Boer War Mauser?

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maxim08

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Hello all,
I am hoping that someone can offer advise as to the identification of a rifle. I do not have attachment privileges at this time so I hope that my descriptive abilities are up to snuff.

The gun in question is a Mauser action carbine.

Embossed on the right side of the stock is:
line 1: U.F.S MARX
line 2: Z.A.R.

Over all length is 37.5", only marginally longer than an M1 carbine.
Barrel length approx 19" from breech face to muzzle
s/n 5461
On the left side of the receiver adjacent to the bolt it reads: Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken.
There is a round cartouche to the left of the s/n on the breech. The same s/n is on the bottom of the mag azine floor plate. The number is repeated on the top of he bolt handle with the same cartouche on the ball end of the handle.
The cartouche appears to be a stylised, script e and b within a circle.
There are no markings or signs of grinding off markings above the breech.
I do not know the caliber but I estimate 7mm. (A 7.62 will not fit much less a 7.92)

The gun has a bayonet lug, blade site with no guard, left side sling attachments.

I understand that ZAR is an acronym in Afrikan for 'south african reublic'.

I will venture a guess that this is a cavalry carbine of some type.


(Click PIC to Enlarge)


(Click PIC to Enlarge)


(Click PIC to Enlarge)

Can anyone offer any insight?

Regards,

Maxim08
 
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Sure sounds like it. Somewhere there is a database of the serials of officially purchased Boer Mausers.
 
ZAR was the old Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek and OFS would be Orange free state, What puzzles me is that it should read OVS oranje vrijstaat spelled with a V.
There is a book that may help you written by a author named Bester about these guns. Also PM F_soldaten.
He may be able to give you some more advice.
Now if you ever decide to sell this gun and it turns out to be a real Boer war rifle
let me know!
 
As above the ZAR (Afrikaans), the U.F.S. Marx sounds odd, maybe a regiment ID, or it has been used after the war, I hear some ended up in Island, would not be on OVS that usually does not have marx after. The SN in correct range, matching bolt lucky, the circle logo is also correct, according to the book on mausers no one has a clue what it is but all the boer mausers have it, both mine a OVS and numeric both have this mark.

Working from memory as books packed, 4 sets of sn's A1-A10000,B1-B10000,C1-C10000,1-10000 yours would be in last batch.

Caliber 7mm mauser.

(Rooinek)
 
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UFS Marx Sounds like a name, sorry I thought you wrote OFS.
Just cant think what the first name would be spelled with a U. "Ulrich"?
F and S has a number of possibilities
 
Thanks to all for the responses. I have sent a few photos to Badger for hosting. They're not great but I hope that they give a sense of what is there.
This gun has been refinsihed, probably in the late 1960s. The metal has perfect looking blueing and the wood has an unfortunate gloss to it.
I believe that it was bought in Africa in 1961.
If you would like better/other photos, let me know.
Regards,
Maxim08
 
Pics now added to first post in thread........ :)

In my opinion, this is a DWM (Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken) Boer War Mauser carbine, one of 2,000 ordered from them under the 3rd contract dated April 20th, 1897, which also called for an additional 8,000 long rifles.

It was shipped (along with its brother rifles) on Aug 28th, 1897 on the ship "Europa" and accepted in Pretoria on October 7th, 1897.

The serial number range for these DWM Mauser carbines ran from #5001 to 7000 and the serial number of your rifle is #5461, which of course, falls into the correct range.

The caliber of both carbines and long rifles manufactured by Lowe and DWM was 7 x 57mm.

BTW, as you've probably guessed, "bubba" hurt the collector value with his re-finishing handiwork, but it is still a beautiful piece of Boer War history with the owners initials carved in the stock.

Hope this helps....

Regards,
Badger

EDIT:
Source of data: "Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899 - 1902" by Dr. Ron Bester and Associates.
I purchased my copy from John Denner & Co.
 
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maxim08 said:
Hello all,
I am hoping that someone can offer advise as to the identification of a rifle. I do not have attachment privileges at this time so I hope that my descriptive abilities are up to snuff.

The gun in question is a Mauser action carbine.

Embossed on the right side of the stock is:
line 1: U.F.S MARX
line 2: Z.A.R.

Over all length is 37.5", only marginally longer than an M1 carbine.
Barrel length approx 19" from breech face to muzzle
s/n 5461
On the left side of the receiver adjacent to the bolt it reads: Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken.
There is a round cartouche to the left of the s/n on the breech. The same s/n is on the bottom of the mag azine floor plate. The number is repeated on the top of he bolt handle with the same cartouche on the ball end of the handle.
The cartouche appears to be a stylised, script e and b within a circle.
There are no markings or signs of grinding off markings above the breech.
I do not know the caliber but I estimate 7mm. (A 7.62 will not fit much less a 7.92)

The gun has a bayonet lug, blade site with no guard, left side sling attachments.

I understand that ZAR is an acronym in Afrikan for 'south african reublic'.

