Mystery Mauser Stock

[m4a3sherman]

So, there is a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity that holds a weekly "garage sale" in an abandoned Warehouse downtown here where people can donate whatever items they want and the HfH people will sell it and use the money for building homes and such. Well, apart from the random goodies you can find, I ran across an unfinished/unissued stock there and purchased it for the princely sum of $4. It is a nice piece of wood but I am having trouble deciding what it is for. My instinct is a Turkish Mauser due to the wood type/colour and the general design however, the rear side-mounted band spring inlet is throwing me off. From what I have seen (although I know the Turkish rifles are known for large amounts of variation) most if not all Turkish rifles have bottom mounted band springs, typical of the M93 and M96 Mauser actions. The action channel is cut for what looks like an M98 action but I could be mistaken. Another thought has been Spanish Mauser? At any rate, it doesn't appear to have ever been fit for a rifle or stamped with anything and I can find no markings anywhere on it. It is theoretically possible that someone had a copy made of a certain stock as this is the copy... but then I still don't know what it goes to. Anyway, tell me what you guys think. Also when I bought this stock, I found some nice Yugo ammo pouches and a very nice VZ24 sling is great shape; now if I could only find the corresponding rifle for $4, I would be in business!













One thing is for sure; I am the only 22 year old there digging through piles of mostly junk to find the one gem of a stock.

Information

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[jmoore]

Interesting stock, being new-ish and all. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a Mauser guy so any guess I made as to it's origins would be pretty unreliable!

What's the overall length? It seems long enough to be a Gew 98 rather than one of the WWII short rifles, but...

I once had a new US M1917 stock that I found when 19 or 20. Ruined it doing a "Bubba" on a rifle as I figured they littered the countryside and didn't want to permanently alter the weapon. Dang, that was stupid!

Your stock might be something even more scarce- maybe someone will be able to ID it properly soon (or later! hard to say...)

[Patrick Chadwick]

The general length, espeially the distance between the barrel band and the noecap, indicates one of the worldwide "Gew98" family.

In fact, the side spring for the barrel band is the most common form on 98s, and it is the M96 Swedes that are unusual.

The side spring indicates, for example, a 1912 Chilean or 1908 Brazilean or.... and I am sure that if I were to search right through Ball, Mauser Military Rifles of the world, there are a lot more. But there is the hole in the butt for the ID disc (or is it a through-hole for the bolt take-down washer? - I can't tell from the photos), which would narrow it down...

So most likely, South American '98 type. Only comparative measurements with known examples will enable a final decision. But for $4, who cares! A great find!

Patrick

[m4a3sherman]

The inlet in the buttstock is through both sides and is for a bolt disassemble ring. OAL of the stock is just over 45 inches with the distance between the front and rear bands at just under 11 inches.
Hmmm.... South American might be a lead and I'll have to thumb through Ball to see what I can find as well but I am still not sold on one entity; the forward band spring mounted UNDER the rifle.... its very odd for a 98 action. Additionally, I don't know if it can be seen well or not, but the cleaning rod lug inlet is very far forward, indicating a very short cleaning rod, maybe 5 to 6 inches at most...

Strange stock she is!

But you're right, it is a nifty thing for $4! Just wish I knew what she went to.

[kar98k]

first thing that came to my mind was a Turkish M1938

Turkish Mauser Mod 1938 Cal 8mm Rifle : Bolt Action at GunBroker.com

[m4a3sherman]

Ah! Good call, I think we may have a winner.... I wonder how an unissued stock got here, let alone how much it's worth...which can't be a lot.

[Alkali]

I concur with kar98k on this stock being made for the Turkish 1938. Pretty sure these were made as replacement stocks and just sold off with all the rest of Turkey's surplus arms and equipment. I see them offered occasionally on auctions, but most of the "listers" dunno what they have and just list them as generic "Mauser stocks".

[jmoore]

kar98k's link shows a Turkish M1938 that's rather better than the ones around these parts. I wonder if the stocks weren't used because the rest of the rifle was generally even MORE tired!

Hard to imagine a pristine M1938!


Are there any particular features on this stock that make it easy to differentiate it from other long barreled large rings, or is that too general a question?

[m4a3sherman]

Well, the type and placement of the band springs along with the bolt take-down washer are good ways to sort these stocks out. Also notice the end of the fore-arm where the bayonet boss mounts is not a standard 98 mount. Does that address your question jmoore? The bummer is that to a degree, because there are so many flavors or Mauser out there, it can be hard to distinguish one stock blank from another, esspecially with no markings...

[Calif-Steve]

Turkish M1938 stock. Century had piles of these a few years back. Probably still have some in back warehouse.