Chinese Mauser

They were shoddy workmanship and in some cases dangerous to fire at least the surplus one available years ago were.
 
There were a lot of different Chinese Mausers, including original 1888s, locally-made 1888s, imported 98s and the Chiang Kai-Shek model, which was actually fairly well-made.

The one I really want to get my hands on is the German-made 98 in 6.8x57mm: a .270 on a 57mm casing, built long before Winchester put a .277 slug onto a .30-'03 case. It was very much in advance of its period. Too bad, but most of them ended up converted to 8x57 before the Japs walked in.

Bummer.
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Bin Shih is the most knowledgeable collector of Chinese Rifles (not just WW2 rifles). If you are interested in Chinese small arms development (not ComChin China), you can go to his own website for more studies. Actually, he did come here for a short discussion after I hotlink some pix and articles from his site concerning Chinese mausers...

ChineseFirearms.com

Choose English version for your convenience.

PS. If you can manage to read Chinese, his book about Chinese Small arms development is a must have to all Chinese rifle collectors.

Edit to add: Oops! The book has English version now!
 
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I've seen a chinese made 98 where it was re-chambered to .35 Whelen, but fired through the 8mm bore. It didn't blow up, but the bolt handle needed a mallet to open it.

Don't believe everything you hear about them being unsafe.
 
There is a good book on the Chinese Mausers written by Dolf Goldsmith called: Arming the Dragon. I can ask Dolf for the ISBN number if anyone is interested. Also another book by Paul Cornish from the Imperial War Museum. I think the IWM still has it on their website, but the last time I talked to Paul he was pulling the pin and retiring so maybe he took the book rights with him. You will have to check it out.
Found it at IDSA books in the USA. Jim Alley will also have copies of Dolf's book as well.
Small Arms of Nationalist China, 1937-1945, Paul Cornish, Imperial War Museum, London, England
 
smellie said:
There were a lot of different Chinese Mausers, including original 1888s, locally-made 1888s, imported 98s and the Chiang Kai-Shek model, which was actually fairly well-made.

The one I really want to get my hands on is the German-made 98 in 6.8x57mm: a .270 on a 57mm casing, built long before Winchester put a .277 slug onto a .30-'03 case. It was very much in advance of its period. Too bad, but most of them ended up converted to 8x57 before the Japs walked in.

Bummer.
.
Click to expand...

This isn't about Chinese mausers but is a link to another advanced Chinese design on the Axis History forum. It discusses (albeit only briefly) the design by Chinese General Liu of a semi automatic rifle circa 1916. Complete with two pics of this rifle.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=101&t=182579

And if you really want to learn more I second OnnO recommendation to visit Bin Shih web site. Excellent info plus Chinese reenactors in the USA.
 
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@fugawi:thanks for the link(s). All I had on the Liu rifle was what Hatcher mentioned in his "Notebook", 3rd Ed.

So it's definitely a modified Bang. Really like to see one working.... in slow-motion!
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I was thinking about Smellie today, came on CGN and in post three I see his 2011 post, he still walks among us. Missed and not forgotten.
 
I bought two or three of the real dillies from International years ago. They were severely worn out. I used the extractor from one for my 8mm-06. The poor things were badly abused. I'll have to dig them out of the pile and post some pics.
 
I built a .308 on one of these actions just for the challenge of making it look decent. I kept the receiver in the final build, but the bolt was just too rough. It was safe, but by the time I had all the pitting out, it was pretty sloppy in the receiver raceway when cycling it. Ended up substituting a vz24 bolt, new bolt handle, new barrel, stocked it in English walnut and put Leupold glass on it. It shoots cloverleafs at 100 yards and is my standard loaner rifle on hunts when family members join me. I even shot a couple bucks with it myself. I’m glad I built it, but I never put so much work into filing an action. I had to re-shape some of the crudely milled external areas of the receiver, clean up a lot of old pitting, etc. it did come out nice, but you would never pay anyone to do work like that on a receiver that while functional, won’t ever be worth the labor that went into it.

Before anyone criticizes me, it was a mis-matched gunsmith special barrelled action with a shot out bore from century and was not a complete rifle to begin with.
 
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