Micky Mauser
As regulars will know, The Englishman& your humble correspondent have opined on several occasions on the relative merits on wood & blued steel .v. plastic & shoots straight. As Kim du Toit commented the other day …
This is often why I prefer older guns. They allow me to touch history. They aren’t as complicated or sophisticated as guns that are designed now. I find plastic guns to be ugly, utilitarian, and boring. I don’t care that they may be more accurate or more reliable. I am not interested in reliability or the science behind them. I love the elegant, battered simplicity of my WWII-issue Mauser 98K and spend my time touching it wondering what soldier may have owned it, the sweat and fear he may have experienced on the battle lines, and how he viewed the experience of war, and how it changed him and the outcome changed history. Others may also love guns, love them for different reasons, and are not at all interested in the “touching history” aspect of the older guns, nor care one whit about elegant lines or the artisan who carved the stock.
Having had my boots firmly in the other camp, this week your humble correspondent threw all of his principles straight out of the window & bought this ...
... a pre-war Mauser K98 manufactured by Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) in 1938. Oh well, nothing like consistency.
However, just for the record, this rifle was one of many involved in the occupation of Norway. At the end of hostilities in WWII, Norway found it necessary to equip its Army with the vast stocks of weapons surrendered by the Germans. As part of this re-arming process it was rebarreled to 7.62mm NATO. Other than that, the barrel, receiver & laminate woodwork are all in excellent condition with all parts having matching numbers.
Now I know that there will be plenty of people out there who will be asking what on earth has the fool gone & done now, why didn’t he buy a SMLE or a No.4 – well the answer is quite simple, I wanted something a little bit different. Go to Bisley & you cant move for Enfields (which is hardly supprising) – Mausers are shall we say, a little less ubiquitous.
It seems to shoot straight enough, although in comparison my Remington 700 was printing 5/8ths of an inch groups on its last outing, it will take some getting used to.
The one thing that I dont like about it (other than the very rough military trigger - thats being rectified at the moment) are the post & v sights. That shouldn't be too much of a problem because Micky is going to get some period glass in due course. Now please dont think for a moment that I can afford genuine WWII optics - thats £1,000 to you, guv. However there are post war repros kicking around that will look the part.
So there you have it, not only have I now started buying old rifles (one thing that I said I'd never do), I now seem to have acquired a 'project' i.e. money pit, to boot. Oh deary me!
Comments
Project? I have a 1898 Lee Metford bolt and action, rebarreled 1908 to Enfield rifling.
No wood, no trigger, no magazine...
It's going to take serious work and money to get this baby in firing order again.
Posted by: Rhys | August 4, 2007 12:50 PM
Mr. FM - a cross to bear indeed...
Posted by: Ratty | August 4, 2007 2:46 PM
That's not a "project" gun -- a little trigger work and adding a scope is what you have to do for most NEW guns these days.
It's a beauty, and I'm envious. My old Stalingrad Sally is a complete dog by comparison -- but I get smaller groups than yours nyah nyah nyah, even with El Cheapo brand 8x57 ammo.
Incidentally, once you get a scope on Micky, he'll be more accurate than you are. Those V-sights are a pox on the landscape, and your grouping is actually quite respectable.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | August 4, 2007 3:11 PM
By the way, this illustrates the dangers of going to Germany. One minute, you're dialling in bombing coordinates, the next you're eating Eisbein and buying Mausers.
Good thing you didn't visit Japan, or you'd now be the owner of an Arisaka, and eating sushi.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | August 4, 2007 3:18 PM
Absolutely Fabulous
Posted by: trainer | August 5, 2007 5:39 AM
When you think about it, that grouping in the picture is all you really need when you're shooting at enemy soldiers.
So really, the rifle is as accurate as it needs to be.
Posted by: Mike Kelly | August 5, 2007 7:35 AM
You can't shoot a blunt Mauser! You, sir, need a bayonet on that there rifle :P
Posted by: The Cynical Libertarian | August 5, 2007 4:54 PM
About time Mr FM, Sadly it wont qualify for the old bill comp but it is a nice rifle nonetheless.
I found the early G98 sights to start at 400m a bit of a challenge!
Posted by: TimC | August 6, 2007 9:26 AM
Just updating with a URL thingy!
Posted by: TimC | August 6, 2007 9:29 AM
Lovely stuff indeed, good sir!
Posted by: cmblake6 | August 6, 2007 12:48 PM
As an owner of a closet full of Mausers and Magnum Mausers, they are a lot nicer to shoot with a properly done sporter stock, reworked bolt handle, decent pad if you go magnum calibers, modern telescope, and a nice match trigger. I have historical ones too, but they don't get shot near as much.
My two favorites evolved into a bull barrel .220 Swift and a .308 Norma Magnum. Favorite, but less useful in the US for most things, became a .375 H&H. Real English Walnut American style sporter stocks I made myself. The Military versions are mostly hanger queens, not that you couldn't hunt with them, but I don't find I ever choose to.
Don't worry, they came to me as surplus WW2 actions. I didn't hack up nice surplus rifles to make them.
Nice rifle and will shoot things, but the state of the art in firearms ergonomics has evolved a bit in the past century, even in bolt rifles.
Posted by: Tom | August 6, 2007 6:05 PM
.308 - sweet and easy!! I'm currently on the fence since I like bot sides - and all my stuff is OLD, except the most recent paper-puncher and my first NEW rifle ever. It does a good job, better then the '44 Garand anyhow.
Posted by: DirtCrashr | August 6, 2007 8:28 PM
Actually, the norwegian army never used the m98, instead using firstly the old Krag-Jørgensen, then the Lee -Enfield and later the M1 rifle, till 1968. They were however used by the RNoAF and the Home Guard, rebarreled to the the manly 30.06, or 7.62x63 in military parlance. your 7.62 x51(308.) is almost certainly an after release modification of the armed forces version.
Posted by: kaj | August 6, 2007 9:14 PM
Hello. A great job with all that Mauser. I have a Mauser made in Waffenfabrik Steyr, Austria. Barrel of 29" but without ramrod. It is difficult get one? It can be make? How long are they?
that, thank you.
Posted by: kike | November 23, 2009 6:34 PM