Pictures of my 1893 Chiliean Mauser?

[fishn861]

I first posted on this rifle a few days ago, at the time I did'nt have any pictures.Well here they are. This rifle has left me with some questions. Were'nt most Chileans 95s with straight bolt handles? I read that some rifles intended for South Africa were turned away by British Naval blockade and were later used to fill orders for other nations such as Chile. The reciever is not dated and it only says Deutche Waffen und Muntions Fabriken (DWM) on the left side. Stock is a1895 Chilean. Sorry for the long post thanks. fishn

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[fishn861]

I wanted to add that there are no Import markings on this rifle. Thanks again fishn

[Patrick Chadwick]

There is at least one specialist (RobD) who knows more about this than I do, but since he hasn't answered yet, I shall offer my limited knowledge.

According to the limited information I have available, the C-series was indeed one of the batches intended for the ZAR - South African Republic. They were dispatched without any national crest being applied. A lot of these were indeed intercepted by the British blockade, and later stamped with the Chilean crest and delivered to Chile. I only know that, because I have one with no national crest that did make it to SA, had a monogram inscribed in a shield on the stock by an unknown Boer, was captured or surrendered, and somehow became "privatized" in the UK, acquiring proper British proof marks. Heaven alone knows how it ended up in Germany, in the hand of another Englishman (me!). And thanks again to RobD for explaining the history for me!

As to the bolt - does it have a matching number?
If so, then it could be the result of using up factory stocks in Berlin - the real manufacturing world is often a bit fuzzier than collectors would like.

If not, then it could be the result of bolts and rifles being separated for shipment, and then never coming together again in an orderly fashion. Don't worry, just get hold of an 7x57mm Mauser case and check the head clearance before you fire it, and remember that this is an early Mauser system, and not a Gew.98. So very light loads please!

Patrick

[Patrick Chadwick]

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....highlight=Boer

..and it should answer some of your questions!

Patrick

[fishn861]

Hi and thanks again. Yes the bolt numbers match the reciever all off the numbered metal parts match. The stock is a mismatch. I dont know if this was done later because the original stock was damaged or if it was originaly put in a 95 Chileno stock. The gentleman that I bought it off of had it for years and shot it regularly. He said that these were getting har to find. I have a custom 7x57 that I had built on a Turk small ring 98 style action. I hand load for this rifle and I load on the light end of the charts around 43000 psi. I have shot this rifle on my backyard range which is only 25 yds. I fired 5 rounds it grouped good around 2.5" I know it can do better and I will take to my local range soon. There was no evidence of excessive headspace in any of the spent rounds. I am looking for the right cleaning rod and a sling. I think a spanish rod will work. Again thank you for your help. Fishn

[1911crazy]

The problem with most non matching bolts is the bolts were removed when the rifles were stored, they were seperated. This is why we see so many non matching bolts with the chilean 7mm mausers. One problem i read about with these 7mm's is the excessive throat wear on another forum. These longer rounds with the heavier bullets that they used in the 7mm mausers(173grs) is probably the cause of it with the lengthened free-bore it took to fit the 7x57 round with the longer heavier bullet. Then if we reload and use the lighter shorter bullet we make the free-bore even longer. I think this is the reason the throat gets battered by the shorter lighter bullet. After reading tis it makes sense to me but if my headspace is good and my crown is ok and she shoots thats all i really worry about right now. But the throat maybe worth a looksee just to inspect it. Bill

BTW; I think the sweet spot is the standard heavy rounds for the 7mm mauser just because of the longer free-bore. The 7mm mauser is one of the flattest shooting rounds there is. This is why the USA copied the design for the 30-06.

With the headspace i ended up purchasing all the field headspace gauges for all my military calibers. This way i'm sure of the condition of the chamber and its safe to shoot before shooting it. Then a few at a time i purchased all the no-go headspace gauges too. Then i purchased the go gauges for the rifles i changed the barrels on. It pays to check the headspace before we shoot it. I had one very bad chamber on a rifle i purchased from Century arms in there ufix'em deals. The headspace is so bad the gun would of blown up if i shot it. Its good to check the headspace with the headspace gauges on every surplus rifle just to be sure there ok to shoot. I take nothing for granted now that its good. Its a god thing i went with my gut feeling about this rifle and checked it before i shot it. Safety first,besafe.

[stan61]

Nice looking rifle! I own a Loewe marked 1895 Chilean. Sadly,it has a mismatched bolt,but everything else is matching including the cleaning rod.
As a starting point on the date,I beleive the DWM mark indicates it was manufactured in 1896 or after as that is when the Loewe company changed it's name.
Also as a side note, I've read that the Model 95's might be one of those BATF paperwork gray zones as to being labeled an antique or not based on Loewe vs. DWM markings. Has anyone had any issues with that?

[fishn861]

There might be a way to tell by serial numbers what year a DWM rifle was manufactred. Even some of the Model 1891s manufactred by DWM fall into that grey catagory. I think that they we made untill around 1908. Ive been wrong before though.

[stan61]

This thread got me to recall an article I read in the past half year or so about the Boer connection with some Chilean Mausers. I'm thinking it was a Guns & Ammo review of the M-95,but not sure which months issue.
Anyway, the thread Mr. Chadwick added above had most of what I recalled from that article. It sounds like a good possibility that your rifle could have been destined for South Africa,but was intercepted and returned to Germany and used for the Chilean order. That could explain the M-93 curved bolt as I beleive the mounted troops prefered that style over a straight bolt.
This is much of the fun in collecting milsurps to me. Trying to get the history from any particular rifle can be quite interesting!

[Patrick Chadwick]

That could explain the M-93 curved bolt as I beleive the mounted troops prefered that style over a straight bolt.

Well my Boer Mauser is a "carbinized" rifle, and has the straight bolt handle. If there wasn't several thousand miles of water, and two totally different systems with regard to firearms licensing and control, we could, theoretically, do a swap. Whereby the water is the lesser problem!

More useful to you is the info that a rifle numbered higher than yours was a Boer rifle. Here is part of the info I obtained:

Your Boer Mauser DWM no 4900 was in the final batch (of a total 30,000 Mauser rifles) ordered by the Transvaal republic (ZAR). The DWM rifles numbered 1125 - 9999 were shipped from Germany on 6/6/1897 on S.S. Kruger. The rifles went via Lorenco Marques (now Maputo) and then by train to Pretoria, where they were accepted on 16/8/1897.

This number range covers your Mauser as well.

As a starting point on the date,I beleive the DWM mark indicates it was manufactured in 1896 or after as that is when the Loewe company changed it's name. Also as a side note, I've read that the Model 95's might be one of those BATF paperwork gray zones as to being labeled an antique or not based on Loewe vs. DWM markings. Has anyone had any issues with that?

I think the US regulations require that the firearm was made before 1898 to qualify as an antique or whatever the official term is. So if your rifle is one of a batch that is historically recorded as being made and delivered in 1897, there cannot be any problem.

Patrick