Austrian sporterized M1903?

[Rick the Librarian]

A gentleman on another forum sent me some pictures of a beautiful sporterized M1903 which his brother picked up in Germany after World War II "circumstances unknown". The serial number is covered by the scope, but the gentleman believes it to be a 7-digit. The barrel is a SA 2-30. He speculated that it might have been a captured M1903 but I thought possibly a M1903 that had been made up for another American immediately after World War II. There were plenty of out-of-work German/Austrian craftsmen around after WWII who would have been glad to do the job for a song.

I wondered if anyone might be able to fill in any more of the details for him (and me).

I'll let him do the rest of the describing:

I have a sporterized M1903 that was given to my father in about 1949. It was customized in Austria and has a K. Kahles Wien H 4x60 scope with a quick-release claw mount.

As you may know, the Mauthausen concentration camp was near Linz. Among the operations there was a Steyr Daimler Puch factory that produced K98 rifles to a high standard, mostly for the SS and Gestapo. The Kahles H/4x60 scope was used on the sniper version of the K98 rifle.

That area was a hotbed of activity at the end of the war and right after. The Danube, which formed one of the demarcation lines between East and West Germany, runs right through Linz. The OSS had lots of folks around there at war's end. The 79th and 371st Fighter Groups were stationed at Horsching Air Base, near Linz, as part of the occupation forces. So there were lots of Americans who might have had the rifle made, as well.

The scope has no serial number, which was typical for military hardware made by Karl Kahles. Besides, the Kahles factory was destroyed by bombs in 1945 along with most of their records. The H/4x60 scopes were made from 1939 and 1948. I have been in contact with a Kahles representative but he has not been very helpful.

My half brother acquired the rifle in Germany after the war, circumstances unknown. It might have been won in a card or craps game or bought in a pawn shop.

Some notes regarding the rifle:
There are S stamps on the trigger assembly and the trigger guard/magazine assemble next to the floor plate release mechanism.
Under the stock, there are stamps on the barrel of D 5 and a separate 7.
On the bottom of the receiver is stamped N S and below that J 100.
One can clearly see Springfield through the openings of the forward scope mount but only the last of the serial numbers (9) is visible.
As I mentioned, there is an ordnance bomb and 44 stamped on the inside of the floor plate.
There are no marks on the bolt.
They polished up the visible parts of the receiver and blued the barrel.
It originally had a sling, which my father did not like, but it was removed and has been lost. I would be interested in finding a correct sling and attaching hardware.

The scope has a leather carrying case on which someone wrote "Patsy Domico, Linz Austria, September 18, 1948. The stock is nicely done!

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