Problem here is that Brazil never bought any .30-'06 Mausers, so they aren't considered "real" by the milsurp purists. Brazil MADE their .30-'06 Mausers. To be perfectly clear about it, they made them out of worn-out, rusted, worked-to-death 7x57 rifles, some dating back to 1907, with the majority being from the 1908 contract and some 1935 rifles thrown in for good measure.
These mostly were long rifles, with a few short rifles thrown in. All were rebuilt as short rifles which looked very much like a VZ-24 although with the early-type front band. Parts were mixed and confused and cleaned and Parkerized and then assembled into proper order for building into rifles. Barreled actions were cleaned, gallons of rust removed, then the poor old things were Parkerised. Bores were line-bored, reamed, polished and rifled and chambers were reamed to the new .30-'06 round. SOME chambers already were eaten out badly by rust so, when these were rechambered, you ended up with a chamber which was more than a bit loose at the back end, but most were okay. Barrels were threaded at the muzzle for a brake or flash-hider.
They then were rollmarked as "Made in Brazil" (actually "Fabrica de Armas - Itajuba" and the new designation "M.954 Cal. .30".
So what you had was a .30-'06 Mauser, most with a 2-shot magazine (the '06M2 being very, very slightly too long for the original 7x57 magazine boxes) and a genuine German (or possily Czech) '98 action, looking rather like a VZ-24 and with an effectively-new bore. Many of them were packed off to police districts, where they were brutalised somewhat and then finally surplussed. They did the same thing a few years later to another batch of rifles, making these into .308s; this was the M.968.
I have one here, got it just after they turned up in Canada. $39.95 plus shipping. Ugly as sin..... but it is a genuine German 1908 action which happens to have a CZ logo on the bolt (just like a Jawa motorcycle). It shoots a bit high but it groups well and as far as I'm concerned, I got my money's worth and would certainly get another if one showed up for 4 or 5 times that.
They are VERY much underappreciated, in my not-so-humble opinion and they show what a country in fiscal turmoil and without a real arms industry can actually do when they put their minds to it. The Itajuba plant, today, is turning out very fine equipment, but the ugly old M.954 is where they started. From that standpoint alone, the M.954 is collectible, as far as I am concerned.
Hope this helps.
.
