Mausers on the Canadian market

BeaverMeat

BeaverMeat

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Looking to expand my collection of Mausers. I still like my Yugos very much, but I want some variety.

I compiled a list of 8x57 caliber short rifle Mausers that I am interested in. I will get into the Mexican, South American 7mm Mausers, and Swedes eventually. But for now... 8mm.

What is the scale of rarity or commonality of these rifles? Refurbished and original.

Czechoslovakia (CZ)

Vz.24 Czech Military
Vz.24 Romania Contract
Vz.24 Lithuania Contract

Poland (FB,PFK)

Kbk wz.29

Belgum (FN)

Mle.1924 Iran (Persia) contract
Mle.1930 Greek contract
Mle.1930 Lithuania contract

These are the ones that I found to be 'realistic' to obtain. I have seen some of the "1937" marked Vz.24s floating around lately. As far as I know, these are supposed to be Chinese contract. What is the word on those rifles?

As for the German verities, a K98 is a given. I will have an original one day. Out of curiosity, what are the chances of finding Standard Modell 1933s, G33/40s, G29/40s, G24(t)s, Portuguese 937-As and M41s, and Spanish M43s?

Damn, there are allot of Mausers to choose from. lol. If I missed any point them out.
 
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Spanish M43's are easily found and cheap. Watch for pitting below the wood line though. M44's are also plentiful and usually in nicer condition.

Any Greek or Lithuanian Mausers are going to be somewhat hard to find. I have yet to see either one for sale in Canada although I'm sure they're around.

Polish ones come up for sale from time to time but are up there in price.

Czech VZ 24's are plentiful in refurbed condition (RC's) but harder to find in original condition.

Chinese Mausers are hard to find as well and some I wouldn't recommend shooting. Most have seen hard use and poor care and some are just plain poorly made. The Czech contract ones if in good shape would be shooters.

Matching original German stuff is in high demand and pricey. You have to watch for faked stuff as well. If you're looking to spend the big bucks to get an original make sure you get a second opinion. There isn't a lot of fakery going on but it does exist. I recently found 2 in auctions claiming to be all matching with clearly faked components. Luckily a lot of the humped stuff is easily spotted with a bit of learning and help.

Turkish stuff is cheap. Some are in poor shape but decent ones can be found. I like the 1903's reworked to 8mm. Great intermediate length action.

How about a Syrian M48? They are pretty hard to find but I happen to know where there is one.:p
 
If you're going to be getting any of the Persian ones then make sure you get one that was built in the Army Arms Factory, rather than the BRNO made ones.

If you're looking for a truly rare Mauser, and you don't want to chase the holy grail swJXE, then look for a FN contract Moroccan Police Mauser.

In my short experience with the Canadian Mauser market, most of the interesting stuff are practically non-existent save for the brought back K98s.
 
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I have several Turkish Mausers here and there is nothing wrong with them. They ARE History.

I have the 1903/35, which started off as a German-built 1903 in 7.65mm, went through WW1 in the Sultan's Army like that and was converted to 8mm in 1938.

Also have 2 copies of the original Gew 88 from Turkey, both 88/05-S-z-'14s, one a refurbed 1891 Loewe which is plain beautiful and shoots great, the other an Amberg 1888nm, which has the heavy-chambered barrel, looking worn but an excellent bore.

And I also have the Turkish 1888/35, which is an 88 action and magazine with a heavy barrel, rebuilt much in the fashion of a '93. Looks rough but it sure shoots nicely.

I have found that that awful Turkish ammo should be reloaded into new casings with fresh primers, thus getting away from the old corrosive primers...... which are on their death-beds anyway. Move the charges and bullets over to fresh brass and you have honest 1-MOA ammo which is a duplicate of the WW1 German loading: actually HOTTER than a .30-'06: 154 slug at 2880 ft/sec out of a 29-inch tube. Johnny Turk turned out excellent ammunition, apart from the fact that he did not have modern primers. And you can do the same with almost ANY corrosive-primed ammo and improve your downrange performance for th cost of a new primer. MUCH better than just cursing at it.

There are also Turkish Model 1890 and 1893 Mausers out there, both also converted to 8x57. I don't have either of those.
 
98/29 said:
If you're going to be getting any of the Persian ones then make sure you get one that was built in the Army Arms Factory, rather than the BRNO made ones.
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Just curious but why do you say this? Are the Persian made ones more rare? In my limited experience the Army Arms factory ones are not as nicely made.
 
Standard Modell 1933s, G33/40s, G29/40s, G24(t)s, Portuguese 937-A are all hard finds in Canada, and expensive stateside. G33/40s for over $3k down south. This list will be tough and welll over $10k.

The other stuff you listed isn't so bad with the exceptions JB listed.
 
The FN's for Persia and lithuania are probably non-existant in Canada. Greek FN's do turn up occasionally. The brnos for czechoslovakia and for romania are easy to find as refurbished.

Hope you have deep pockets for the German stuff.

You forgot the portuguese M904/39, they are easy to find. Although not really mausers.
 
jbmauser said:
Just curious but why do you say this? Are the Persian made ones more rare? In my limited experience the Army Arms factory ones are not as nicely made.
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Well I'm curious why you think that!? Hehe what's your experience has been like?

The AAF are rarer than BRNOs. The early AAF carbines might appear rougher and "not as nicely made" because the tooling lines were only set up and trained to make the long version. The AAF actually had to reverse engineer the carbines, and my mother's uncle was part of the team who did it. Later production is on par if not better than BRNO.
 
