doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Commercial Militarized Sporting Mauser.

I did not know it at the time but it seems my last purchase is rather a rare bird due to its historical significance. According to info. provided by "kuduae" it seems these rifle where the first modern scoped rifles to be used as sniper rifles by the German army from 1914 to 1916. In 1916 these where replaced by a "regular" Mauser sniper rifle, the scopes and mounts were removed from the Commercial sporter and used on the Military 98. There were some 4700 such rifles, only 3 have resurfaced to date.

Some details - Oberndorf Commercial action with integral DSTs mfg. early 1912. Had claw mounts at one time. Kelber barrel in 8x57, half octagon to round with an integral rib & front sight. Unfortunately / fortunately the entire gun has been refinished but IMHO this does not lessen the historical significance. I have some pics. but need a volunteer to post them. --- John Can.

Mike Ford has 2/3 so who has the other? Send me your images.










Note 4000 Atm test/exposure(Atmosph�ren-Pulver)







Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Mauser Facility in 1908


Waffenfabrik Mauser, Oberndorf am Neckar
Untere(Haupt-) Fabrik


1908 Article

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Raimey: Thanks for the offer to post pics. Will forward when I'm done here. The other rifle -1 of 3 - belongs to Oliver Trisl in Germany. More info. and pics. can be seen on Nitroexpress > Mauser Discussion > Calibre Question, I believe you've already been there. The pics. are of the rifle after some clean-up & repair. --- John Can.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Thanks for posting all the pics. Raimey. Just to add, as we can see Mike's rifle has the # D771 on the butt stock & Oliver's has the # D2241, the #s on mine have been scrubbed off but the "caution" plaque mounting holes remain. I have a small pic. of Oliver's gun, it's very similar to Mike's in stock style with side plates. --- John Can.

Published the full story of these "Militarized Sporting Rifles" in "Waidmannsheil #47", a publication of the German Gun Collectors Association www.germanguns.com . Join them and get a copy!

I need some info. maybe from experts in x-ray or some such method. Do you think it would be possible to read the scrubbed stock #s on the stock? I would think the wood would be compressed when the #s were stamped and the compression damage would still be there. Somewhat like when a stamped # is removed on steel but can still be read. --- John Can.

John,
I'm no expert,but I think it's a lost cause.It is likely that whoever refinished the stock spent a considerable amount of time "steaming" the stamps to raise the dings back up.Also, when it was sanded,the sandpaper was likely backed up with a block, especially to level the surface.Furthermore, the stock finish will fill low areas,especially if sanded with a block. There is a small possibility that some of the numbers would showup, if you remove the finish( with acetone or MEK, it has been sanded enough already)and look at it at an angle under a strong light. You would have to be the one to decide to damage the finish, for a small chance of success. It would have had the "D" stamp and maybe the "K M" stamp. Good luck.
Mike

Well Mike I think you are right, that part of the gun is just plain gone. As far as finish removal - been there done that. The one thing I did find was the four holes where the plaque was mounted and I repaired some cracks etc., so a + there. --- John Can.