Help ID this 6.5x55
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I have no idea what the "63" under Crown stands for. I doubt that it stands for "1963", since I do not believe that Danish military used the 6.5x55 caliber at that time ?
The "DK" under Crown is clearly the Danish military proof mark, stamped on top of the chamber.
The rest of this Mauser appears to be of the original Mauser manufacture.
The "DK" under Crown is clearly the Danish military proof mark, stamped on top of the chamber.
The rest of this Mauser appears to be of the original Mauser manufacture.
Your pics are ok, but you can't really tell much from what you've sent. If that rifle is in 6.5x55 as you state, it is definitely set up for service matches. To my knowledge, the Danes nor anyone else, converted 98 Mausers to 6.5x55, for anything other than match purposes.
It is also my understanding that Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark used the 6.5x55 in international competition, both civilian and military, well into the seventies and maybe, in some cases even later. They came in many configurations and if the parts were matching, that was an accident. Most that I've seen, have been force matched. That isn't a big deal in this case, as all of the rifles are basically custom jobs anyway.
It is also my understanding that Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark used the 6.5x55 in international competition, both civilian and military, well into the seventies and maybe, in some cases even later. They came in many configurations and if the parts were matching, that was an accident. Most that I've seen, have been force matched. That isn't a big deal in this case, as all of the rifles are basically custom jobs anyway.
A lot of CG80 have S&L barrels (the less common 7.62X51 and the 6.5X55), and there's even some rebarreled CG63 having S&L barrels too.
Andy,
That's a very nice rig.
Mine was almost unfired when I got it. See below.
Someone already started the conversion from peep sight to scope, so I finished it and topped is with a custom made scope base and a Bushnell 3200 5-15 Tactical. Not that beautiful, but it's a one holer.
Andy,
That's a very nice rig.
Mine was almost unfired when I got it. See below.
Someone already started the conversion from peep sight to scope, so I finished it and topped is with a custom made scope base and a Bushnell 3200 5-15 Tactical. Not that beautiful, but it's a one holer.
It can be important to keep the sequence of events straight when considering these old critters.
At the end of War Two, Denmark had practically NO Danish weapons left; everything had been picked up by Fritz and moved elsewhere. When the War ended, Denmark didn't have enough of its own equipment even to begin putting its own army back together.
What they DID have was a mixture of Allied equipment (some Number 4s, lotsa Sten Mark II and Mark III and just scads of M-1 Carbines) all of which had been dropped in during the war. This information I had directly from the Chief of Parachute Operations for Silkeborg District, the single most important area in Jutland when communications and transportation are considered. The stuff came in at night in standard containers which were the size of a 750-pound bomb with a 'chute glued to its butt. A bit did come in by Lizzies, but the Lysander could land anywhere and it could take off nearly straight up if it had 20 knots of headwind. It also had pretty limited capacity, so most came in by bomb-sized containers and was dispersed immediately. The dispersal was the tricky part, with Fritz hunting most assiduously for the people who had left the empty containers sitting in the fields.
Sweden had defended its neutrality during the course of the war as best it could, but they discovered partway through that it became harder and harder to hit Mosquitos and Hurricanes and Spits and the like.... and that it got easier to hit Messerschmitts and Heinkels. By the time the war ended, they had pretty much got 'hitting the Heinkel' down solid and were eager to kiss and make up. Denmark, as one result, received some fairly large shipments of Swedish weaponry immediately after the War, and this included even a few AG-42 rifles. As one result of this fellow-Scandinavian camaraderie, Denmark found itself with enough 6.5x55 weapons that they began manufacturing the round at the Haerens Ammunisionsarsenalets, the Army ammunition plant, in 1946.
They also had a fair amount of German equipment lying about, even though the general practice was to keep all the wheeled equipment and walk Fritz to the border, letting him carry his rifles out of the country. The instant Fritz crossed into Germany, of course, the Brits were on hand to thoughtfully relieve him of all those heavy Kar98ks and MG-34s and other heavy junk he didn't really need any more. It would have been entirely practical for Denmark to have re-equipped completely with German equipment but, as it was explained to me, "We had seen that stuff every day for four years and we were sick of looking at it."
They had some early post-War military aid from Great Britain as well and, between the British aid, the Swedish aid and what had been dropped in during the War, they were able to get their own military re-started. THEN the American aid began and the American aid, by its sheer quantity, changed the face of things quite permanently to what we think of as the normal configuration.
But there DID exist a time in which British, Swedish and even German equipment predominated in Denmark. It was due to the solidity of the Mauser action (and the fact that they were free) that Denmark began its long program of turning so many into target rifles for the military AND for civilian use.
But in the early post-War phase, pretty much anything could have happened.
The results, the ones which have survived, turn up here.
At the end of War Two, Denmark had practically NO Danish weapons left; everything had been picked up by Fritz and moved elsewhere. When the War ended, Denmark didn't have enough of its own equipment even to begin putting its own army back together.
What they DID have was a mixture of Allied equipment (some Number 4s, lotsa Sten Mark II and Mark III and just scads of M-1 Carbines) all of which had been dropped in during the war. This information I had directly from the Chief of Parachute Operations for Silkeborg District, the single most important area in Jutland when communications and transportation are considered. The stuff came in at night in standard containers which were the size of a 750-pound bomb with a 'chute glued to its butt. A bit did come in by Lizzies, but the Lysander could land anywhere and it could take off nearly straight up if it had 20 knots of headwind. It also had pretty limited capacity, so most came in by bomb-sized containers and was dispersed immediately. The dispersal was the tricky part, with Fritz hunting most assiduously for the people who had left the empty containers sitting in the fields.
