Trying to determine value of Mauser rifle...

The notches on the bolt handle indicate that the bolt had been in an 8mm rifle during the period that both 8mm and 7.62x51 rifles were in service. The 8mm rifles could be identified by touch.
Many of these rifles are mixmasters. Whether the existing bolt was the correct one for this 7.62 conversion, who knows?
I would definitely check headspace before shooting it.
 
cantom said:
Yeah, wonder what that signifies?? Kills?
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The notches mean nothing to anyone except the person who put them there. Can't prove what they represent, if anything. Just like this:

Well and then there is the Sten Gun myth of throwing a full loaded Sten in the window of an enemy occupied building and cleaning house as the
Sten Gun did a miraculous 360 degree spin emptying it's magazine killing all the enemy inside! And you still hear this at gun shows!
 
Yes, all guns should be checked for safety, don't want an accident to happen or end up like a one eyed Cyclops.

tiriaq said:
The notches on the bolt handle indicate that the bolt had been in an 8mm rifle during the period that both 8mm and 7.62x51 rifles were in service. The 8mm rifles could be identified by touch.
Many of these rifles are mixmasters. Whether the existing bolt was the correct one for this 7.62 conversion, who knows?
I would definitely check headspace before shooting it.
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Potashminer said:
If it is an Israeli conversion, (pretty certain it is) that would have been a new, made for or made by Israel, .30 caliber barrel installed - careful inspection will reveal a stamping XX/XX somewheres on the barrel - usually near or on the chamber - first two digits are the "batch number" (not the month) and second two digits are the year produced - three or four that I have looked at are mid to late 1950's so "17/56" would be 17th batch produced in 1956. "02/57" would be second batch (not February) in 1957.
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I seriously doubt if the rifle in the OP was "new, made for or by Israel". It is a dou45. Somehow, I would think that the rifle started life near the end of WW2, when such rifles were intended for the German forces. Some were likely never completed, but the intention was for these rifles to be fielded in German or other Axis units.

New rifles made for Israel came mostly from FN. I have examples of dou45's. As well, I have a nice Israeli FN with Israeli crest.

Some good reading found here: latewar.com
 
You are correct, kjohn - the rifle is not new, but I had read multiple times that the Israeli conversion from original to 7.62x51 involved a new barrel. I have only worked with 3 or 4 in my hands, and never saw any evidence of a barrel sleeve, so did not question the story about "new barrel" once I started to find the batch/year stamps.
 
New 7.62x51 barrels were fitted.
There are a couple of different magazine alteration systems.
There were new FN made Mausers in 7.62x51; these have the Israeli crest in the receiver ring. Very nice rifles.
A large number of K98s were sourced in Czechoslovakia in 1948 - along with a lot of other materiel.
You will see many different receivers. What was available got used. Some 7.92 rifles were wartime, some assembled postwar.
 
Potashminer said:
Unless someone ran in a 30-06 reamer into the 7.62x51 chamber and never marked the barrel.... You will find out first time you try to chamber a 30-06 cartridge. Look in the magazine - the Isreali's installed a block to shorten the magazine length for the shorter 7.62x51 rounds, from the original 8x57. If the 1/2" spacer is still there, no way a 30-06 goes in magazine. Many commercial 30-06 loaded short enough to fit in 8x57 magazine, so if the block has been removed, might be a 30-06 - loading one by one into mag - don't need notch to eject fired 30-06 if that is what the chamber has been cut for.
And as above - several countries labeled 30-06 as "7.62" before the 7.62x51/308 Win was invented. I think the full current metric designation for 30-06 is 7.62x63.

So to OP question about value - depends on determining the actual chambering - a lot!!
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Umm no, you can't do that conversion cleanly, without setting back the barrel. That barrel is as issued.

The stock on that rifle appears to be the oversize beechwood used by Israel for restocking.

Some but not all of them also had a large "7.62" burned into the underside of the toe of the butt.
 
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tiriaq said:
The notches on the bolt handle indicate that the bolt had been in an 8mm rifle during the period that both 8mm and 7.62x51 rifles were in service. The 8mm rifles could be identified by touch.
Many of these rifles are mixmasters. Whether the existing bolt was the correct one for this 7.62 conversion, who knows?
I would definitely check headspace before shooting it.
Click to expand...


I've had several Israeli rebarrels to 7.62x51 and they all had generous tolerances cut into their chambers. Either right on maximum or a few thousandths over. Never had a problem with any of them as far as misfires/accuracy went.
 
FN made 98k rifles for Israel and some were made into sniper rifles. I think that a number of the FN rifles were made in 8mm and
then converted to 308. I have two of the 308 sniper rifles with 4x scopes
 
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