years back):

Thanks RogueJSK!

Mine was a lucky find. 1 of 1000 FN made purpose built trainers. It was on the wall in Aim Surplus's showroom. From the owner's private collection. It's a tack driver.

Something else just showed up.....



Bill R

Sweet!

Another of my favorite Mauser crests.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Sweet!

Another of my favorite Mauser crests.

This is on the Czech made long rifle, I already had an “in house made” 49 carbine version from after they moved production to Iran.

Bill R

Now you just need a Czech Mauser like the one I posted above, and an Ethiopian Mauser, to complete the Lion Mauser trifecta.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Now you just need a Czech Mauser like the one I posted above, and an Ethiopian Mauser, to complete the Lion Mauser trifecta.

I’ve been lurking on GB searching the VZ24 listings and checking for one with the lion that’s not way overpriced. I missed a nice one on another forum a few months ago, and I’ve been looking ever since.
I think the Ethiopian is much more of a long shot to find?

Bill R

Yes, Czech Vz. 24s are easier to find than Ethiopian M30s. (Just watch out, because a number of Vz. 24s out there have had their receivers scrubbed, so no lion crest.)

However, an unconventional source for either crest is Israeli Mausers. In their initial years of independence in the late 40s and early 50s, the Israelis sourced surplus Mausers from wherever they could get them. Many of them were German surplus, but they also received quantities of used Czech and Ethiopian rifles, among others. They only later placed formal orders with FN for new Mausers with the IDF crest.

Therefore, it's not uncommon to run across Israeli Mausers on the collector's market with receivers sporting foreign military crests, including the Czech lion or Ethiopian lion crests. These will have been converted to 7.62 NATO and put in K98k configuration, but many retain the original receiver crests. So you might lurk for Israeli Mausers as well, and check the receivers for interesting crests.

quote:

Originally posted by stylophiles:
Something else just showed up.....



Bill R

Looks like a Persian Mauser Crest, eh? I have a Berno Kootah (short Brno), but I sporterized it after someone tapped the receiver and modified the stock. If you need any stock parts, let me know...I still have it.

How do we do the Karma thing on this forum? I have a bunch of brass 8mm Mauser.stripper clips. I won’t use them. I sold my FN49 years ago. Happy to give them away.