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Mystery Mauser Identification (This one is a hard one)

A

am90535

Member
I purchased this last month as a barreled action for 200 and was missing everything except for the trigger. I had a few parts laying around and turned it into a complete rifle up. But of course this is where the fun part begins because I cannot find any information on who, what, where, when or why this exactly exists. The gun itself is in 16 inches and is chambered for 8mm Mauser. What is strange is that I don't think this was a boomers love project because the barrel has a 02V stamping that is also present on the receiver that looks factory. The closest thing I could find is that this was an FN 24/30 as they made carbine length guns, or maybe a South American contract but the caliber and lack of Fabric Nationale markings tell me other wise (so German?) Moral of the story I am stumped however here if what I know or could find?

The trigger itself has a waffen eagle on it that came with the rifle (WW2 German)
The receiver itself is a Model 98 (German)
42M- I am assuming is the designation on it ( I cant find anything on this model)
655 - is a factory code of some sort I think ( Cant find any information)
43/02 - I was told was the date of production from a Mauser enjoyer ( February of 1942)
un marked front sight block with groves ( German possibly as early Czechs, Belgians, guns didn't have the cuts for a sight hood so not a 24/30)
02V - I have no information on ( maybe Hungarian as an 02 appears on Russian guns)

I do know Mauser had a short contract with South American countries prior to the war and there is a star under the barrel but why is this in 8mm and not 7mm as the South Americans did not purchase guns in 8mm. There is also a serial number on the right side A 3**2
 

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All I can say with certainty is that the 43/02 isn't a production date, as the Germans never did that.

Can you get it out of the stock? The stuff on the receiver is suspect to say the least, but there might be some info under the wood that can at least point to what it was originally.

655 isn't a factory code, but that was the WaA for Oberndorf for a good while. I wouldn't go too far out on this limb, but I'd also put out the possibility that it was a really, really bad fake from the 70s or something by someone who had no idea what they were doing but saw that number referenced w/ Oberndorf at one point.
 
Any acceptance on the receiver right? It looks like ghosting of old numbers/letters, particularly under the 42, but I can't make it out in these photos, if it's even actually there.
 
heavy_mech said:
Any acceptance on the receiver right? It looks like ghosting of old numbers/letters, particularly under the 42, but I can't make it out in these photos, if it's even actually there.
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I just took it out of the stock and ran a light over it to see if there is any ghosting. No sanding or grinding marks are present I also took more pictures of the rifle out of the stock.
 
Cyrano4747 said:
All I can say with certainty is that the 43/02 isn't a production date, as the Germans never did that.

Can you get it out of the stock? The stuff on the receiver is suspect to say the least, but there might be some info under the wood that can at least point to what it was originally.

655 isn't a factory code, but that was the WaA for Oberndorf for a good while. I wouldn't go too far out on this limb, but I'd also put out the possibility that it was a really, really bad fake from the 70s or something by someone who had no idea what they were doing but saw that number referenced w/ Oberndorf at one point.
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Here are the photos requested, unfortunately no other markings are present on the tang or the lower part of the rifle. There does appear to be a five point star and triangle with the number 517. If I do remember correctly, Mauser used a 5 point stars for South American rifles but ended up using the parts for their guns. I honestly do not think this was a military gun, but leaning towards a depo of some sort. I bought the action for its carbine 16 inch length and with my sporter stock laying around it fits nicely into my stack. The gun also came from NJ and the seller said he received a lot from a deceased individual and he couldn't identify what it was other than a Mauser.
 

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There's also something funky about that rear sight. It's hard to put my finger on it from the pics, but the ladder at the very least obviously isn't off a 98k. I want to say I'm almost getting Spanish or maybe some flavor of S. American vibes off it, but that's just a random tickling at the back of my brain that could easily be very wrong.

Right now my gut is telling me this was someone's parts bin project in the 70s.
 
Looks like everything but the Mod. 98 got wiped off the receiver. I can't make anything out of the 'lucky charms' on the receiver bottom.
 
Cyrano4747 said:
There's also something funky about that rear sight. It's hard to put my finger on it from the pics, but the ladder at the very least obviously isn't off a 98k. I want to say I'm almost getting Spanish or maybe some flavor of S. American vibes off it, but that's just a random tickling at the back of my brain that could easily be very wrong.

Right now my gut is telling me this was someone's parts bin project in the 70s.
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The rear sight is definitely from a 24/30 which is common on south American Mausers and the 16 inch barrel length. I ended up locating a shorty sight off ebay and it was a perfect fit.
 
The receiver was scrubbed at some point. Going off the Mod.98 on the siderail in your first pic I'm going to say it's a post-1937 German K98k that got heavily worked over by someone after the fact.
 
heavy_mech said:
Looks like everything but the Mod. 98 got wiped off the receiver. I can't make anything out of the 'lucky charms' on the receiver bottom.
Cyrano4747 said:
The receiver was scrubbed at some point. Going off the Mod.98 on the siderail in your first pic I'm going to say it's a post-1937 German K98k that got heavily worked over by someone after the fact.
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I am leaning towards it being made by Mauser and was used sometime after the war as the markings look factory. As for the length itself I don't think someone was trying to pawn it off as some super rare k98 that didnt exist, as the 16 inch 8mm Mauser style only appeared in European / Colony contracts. If it was going to South America it would have been turned into a 7mm.
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This is intriguing to me! Why? I don’t know. The letters stamped all over the bottom of the receiver are seen on Mauser made guns (Oberndorff) but as to the other markings I do not recall seeing anything like this. Can you show us the trigger and the markings on it?
 
M1903A3 said:
This is intriguing to me! Why? I don’t know. The letters stamped all over the bottom of the receiver are seen on Mauser made guns (Oberndorff) but as to the other markings I do not recall seeing anything like this. Can you show us the trigger and the markings on it?
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I put the rilfe back into its stock but going based an old photo, the trigger has a 04 on it and a waffen inspection mark at the very end of the trigger but thats it for markings.
 
The barrel has Yugoslav markings (star over T) including an assembly number (517), so it came off a post WW2 Yugoslav Mauser. If that 517 number isn't anywhere on the receiver, or under the bolt arm then somebody swapped it from a Yugoslav rifle. Barrel was most likely closer to 23" originally then cut down.

edit-Looking closer at the OP images. This looks to have been a Yugoslav refurbished K98k that got the Yugoslav crest scrubbed and somebody played with their new punch set for some creative markings.
 
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Stan said:
The barrel has Yugoslav markings (star over T) including an assembly number (517), so it came off a post WW2 Yugoslav Mauser. If that 517 number isn't anywhere on the receiver, or under the bolt arm then somebody swapped it from a Yugoslav rifle. Barrel was most likely closer to 23" originally then cut down.

edit-Looking closer at the OP images. This looks to have been a Yugoslav refurbished K98k that got the Yugoslav crest scrubbed and somebody played with their new punch set for some creative markings.
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100% agree. Its a yugo refurb 98k. What happened to it after that, God knows.
 
Stan said:
The barrel has Yugoslav markings (star over T) including an assembly number (517), so it came off a post WW2 Yugoslav Mauser. If that 517 number isn't anywhere on the receiver, or under the bolt arm then somebody swapped it from a Yugoslav rifle. Barrel was most likely closer to 23" originally then cut down.

edit-Looking closer at the OP images. This looks to have been a Yugoslav refurbished K98k that got the Yugoslav crest scrubbed and somebody played with their new punch set for some creative markings.
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I Think this is case closed, and trust me I have been scratching my head for over a month. This is something that is incredibly weird but ill take it for a sporter carbine.
 
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