The really NEAT thing about all of this is that Paul Mauser was known to be very particular about what came out of HIS factory. Originally, brother Wilhelm looked after production, leaving Paul to the design shop. After Wilhelm died, Paul was down on the factory floor as well as in the back-room development shop. He knew every man in his factory by name, he knew about their families. He was strict, but he was also a Good Boss.... and Good Bosses were just as scarce 105 years ago as they are today.
But when a NEW contract was being produced, he was down on the factory floor and he PERSONALLY handled and inspected the first few dozen or so rifles in a new contract, as well as normal, regular spot checks through production.
So what is in that photograph is not simply a couple of old rifles with coincidental serial numbers, but a pair of rifles which were inspected, at least cursorily, by the Master Himself.
Number 25 showed up on the list which MilArm put out to dealers, about 16 years ago, when there were lots of these available. I was working in Wainwright at the time and dealing through MilArm for several things, including S&K scope mounts. I spotted the rifle on the list and ordered it immediately. Then, thinking of someone who would take good care of it (being that I was not really rich at the time, what with working in Albrta and seeing to a sick mother in Manitoba at the same time), I phoned my good friend here, Gavin Tait, who was a SERIOUS admirer of Paul Mauser. We worked out a deal: I bought the rifle at dealer price, Gavin got it from me (at dealer price) and, if he decided to sell it, I could buy it back from him at the same money. Gavin passed away about 3 years ago, quite suddenly. I purchased the rifle from Gavin's estate...... at what he had paid for it. That is the kind of person Gavin Tait was: his word was good in this world AND in the next.
Number 25 has a slightly-worn bore but it will still shoot an honest 1 MOA if you can hold it. I will be collecting the numbered bands and re-installing the Handguard in the fairly-near future. People stopping by here for Coffee and Cordite will be able to see, and possibly shoot, Number 25..... weather depending. Some things are just TOO good NOT to be shared..... and this is one of them.
Those of us who are alive today are not merely the Inheritors of the Past, we are the Custodians of what OF the Past has survived and come down to us.
*********************** ******************** ************************
Guys, thanks for the concern regarding my health. So far, my life has been a mess, I know! To start off, I never should have been born, then I almost wasn't, then I died when I was 2, then I had Polio when I was 3-1/2..... and spent the next 14 years learning how to walk again. I used the Summer Cadet camps to toughen up a bit and then only got into the Militia because my own Doctor was the Regimental MO and he figured that if I was planted on my butt in a Tank, I wouldn't have to walk very far. I will forever thank Doctor Stan Harris for telling a pack of lies for me; I could NEVER have passed a proper Service medical!
That ugly lump on my head is a nodule of hardened fat. I have had every blood test in the book and the one that I fear (which kills most of the men in my family) is completely absent to date. I am, however, under treatment (successful, it appears) for Congestive Heart Failure and take a large dose of diuretics daily. I have lost 30 pounds of WATER which was throughout my tissues and the results show. Thirty pounds is 3 GALLONS of water, and that takes up space. Two years ago, my hands, arms, skin, face, all were puffy because of water retention. Now, much of that is gone (although my legs still are affected grossly)..... and now that ugly lump is standing up and causing concern; two years ago it was barely noticeable and it has not grown. Time to have it off, I suppose: 20-minute job but, here in the land of Socialist medicine it is classed as "elective surgery", same as a nose job..... so the waiting period can be long.
So, truth to tell, I am in terrible health..... but a LOT better than I was 2 years ago. I can now walk half a mile if I do it slowly: 2 years go, my limit was 50 yards between rest breaks.
But thanks for the concern.
Take care, all. Believe me, it's good to have Friends.
