Dating a Mauser hunting rifle?

The floor plate is for a Swedish Mauser...the flat bottom crown indicates Mauser oberndorf as the maker I think...that floor plate should not fit a 98 action so I would guess an 1893 or 1895 model? The font of the makers stamp is older than anything I've seen on a model 98...very interesting.
 
Take detailed pics of all markings and some overall pics to show the receiver, safety, bolt, sights etc... I am not the expert here, but the ones that are can tell a lot from overall pics as well.
 
I did take, and post, pics of all the markings on the rifle. There are no open sights and no screw holes where sights might have been. I'm guessing this might be due to a caliber and barrel conversion at some point in it's life? I'll take pics of the action, safety, trigger, etc... as soon as I get a chance.

It started as a Mexican contract military Mauser. Probably a 1902 but I need to see pics of the rear of the bolt/action to determine if its a 98 or 95 pattern action. It was then rebarreled to 6x47, restocked, drilled and tapped for scope mounting, and probably other mods. The floor plate as others have mentioned looks like a Swedish Mauser part so maybe it is a 95 pattern action that has had a #### on opening conversion.
 
Ok. It's a 98 pattern action so it's definitely a Mexican 1902 action or at least the receiver is. I'm not overly familiar with the 1902 action and am not sure if it's an intermediate length or full length action. At any rate it's not a common receiver.

Looks like a nice little rifle.
 
Interesting thread Photog_shooter, Thanks for sharing with us.
I too have a " mystery " Mauser, very highly polished and completely re-stocked, re-blued and re-chambered to 8mm / 06.
There is nothing to indicate where it originated nor do I have any knowledge of who did the work.
All the stamping and serial numbers have been polished off, all that remains is the letter F on the left side of the receiver and the underside of the bolt knob is flattened and checkered.
All of my other Mausers have visible identification but this particular rifle baffles me...
 
Interesting thread Photog_shooter, Thanks for sharing with us.
I too have a " mystery " Mauser, very highly polished and completely re-stocked, re-blued and re-chambered to 8mm / 06.
There is nothing to indicate where it originated nor do I have any knowledge of who did the work.
All the stamping and serial numbers have been polished off, all that remains is the letter F on the left side of the receiver and the underside of the bolt knob is flattened and checkered.
All of my other Mausers have visible identification but this particular rifle baffles me...

Pics of the F? What about on the bottom flat of the receiver? This area rarely gets polished or filed down and there may be markings there that might narrow down the maker/era.
 
Pics of the F? What about on the bottom flat of the receiver? This area rarely gets polished or filed down and there may be markings there that might narrow down the maker/era.

I'll keep trying to get a good picture, trouble is its so shiney.
After a closer look the letter F is followed by the number 3 like F 3.
On the receiver flat there is the single letter K and nothing else..
Not much to go on... is there ?
 
Interesting thread Photog_shooter, Thanks for sharing with us.
I too have a " mystery " Mauser, very highly polished and completely re-stocked, re-blued and re-chambered to 8mm / 06.
There is nothing to indicate where it originated nor do I have any knowledge of who did the work.
All the stamping and serial numbers have been polished off, all that remains is the letter F on the left side of the receiver and the underside of the bolt knob is flattened and checkered.
All of my other Mausers have visible identification but this particular rifle baffles me...

Is the action a small ring? If the bolt handle is the original 90-degree bend configuration, it might be an Erfurt Kar 98a. The underside of the knob was flattened and checkered on these rifles. The were popular for sporterizing post WWI because of the lighter small ring action, and the barrel didn't have the typical Mauser steps.
 
Is the action a small ring? If the bolt handle is the original 90-degree bend configuration, it might be an Erfurt Kar 98a. The underside of the knob was flattened and checkered on these rifles. The were popular for sporterizing post WWI because of the lighter small ring action, and the barrel didn't have the typical Mauser steps.

Thank-you Sir, the barrel does not have the steps so that's probably what it is.
Offhand do you know what the difference in measurement is between the small ring and large ring actions ?
 
Interesting thread Photog_shooter, Thanks for sharing with us.
I too have a " mystery " Mauser, very highly polished and completely re-stocked, re-blued and re-chambered to 8mm / 06.
There is nothing to indicate where it originated nor do I have any knowledge of who did the work.
All the stamping and serial numbers have been polished off, all that remains is the letter F on the left side of the receiver and the underside of the bolt knob is flattened and checkered.
All of my other Mausers have visible identification but this particular rifle baffles me...

A lot can be learned from the stampings on the bottom of the action--as these were typically left in place. It took me years to learn about my mystery Mauser.
 
A lot can be learned from the stampings on the bottom of the action--as these were typically left in place. It took me years to learn about my mystery Mauser.

Mine has no stampings left, just a letter K.

If I were wanting to buy a really good and concise book on the Mauser rifles what should I buy ?
 
Ok. It's a 98 pattern action so it's definitely a Mexican 1902 action or at least the receiver is. I'm not overly familiar with the 1902 action and am not sure if it's an intermediate length or full length action. At any rate it's not a common receiver.

Looks like a nice little rifle.

Given that the trigger guard and floorplate are from a Swede, the receiver must not be full length.

Someone went to a lot of trouble making up a rather nice rifle.
 
I'll keep trying to get a good picture, trouble is its so shiney.
After a closer look the letter F is followed by the number 3 like F 3.
On the receiver flat there is the single letter K and nothing else..
Not much to go on... is there ?

No. Not much. I might, or someone else might, recognize the font of the letters though. Also the placement on the receiver might give a clue as well. Sometimes even the way the action is machined is enough to provide enough clues to come up with an origin. Some makers have consistent tooling marks that can distinguish them from others.

Probably a long shot but maybe we can figure it out.
 
Kevan;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust this finds you well.

I'm going to assume that you're the Kevan I sorta know from a couple other forums - and if you're not then that's cool too and hello.

Anyway I've been lucky enough to have a few books on my shelves on rifles and Mausers in particular.

If you can find this one for a reasonable price, it's about the most exhaustive research and information I've found on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Bolt-R..._UL160_SR113,160_&refRID=09VT1FRNDH1W0E9REK26

Anyway sir, hopefully that's helpful to you or someone else out there this morning with a Mauser or three in their safe who is wondering from whence it actually came.

All the best to you this BC long weekend sir.

Dwayne
 
Kevan;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust this finds you well.

I'm going to assume that you're the Kevan I sorta know from a couple other forums - and if you're not then that's cool too and hello.

Anyway I've been lucky enough to have a few books on my shelves on rifles and Mausers in particular.

If you can find this one for a reasonable price, it's about the most exhaustive research and information I've found on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Bolt-R..._UL160_SR113,160_&refRID=09VT1FRNDH1W0E9REK26

Anyway sir, hopefully that's helpful to you or someone else out there this morning with a Mauser or three in their safe who is wondering from whence it actually came.

All the best to you this BC long weekend sir.

Dwayne

Hi Dwayne, Thanks for the tip, always great to hear from you on any forum.
Sounds like this is a good reference as other fellows have mentioned it.

And a good weekend to you and yours sir !
 
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