I'm new to Mausers and would appreciate some help with identification. This one is chambered in 7x57, has a low profile Timney safety and a Boyds stock. Markings appear to be Belgium. What do I have here?
JayB93; Good morning to you sir, I hope this last Friday of the year is treating you well down in your part of Texas.
From the photos you've shown, it looks like the barrel is a military contour with a military rear sight and as you've noted at least one proof mark is Belgian.
The Timney safety is an older one that works on the right side and is either nickeled or chrome. I want to say they've all been left mounted for at least 20 years now and all that I've seen since then were blued. Might be more than that too, I'm semi-ancient and the memory isn't what it once - or perhaps never was.
The bolt shroud is a military one that's been either polished or might be nickeled or chromed too. That's not uncommon from the '50's and '60's.
If there are any makers marks on it that weren't scrubbed off, the most likely place they'll be is on the top of the receiver under the Pic rail.
Sometimes if its wartime production it'll be just a couple or three letters. I've got the Ludwig Olsen book with which letters meant what factory and it might be online too for that matter.
If there's no proof marks on the left receiver rail and just the serial number, it might mean it's not a German wartime gun as the ones I've worked on usually had waffenampt proof marks on the top and left side of the receiver - at least. Some of the Teutonic proof mark folks did like to use their stamps.
That said, sometimes the actions were really and truly scrubbed of all marks and a factory serial number stamped on after the scrubbing, which I've seen on Austrian and British sporter 98 action rifles - Voere and Churchill come to mind.
Hope that was at least somewhat useful, all the best and Happy New Year.
JayB93; Good afternoon or perhaps near evening Texas time already, regardless I still hope the day went well for you.
Since I'm a Canuck, it's tough for me to guess at what firearms go for in other parts of the country, much less cross the medicine line and head down to your part of the world with my guesses.
That said, it looks to me like the Boyd's stock would be $200 new and the last Timney Beuhler type safety I bought up here was $75 by the time shipping and taxes cleared. The action has been drilled, tapped and either bead blasted and coated or blued and the bolt is altered for scope use, so even if one chose to part it out I'd think somewhere between $400 - $500 would be fair.
For me personally, the attraction to building hunting rifles on Mauser actions - 96 and 98 - was they worked in all weather and all conditions.
While I've added aftermarket triggers on most of the one's I've done, being enclosed they become the weakest link or better said more likely to ice up or freeze up than an original trigger, but even then I've hunted in some fairly sporty weather up here and never had a doubt in my mind the rifle would go bang - and feed the rest of the mag smoothly and go bang repeatedly.
They're not the best action for an accuracy rifle or varmint rig, but can of course work up to a point for the latter and somewhat for both.
Anyways sir, since I'm biased towards them, my reply should be taken with that in mind and however many grains or pounds of salt required.
Insufficient information from the existent photos presented. Appears a typical military mauser conversion of years past reflecting the D&T, bolt handle alteration and Buehler style safety as popular in fifties-seventies era. The rail mount and sporter stock, appearing more recent era further makeover. Frankly, a mixmaster emerged. The Belgian markings appear post WWII proofing with barrel adapted/approved for armor clad or piercing ammo. Anthony Vanderlinden, author of a Primo book on the subject of FN Rifles. I believe plies this Forum and perhaps available to cast more light. But origins bit academic as the rifle of little semblance to "factory".
I liked Dwayne's answer in respect of what I term "virtue in simplicity" pattern 98 mauser best in doing what its done best for over a century! A rugged, all weather/conditions fighting rifle, yet excelling as "proven" ever again since.
Here in SoCal, my assessment of the subject piece as "utility rifle" category value. A question in such altered rifle of how the 7x57 mm chambering confirmed?
JayB93; Good afternoon once more, I hope the same today for you as before, that the day behaves in an acceptable manner and you're well.
References that I use when attempting to answer threads such as this are as follows.
Even though I understand abebooks.com is now owned by the evil Amazon empire, I'll link to them as I've had very good success dealing with them over the years looking for the strange genre of books that live on my book shelves.
Lastly, if you can ever find this one for less than the king's ransom the linked ones seem to be asking, it's got some interesting variations in it that I've never seen in person.
