1936 Mauser

[Steventhegreat]

Hey there! First post on the forum about my first k98, so please show me grace. I was on another collector forum and got banned for "fishing for sales". I am not fishing for sales, I am simply trying to figure out what I have and its value. I was going to hang it on the wall, but after responses I think it may be worth a lot more money than I think. All numbers match from what I can tell. I’ve poured over a bunch of reference photos as well as gun broker to see what these are going for. It has plenty of condition issues but for a 90 year old rifle with historic value I guess its pretty cool.

To my untrained eye, it looks legit. What say the experts? How is my evaluation? Any other info you guys can tell me based on the pics? And what is a rifle like this worth?

PS... Don't make offers to buy I am not looking to sell it on this forum, just trying to gain knowledge. I tried to get photos of the rifling, but they did not come out. It looks to be good. I have never fired it. I have a new camera coming Monday, I will try to get the photos of the rifling when it gets here.

The photo I took of the stock that has the same number stamped into it did not come out. I will have to retake that one.

Hopefully I did not violate the forum rules by posting this, I just want to know what I have before I hang it on my wall.

 

[RyanE]

It appears to be an S/27 1936 made by Erma. The rifle is a total rebuild by a depot, pretty sure it is Posen, using a mix of salvaged parts and spares. The rear sight slider is an odd part to be missing.

Condition, as you note, is not great, but a careful cleaning might improve things if done right. A poor job (using steel wool, oven cleaner on the wood, etc.) would destroy a lot of the value pretty quickly.

An all original S/27 1936 is very tough (and very expensive) find, but a depot rework like this one will usually not bring nearly as much as a factory original. Still, depot reworks are very appreciated by specialists like most of us here.

 

[heavy_mech]

I don't know you and am not trying to disparage you, however you DO hit a lot of the buzzwords we hate here regarding 'values' and 'sales'.

This one might be the worst.... "Don't make offers to buy I am not looking to sell it on this forum" Others may not read this the same way I do.

 

[togor]

Agreed, if someone is really a collector, then it's not that hard to talk like one.

 

[Remfan]

Go over that metal with some Kroil or CLP. Could use it.

 

[Hambone]

Don’t do anything to it. You’ll be scrubbing value out of it. While sitting with it and working on it with brushes and oil and such think of that time like if you were flushing 20s down a toilet.

It’s clearly a rework and IMHO, a Posen rework. It is in “untouched” condition and belongs in the hands of a rework collector who knows what they are doing and will engage in proper conservation of it. If the guys here help you with value and ID, it’s appropriate to offer it up on the trader so those folks have an opportunity to acquire it for their collections.

 

[heavy_mech]

Really not trying to be an a$$hole. It'd be nice to see some more pics. Barrel code maybe? More details and a better, clearer photo of the depot stamp?

 

[Remfan]

Don’t do anything to it. You’ll be scrubbing value out of it. While sitting with it and working on it with brushes and oil and such think of that time like if you were flushing 20s down a toilet.

It’s clearly a rework and IMHO, a Posen rework. It is in “untouched” condition and belongs in the hands of a rework collector who knows what they are doing and will engage in proper conservation of it. If the guys here help you with value and ID, it’s appropriate to offer it up on the trader so those folks have an opportunity to acquire it for their collections.

Sorry for my response Hambone. Know that "cleaning" is a dangerous word. Agree with you concerning brushes and such.

 

[Steventhegreat]

First off. Thanks for your feedback. I put in the buzz words "Value" and don't make on offer because I literally thought this was a simple "throw away" gun when I bought it. I had built a shadow box where I was going to mount the gun on it. I put in the statement "Don't make me an offer on this forum" because on another forum I posted photos and someone said "Don't make it a wall hanger, I'll buy it from you" and stupid me I responded What would you buy it for... meaning how valuable is it. That got me banned for fishing for buyers outside a classified section. I am not a mauser collector, I just found it to be cool so I bought it along with a few other older guns. I bought with the intent to hang it on the wall because it was neat. After I started doing research I found all these matching numbers made this valuable and finding that it was a 1936 WWII era weapon really made it cool.
So I will say I am not looking for someone to buy it from me, I am trying to figure out, if this is worth thousands or hundreds, as that will determine do I hang it back on the wall or lock it in my safe.

 

[Steventhegreat]

Really not trying to be an a$$hole. It'd be nice to see some more pics. Barrel code maybe? More details and a better, clearer photo of the depot stamp?

Guys bare with me. I now feel this is a really cool gun. I have taken more photos. My camera is an older DSLR and its struggling to make great photos. A newer DSLR will be in tomorrow, but I did more photos today. I took a ton, I hope I got what you need to help me identify this. The lady I bought it from knows nothing about it, nor do I, her husband who passed away had about 6 of these, I bought this one because it was the worse condition, as I just wanted to make a decoration. Here are the latest photos, hope they help identify what you're looking to see.

 

[Steventhegreat]

More photos. Sorry for the dump. I am not sure what is needed to help.

 

[Steventhegreat]

I know that was a lot of photos. Sorry to overwhelm. I don't know what people are looking to see.
This gun is my first entry into the Mauser owner and Mauser forums. As far as cleaning. I will air blow off the dust, and using some gun oil wipe it down to clean it up before I hang it back on the wall. I will probably get some soft bristle tooth brushes and clean the dirt off it with some gun solvent. If my approach is good, let me know. if not let me know the best practices. I'd really like to hand this down to my son in the future. He's only young but he loves guns like I do.