Sweden had defended its neutrality during the course of the war as best it could, but they discovered partway through that it became harder and harder to hit Mosquitos and Hurricanes and Spits and the like.... and that it got easier to hit Messerschmitts and Heinkels. By the time the war ended, they had pretty much got 'hitting the Heinkel' down solid and were eager to kiss and make up. Denmark, as one result, received some fairly large shipments of Swedish weaponry immediately after the War, and this included even a few AG-42 rifles. As one result of this fellow-Scandinavian camaraderie, Denmark found itself with enough 6.5x55 weapons that they began manufacturing the round at the Haerens Ammunisionsarsenalets, the Army ammunition plant, in 1946.
They also had a fair amount of German equipment lying about, even though the general practice was to keep all the wheeled equipment and walk Fritz to the border, letting him carry his rifles out of the country. The instant Fritz crossed into Germany, of course, the Brits were on hand to thoughtfully relieve him of all those heavy Kar98ks and MG-34s and other heavy junk he didn't really need any more. It would have been entirely practical for Denmark to have re-equipped completely with German equipment but, as it was explained to me, "We had seen that stuff every day for four years and we were sick of looking at it."
They had some early post-War military aid from Great Britain as well and, between the British aid, the Swedish aid and what had been dropped in during the War, they were able to get their own military re-started. THEN the American aid began and the American aid, by its sheer quantity, changed the face of things quite permanently to what we think of as the normal configuration.
But there DID exist a time in which British, Swedish and even German equipment predominated in Denmark. It was due to the solidity of the Mauser action (and the fact that they were free) that Denmark began its long program of turning so many into target rifles for the military AND for civilian use.
But in the early post-War phase, pretty much anything could have happened.
The results, the ones which have survived, turn up here.
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From 1889 to 1945, 135.000 Danish Krags in various models were produced in 4-5 different Danish armories.
64.000 of these Danish Krags ended up with the rag tag german, last ditch defence forces, the Volksturm, with only 6-9 round pr. rifle, which left the danes with 71000 Danish Krag's at the end of WW2. Obviously, the ammo supply was a serious problem for these Dansih Krags.
From 1943 to 1945, Sweden trained 3500 Danish volunteer for "Den Danske Brigade", for all the tree branches of the military, which was shipped to Denmark on liberation day, may the 5th, 1945. While some of these members of the Den Danske Brigade fought some firefights to the dead for some diehard members of the, uniformed 20.000 Danish Nazi collaborators, other Brigade members secured the Danish-German border, while disarming German soldiers going home, and capturing surviving Danish members of Waffen SS, who wanted to come home to Denmark.
About 13000 Danes were after WW2 charges for collaborating with the Germans in one way or the other, 76 were sentenced to dead by firing squads, 46 were commuted. Danish members of the Waffen SS recieved two years in jail for enlisted, and up to ten years jail term for the surviving 77 Danish officers, who had joined the Waffen SS, with the same rank they had in the Danish military. Very few Danish members of the Waffen SS survived Russian prison and labor camps.
The Danish resistance did not really take off, until after the German defeat at Stalingrad, when everybody, including many Germans knew, that it was just a matter of time, before Germany would lose the war.
Earlier in the war, the Danish King gave the highest order, "Ridder af Dannebrog" to a member of the "Frikorps Danmark".
Please watch "youtube" clip of then very happy members of some of the 6000 Danish Waffen SS, "Frikorps Danmark" leaving for the Eastern Front for the first time, and the sea of happy, smiling and proud Danes sending them off. About half of them died.
The same Danes would then smilingly welcome the British as "liberator". I believe this kind of behaviour it's called survival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sN_RF0aZqk
http://www.chakoten.dk/indexe.html
64.000 of these Danish Krags ended up with the rag tag german, last ditch defence forces, the Volksturm, with only 6-9 round pr. rifle, which left the danes with 71000 Danish Krag's at the end of WW2. Obviously, the ammo supply was a serious problem for these Dansih Krags.
From 1943 to 1945, Sweden trained 3500 Danish volunteer for "Den Danske Brigade", for all the tree branches of the military, which was shipped to Denmark on liberation day, may the 5th, 1945. While some of these members of the Den Danske Brigade fought some firefights to the dead for some diehard members of the, uniformed 20.000 Danish Nazi collaborators, other Brigade members secured the Danish-German border, while disarming German soldiers going home, and capturing surviving Danish members of Waffen SS, who wanted to come home to Denmark.
About 13000 Danes were after WW2 charges for collaborating with the Germans in one way or the other, 76 were sentenced to dead by firing squads, 46 were commuted. Danish members of the Waffen SS recieved two years in jail for enlisted, and up to ten years jail term for the surviving 77 Danish officers, who had joined the Waffen SS, with the same rank they had in the Danish military. Very few Danish members of the Waffen SS survived Russian prison and labor camps.
The Danish resistance did not really take off, until after the German defeat at Stalingrad, when everybody, including many Germans knew, that it was just a matter of time, before Germany would lose the war.
Earlier in the war, the Danish King gave the highest order, "Ridder af Dannebrog" to a member of the "Frikorps Danmark".
Please watch "youtube" clip of then very happy members of some of the 6000 Danish Waffen SS, "Frikorps Danmark" leaving for the Eastern Front for the first time, and the sea of happy, smiling and proud Danes sending them off. About half of them died.
The same Danes would then smilingly welcome the British as "liberator". I believe this kind of behaviour it's called survival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sN_RF0aZqk
http://www.chakoten.dk/indexe.html
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