Which Boer War Mauser

[bigduke6]

Although i,m an Enfield person, i am looking in the future to purchase a 7mm Boer war Mauser.

I know the two makers during the Boer War are, Ludwig loewe and D.W.M is there any major difference between the two? and what make would the experts go for.

Information

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[Calif-Steve]

I thought LL turned into DWM. No differences as it was the same factory.

[bigduke6]

I thought LL turned into DWM. No differences as it was the same factory.

Was this during the Boer war or after?

[Calif-Steve]

Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft (German Weapons and Munitions Works), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when Ludwig Loewe & Company decided to unite its weapons and ammunition production facilities within one company. In 1896 Loewe founded Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken with a munitions plant in Karlsruhe (Baden), formerly Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik Lorenz, and the weapons plant in Berlin. (from Wikipedia)

[smellie]

If you can't find a Boer-marked "Model 96", you can always substitute a Chileno 95. They were the same rifle, precisely, and a big shipment of Chilean rifles actually went to South Africa when the war got going. DWM then manufactured new rifles to replace the Chilean rifles which went South.... which is why my Chilean "95" was made in 1902!

They can be scary accurate. Just ask any British Boer War veteran or American Spanish-American War vet! The US took 1400 casualties at San Juan Hill from the 700 Spanish troops at the top. Spanish rifle? The 93 Mauser in 7x57, almost precisely identical to the Chilean 95.

A friend and myself spent a lot of years testing rifles of this era. He was particularly interested in the Boer War, so we tested quite a few of those. One MOA seems to be what you can get, that or a bit less, off the sandbags at 100; a 1909 Brazilian which we tested several times came in regularly at half an inch. They were VERY good.

Ammunition, of course, was handloads. Factory stuff just is not accurate enough for this kind of serious testing.

Good luck!

[Badger]

Although I haven't had a chance to create a formal Knowledge Library entry for it, here's a piece from my collection …

1896 Boer Mauser Rifle Serial # B7772 (click here)

"One of the first 20,000 rifles delivered in 1896 to Z.A.R.
Serial number ranges were A1 - A10000 & B1 - B10000"

"All matching numbers except cleaning rod and un-numbered bolt"
"Vet bring back and was originally part of CMI collection"

Regards,
Badger

[Dutchman]

If you can't find a Boer-marked "Model 96", you can always substitute a Chileno 95. They were the same rifle, precisely,

Sorry, not so. The Boer and OVS rifles are all 1893 model Mausers, even the ones marked as "1895", "1896" and "1897". The 1893 and 1895 Chilean are not the same action, not even close, and certainly not interchangeable.

and a big shipment of Chilean rifles actually went to South Africa when the war got going. DWM then manufactured new rifles to replace the Chilean rifles which went South.... which is why my Chilean "95" was made in 1902!

No Chilean rifles went to Zuid Afrika. Boer and OVS rifles went. Many did not make it through the British naval blockage and were sent back to Germany where they were rollmarked with the Chilean crest and shipped to Chile.

a 1909 Brazilian

you're getting corn'fused. It's either a 1908 Brazilian or 1909 Argentine. Or a 1907 Brazilian. Wasn't any 1909 Brazilian.

Two good Mauser books:
Mauser Military Rifles of the World by Robt. Ball 4th edition
Mauser Bolt Rifles by Ludwig Olsen (rather costly anymore)
There's also a book by Ron Bester on the South African rifles.

I own a C-prefix 1893 ZAR (South African Republic) 7x57 rifle with the generic DWM side wall address and Chilean crest. I also owned OVS/8776 in new condition way back in 1968. OVS = Orange Free State. Boer = Transvaal.

South African rifle study can be very confusing. And for my last word on such things:

Boer is pronounced: boo'er or bu'ur. It is not pronounced as boar or bo'or.
A boer is a farmer.

The more you study about the Boers the more you'll respect them. For a bunch of dirt poor farmers they delivered a serious case of whoopass on the British.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer

This website repeats the 93/95 error. They are not the same model Mauser.
http://www.saaaca.org/links/SIG/mauserSA1.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=KlR...rifles&f=false


Dutch

[Patrick Chadwick]

Ball/Mauser Military Rifles of the World/3rd Edition
P234
"Model 1895, 1896 and 1897 rifles and carbines used by the Boers are different from the Spanish Modelo 1893, in that minor modifications were made to the weapon, mainly a cylindrical-head bolt...."

P235
"OVS Chilean-marked Model 1895 Mauser..."
"OVS marked Model 1896 Mauser...

Patrick

[Dutchman]

Ball/Mauser Military Rifles of the World/3rd Edition
P234
"Model 1895, 1896 and 1897 rifles and carbines used by the Boers are different from the Spanish Modelo 1893, in that minor modifications were made to the weapon, mainly a cylindrical-head bolt...."

P235
"OVS Chilean-marked Model 1895 Mauser..."
"OVS marked Model 1896 Mauser...

Patrick

I'm afraid what you cite here doesn't un-confuse the issue. I have Ball's 2nd and 4th edition. The 4th edition is 3x the size of the 2nd and 3rd and some of that increase is in tables showing the various contracts of OVS and ZAR rifle models. The OVS rifles are 1893 models. There is no actual Mauser factory model of 1896 and 1897. That is in the markings only. They are 1893 receivers in that they do not have the wide upper tang of the Chilean 1895 nor the bolt handle safety notch of the Chilean 1895. The 1893 Mauser model and 1895 Chilean receivers are not interchangeable in that they won't drop into each others stocks.

Btw, Ball's 4th edition is the one where I'm listed as one of the contributors.

Dutch

[1911crazy]

I picked up three chilean '93 DWM mausers in 7mm mauser a while back. These have the pic/hammer stamps on all the parts and the flat bottom bolts. The 93 chilean receiver is like the swede receiver its skinny at the rear tang where the 95 receiver butterflys out on both sides near the rear of the bolt on the receiver.