98/29 said:
Well I'm curious why you think that!? Hehe what's your experience has been like?

The AAF are rarer than BRNOs. The early AAF carbines might appear rougher and "not as nicely made" because the tooling lines were only set up and trained to make the long version. The AAF actually had to reverse engineer the carbines, and my mother's uncle was part of the team who did it. Later production is on par if not better than BRNO.
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Well when I said limited experience, I really meant limited. I built a custom 6.5x55 on a AAF made action (don't worry it was already d&t'd with the charger hump ground off) and the machining on the metal wasn't nearly as nice as the few Brno made ones that I've handled. That action of mine is the only AAF one I've handled so a very limited experience indeed.

Thanks for the info about the later ones being as nice or better than the Brno stuff. That's very interesting. Is the one you posted up an AAF made one?
 
jbmauser said:
Well when I said limited experience, I really meant limited. I built a custom 6.5x55 on a AAF made action (don't worry it was already d&t'd with the charger hump ground off) and the machining on the metal wasn't nearly as nice as the few Brno made ones that I've handled. That action of mine is the only AAF one I've handled so a very limited experience indeed.

Thanks for the info about the later ones being as nice or better than the Brno stuff. That's very interesting. Is the one you posted up an AAF made one?
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Yes, almost all carbines are AAF made and it is stamped on the side of the receiver "carbine".

I'm sure you already know that the carbines actually are small ring unlike the long version and there are several lightening cuts that needed to be done to receiver along with thinning the receiver wall. So theta where the machining marks on the early production models come from.
 
FN Israeli 98k 22/308 rifles were brought into Canada. Century Arms brought in many types of 98k mauser's in the 60's into the 70's.
 
98/29 said:
Yes, almost all carbines are AAF made and it is stamped on the side of the receiver "carbine".

I'm sure you already know that the carbines actually are small ring unlike the long version and there are several lightening cuts that needed to be done to receiver along with thinning the receiver wall. So theta where the machining marks on the early production models come from.
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My action is a large ring. It needed a lot of work to true the bolt face and locking lugs and the external finish wasn't very well done. Not a horrible action by any means but just not as well made as say a pre war German or Czech action. I'd like to see some of the later AAF actions and compare the metal work. Maybe some day I'll pick one up.
 
jbmauser said:
My action is a large ring. It needed a lot of work to true the bolt face and locking lugs and the external finish wasn't very well done. Not a horrible action by any means but just not as well made as say a pre war German or Czech action. I'd like to see some of the later AAF actions and compare the metal work. Maybe some day I'll pick one up.
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Production dates are always stamped on the side of the receiver, you'd want to find one made after 1320 that should look like ۱۳۲۰ - ۱۳۲x
 
Lots of Yugo M24/47 and M48s out there as well, though they're post-WW2 if that bothers you. You do also see prewar M24s once in a blue moon - I've got quite a nice early FN production example.
 
I am trying to lean towards originals. Russian captures don't do it for me, Don't know why. I know they are perfectly fine rifles, but I have always preferred then craftsmanship of the rearsenalled Yugos. An Yugo M24 would be nice. Nyles, I am jealous of your FN.

There was an original Czech Vz.24 on the EE not too long ago... but someone beat me too it. lol.

BadgerDog said:
How about the Vz.23?

1923 Vz23 BRNO Mauserhttp://imageevent.com/badgerdog/czechservicerifles/1923vz23brnomauser
CS. Zavody Vyrobu Zbrani Brno (Czechoslovakian factory for manufacture of arms Brno)

Regards,
Doug
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I have been eyeing this up, along side those nice M96 snipers. Damn. Layaway? lol

Looking State side. There are some nice rifles without import marks (perhaps removed) or with discrete import marks which I do not mind. It is the micodot serials that really bother me.

Thanks for the input
 
diopter said:
What about a Portuguese M41?
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You mean one of these?

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/955745-Matching-K98-Photo-Shoot

PortM41s are very interesting rifles to study but there's much we don't. Here's a little bit of basic info. On July 15th, 1941 Mauser signed a contract with the Portuguese Gov't for the amount of 50,000 rifles. They were delivered in three blocks which were given the designation F, G and H. Collectors believe that there were 20,000 rifles in each of the first two blocks with the remaining 10,000 in the final H block.

It's important to note that there are two variations (Port M41A and Port M41B). The M41A's seem to be earlier production as most of them are found in the F block with flat butt plates. While the M41B's seem to be later production as they display cupped butt plates. Usually we observe them midway through the G block. This said, things get confusing due to the fact that the production of these rifles was non linear. Rifles manufactured in the H block are most likely of 1942 or even 1943 production but are still marked 1941 on the receiver... Collectors believe that Operation Barbarossa interrupted production, as well as led to the diversion of many Portuguese rifles back to the Wehrmacht for their own use. We've observed these rifles in RC, bolt mismatch and duffle cut form so we know that a good amount were diverted back to the Wehrmacht but the exact numbers are unknown.

These rifles are highly collectibles and usually command big bucks. In the last two years I personally haven't seen a Port M41A with Heer markings (like the one posted above) turn up in the EE but the Port M41B's seem to come up for sale semi frequently. Often we find them in unissued configuration. These are highly sought after as they're the truest representation of what an unissued byf42 or 43 would have looked like the day it left the factory.

If you're looking to purchase one they're definitely attainable but they usually don't come cheap.
 
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