I know you said barrel code. I did not see anything on the barrel, I'll have to look again. The lady I got this from is a neighbor friend. I told her I would help her sell the rest of her collection, she was just going to give them to me for helping her with stuff. Now that I know more about these collector items, I will follow up and see if she still has them. Does anyone live in AZ or know someone in AZ that I could have look at her other guns and give an honest valuation? I'd like to see her get what they're worth and not be scammed. Based on the numbers I see in your trader forum, I think I WAY underpaid, so I may have to give her more $. I am not trying to flip a purchase and I want to be sure I did not accidently take advantage of her.
I appreciate your knowledge and hope you see I am sincerely looking for data not a sale.

"It appears to be an S/27 1936 made by Erma. The rifle is a total rebuild by a depot, pretty sure it is Posen, using a mix of salvaged parts and spares. The rear sight slider is an odd part to be missing. Condition, as you note, is not great, but a careful cleaning might improve things if done right. A poor job (using steel wool, oven cleaner on the wood, etc.) would destroy a lot of the value pretty quickly. An all original S/27 1936 is very tough (and very expensive) find, but a depot rework like this one will usually not bring nearly as much as a factory original. Still, depot reworks are very appreciated by specialists like most of us here."
Thank you for this information. I see from the photos all the "0" stamped across other numbers, I had no idea what that meant. Cleaning it off, I will just blow off the dust with my air compressor, and may use some alcohol wipes to clean of some of the dirt, but honestly the patina is pretty cool, so I probably won't do much to it.
Without offending anyone, I am feeling guilty, I only gave a couple hundred bucks for this, without fishing for sale, what value should I have given for this? The lady will be back in AZ in a few days, and if I ripped her off I want to make it right. Her husband was a pawn shop owner for decades, so most of what he collected was older guns, every gun show I go to I see tables of these old relics, so I did not know how collectable they are.

 

[Bob in OHIO]

There are some Mauser, when they come from the closet, need attention (brushes & oil). There are others that should not even be oiled! The totally untouched examples since 1945 have added value. Your rifle may be in this second group. If you haven’t applied oil, why not wait a bit longer. It probably hasn’t seen oil in about 27,000 days. So another 1000 days is no biggie. Just an opinion!

 

[Steventhegreat]

There are some Mauser, when they come from the closet, need attention (brushes & oil). There are others that should not even be oiled! The totally untouched examples since 1945 have added value. Your rifle may be in this second group. If you haven’t applied oil, why not wait a bit longer. It probably hasn’t seen oil in about 27,000 days. So another 1000 days is no biggie. Just an opinion!

Thanks Bob. That makes sense.

 

[Mike2994]

If she still has the other rifles posting photos on the forum and selling them here would be the best way to ensure she doesn’t get ripped off. Taking them to a local shop or auction will get you 50-80% of their value. The members here will give fair valuations of the rifles.

 

[Steventhegreat]

If she still has the other rifles posting photos on the forum and selling them here would be the best way to ensure she doesn’t get ripped off. Taking them to a local shop or auction will get you 50-80% of their value. The members here will give fair valuations of the rifles.

She still has them, she'll be back in a few days. I'll meet up with her when she's back for the winter. I'll get the guns and take photos and we'll see what she has together. Thanks folks. Really am enjoying this forum and learning about these guns and their history.

 

[Fal Grunt]

My apologies if I contributed to you being banned. As I stated, I was interested in buying if you were selling! I did not think this would result in you getting banned.

As Mike said, there are many here who will be interested and are thrilled to pay fair prices, cutting out the middle man netting you more and them a good deal.

 

[Steventhegreat]

My apologies if I contributed to you being banned. As I stated, I was interested in buying if you were selling! I did not think this would result in you getting banned.

As Mike said, there are many here who will be interested and are thrilled to pay fair prices, cutting out the middle man netting you more and them a good deal.

Lol. Yeah that other gun board banned my IP address, and honestly I snuck back in there, but I really like this board, you guys are much nicer. I was getting killed over there.

I posted photos of the mini 14 I bought, as well as the s&w model 32 and the colt 22 derringer I bought. Others commented on the other guns as well, and I had a bunch of photos, guess that mod thought I was trying to sell everything. I wasn't, just wanted to know if I underpaid and by how much so I could fix it with my neighbor friend.

Good news is there are a ton of message board with good people.

My neighbor is not broke or hurting for cash but I'm not that kind of person. She told me she would just give me everything for helping her, but I refused, I knew that was not right or ethical.

 

[hale1940]

Extremely cool rifle. Thanks for sharing it with us. These depot builds are super neat facet of K98k collecting. The members here, including myself, find rifles like these to be some of the most interesting...even if they aren't always the most valuable. Looks to me like its in an early MO and former Luft stock. Gotta love that depot renumbering job too. Also, the reused Imperial era trigger guard is very cool.

Honestly...this is a wicked rifle. Great find!

 

[Steventhegreat]

Thanks. I appreciate it that much more after posting it on here. Told my wife I had interested parties, and she gave the LOOK, guess she really likes the shadow box. I was telling her a bit of the history of the rifle that I found. She's not much of a history buff nor am I but, the rifle looks cool.