I will venture a guess that this is a cavalry carbine of some type.


(Click PIC to Enlarge)


(Click PIC to Enlarge)


(Click PIC to Enlarge)

Can anyone offer any insight?

Regards,

Maxim08
Click to expand...
Although the user name is different, still me and I still have this Mauser.
 
OP - I have a Mauser Infantry rifle - a fellow named Dave George in Australia has verified that my rifle is a genuine Boer rifle - and as was the practice when captured by British, Australian or Canadian troops, the bolts were removed from the rifle (bolts tossed into a barrel) and may not have been correctly ID'd by subsequent buyers to reinstall - alternatively - many Boer fighters would abscond with the calvary carbine bent bolts for their long Infantry rifles (which had "straight" bolt handles), if they found a "short" rifle with the bent bolt to be unattended - so both guys said it was NOT common to find a genuine Boer War Mauser rifle with a serial number matching bolt - although some exist, yet - ALL of them were originally made with matching number. That Dave George and an associate Guilliame Ficq (Sp?) - had an ad called "Angels Matchmaking Service" - they would match up a Boer fighter's rifle to its proper bolt and present the result to the Boer fighter's descendant family - I think they did circa 200 of them, of the thousands of rifles that this occurred to. I think they ended up finding bolts in places like Germany and Austria and rifles in places like Argentina and Brazil - that matched up! I have the FOUR books by Dave George - all called "Carvings from the Veldt" - Part 1, 2, 3, and now 4. He maintained a database of various rifle serial numbers and bolt serial numbers that had been shared with him. At least one of his books shares the information that he had at that time. His various books have many pictures of the rifles and the carvings on the wood stocks that were done. The data about the rifles can also be found in the book "Mauser Military Rifles of the World" by Robert Ball. I have the 5th Edition - page 431 for data on Mauser rifles sent for OVS (some ended up re-done for Chile) and page 442 for data on Mauser rifles sent to ZAR. I also have a copy of Ron Bester and Associates "Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902" - I had got that through a collector store in Toronto, some years ago. As I understand it - Ludwig Leowe owned the Mauser Company and rolled it into a conglomerate in late 1896 - so rifles made before that amalgamation are roll stamped as made by Leowe (or Lud. Leowe), and after (early 1897) as made by DWM, even though they were the same rifle from the same factory, and filled the same customer order.
 
Potashminer said:
OP - I have a Mauser Infantry rifle - a fellow named Dave George in Australia has verified that my rifle is a genuine Boer rifle - and as was the practice when captured by British, Australian or Canadian troops, the bolts were removed from the rifle (bolts tossed into a barrel) and may not have been correctly ID'd by subsequent buyers to reinstall - alternatively - many Boer fighters would abscond with the calvary carbine bent bolts for their long Infantry rifles (which had "straight" bolt handles), if they found a "short" rifle with the bent bolt to be unattended - so both guys said it was NOT common to find a genuine Boer War Mauser rifle with a serial number matching bolt - although some exist, yet - ALL of them were originally made with matching number. That Dave George and an associate Guilliame Ficq (Sp?) - had an ad called "Angels Matchmaking Service" - they would match up a Boer fighter's rifle to its proper bolt and present the result to the Boer fighter's descendant family - I think they did circa 200 of them, of the thousands of rifles that this occurred to. I think they ended up finding bolts in places like Germany and Austria and rifles in places like Argentina and Brazil - that matched up! I have the FOUR books by Dave George - all called "Carvings from the Veldt" - Part 1, 2, 3, and now 4. He maintained a database of various rifle serial numbers and bolt serial numbers that had been shared with him. At least one of his books shares the information that he had at that time. His various books have many pictures of the rifles and the carvings on the wood stocks that were done. The data about the rifles can also be found in the book "Mauser Military Rifles of the World" by Robert Ball. I have the 5th Edition - page 431 for data on Mauser rifles sent for OVS (some ended up re-done for Chile) and page 442 for data on Mauser rifles sent to ZAR. I also have a copy of Ron Bester and Associates "Small Arms of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902" - I had got that through a collector store in Toronto, some years ago. As I understand it - Ludwig Leowe owned the Mauser Company and rolled it into a conglomerate in late 1896 - so rifles made before that amalgamation are roll stamped as made by Leowe (or Lud. Leowe), and after (early 1897) as made by DWM, even though they were the same rifle from the same factory, and filled the same customer order.
Click to expand...
Great help, 20 years late
 
Interesting when a thread comes back to life.
I have David George's books, and have corresponded with him. It is remarkable that so many historic rifles can be matched to specific known individuals.
I have two Boer rifles, one marked to AS STENT VC (Veldt Cornet, an officer in his Kommando) and TR Boshoff.
Stent's rifle had a bullet pass through the forend. Stent rifle has its matching bolt, Boshoff does not. I've fired both. 7x57 is one of the really good classic cartridges.
IMG_1134.JPG
 
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