Gew 249A Hechenshutze Spezielle

[2aimtrue]

Here are a couple of photos of my re-stocked Austrian sporter as might have been made for a Waffen SS sniper (if such a thing existed). The stock is CMP with very light sanding and boiled linseed oil finish. Most of the hardware was found on ebay as unissued GI except the upper band, which came from Dupage Trading. The sling is a cheap Indian copy.
It took a fair amount of work to get the action seated properly with the barrel centered in the stock a lightly resting on it.
I have fired it and have a photo of a 100yd shoot with a grouping of 10 in about six-inches with the scope acting up and the fear of scope-eye from hot Fiocci rounds holding us back a little. Couldn't get it to down-load. With the TE guaging at 6 and muzzle wear at 2.5 the rifle may never be a tack-driver (scharfenschutzengewehr).
Sorry about the cocked condition - I put the scope on after operating the bolt to show a divet in the stock or the modified bolt handle and, in my haste, neglected to de-cock it.. That file is too large to upload right now. The hand guard is slightly off-center at the end and moves a little in the upper band.
The scope is going back for a re-do. Adjusting the elevation causes the cross-hairs to move and the eye relieve seems really short. Something's not right.
Hechenschutze should be Heckenschutze.

Information

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[Promo]

I do not believe that the SS would use a .30-06 as a sniper rifle, especially because of the ammunition problem. Nevertheless a very special looking rifle. Can you tell us in what S/N range the rifle is and who manufactured the barrel plus the date?

[2aimtrue]

Promo,
This rifle was discussed in depth here:
Austrian sporterized M1903?
Only SS Panzer units were issued the latest and best weapons. Other Waffen SS units often got older or captured weapons, especially near the end of the war. There was a Waffen SS unit in Austria that very well could have had a captured 03 worked over by one of the Jewish gunsmiths enslaved at Mauthausen - the SS ran the camps. Gew249A is the Waffenampt for a captured M1903.

[Promo]

2aimtrue, I live about 50km away from Linz and I have read your thread back then. It is known that German snipers also used Nagant rifles with scopes, but I have never heard upon usage of the M1903. Remember that the US joined WWII in 1941 where the war was already going on, until the German troops would have taken over this rifle it would have been too late for such a conversion with a beautiful made sporter stock. Also, the "Suhler Einhakmontage" usually requires a lot of manual work, especially with adjustment (note that the scope has no horizontal adjustment, therefore the mounting has to be done VERY precise in order to shoot center). Also, they would have never cut ornaments in the Suhler Einhakmontage mounting blocks.

"Sporterized" WWII weapons turn up very frequently. Remember that a hunter back then hardly had any rifle (andy money), therefore a lot of these old WWII rifles were turned into cheap hunting rifles. Stocks were cut, whatever scope was at hand was being used. Therefore it's still common that people have rare German WWII sniper scopes mounted on their "Drilling" (three barreled hunting rifle). Whoever had this rifle being made after WWII, he invested quite a lot of money for making this beautiful stock plus a well made scope mount,, the Suhler Einhakmontage.

[2aimtrue]

Promo,
With all due respect, who knows what might actually have been done with captured rifles - I think four years is plenty of time for a rifle to have been modified.
Forget about the sporter stock - I am quite aware of how sporterized rifles proliferated after the war.
The Nazis used many different types of scopes during the war. Although mine is a civilian version, Kahles did make scopes for the Wehrmacht. The rear scope mount actually does have windage adjustment screws although it is not easily done in the field. I do not know what ornamentation you are referring to.
This was, more or less, a project to create an unusual looking military rifle. It is not meant to fool anyone or cause controversy. However, I don't think anyone can say, for sure, that such a rifle was never created during the war. Any high-ranking SS officer could have ordered it built.

[Promo]

2aimtrue, thanks for the reply. For better understanding: I do not want to say what your rifle is, I just gave my personal opinion and what appears to be the the most realistic history on this rifle.

Kahles did of course make scopes for the Wehrmacht, but to have a civilean scope mounted on a Suhler Einhakmontage is a 99% guarantee for a civil conversion. Sorry for the term ornament, I wanted to say engravings: Nazis would NOT have done this on sniper rifles which were especially converted for the Wehrmacht/SS. Also, please believe me if some high ranked SS officer would have had this rifle being built, it would have inmediately resulted in consequences since it was not "the only 8mm" but even a caliber in inch! Noone in a high rank would have had such a rifle being done, they would have only had K98k in 8x57IS.

Noone can tell what happened to this rifle in the past, but noone can proof this rifle as a SS sniper rifle (which would have been highly implausible). Therefore, use it for shooting and enjoy a unique piece.

[2aimtrue]

Promo,

We must be having translation problems.

I nvever represented this rifle as having been a German sniper rifle. It is probably a so-called "cigarette gun" - one that was sporterized for a member of the occupation force after the war by a German or Austrian gunsmith, sometimes for the price of a carton of cigarettes.

There is no engraving anywhere on the rifle. I agree, however, that it is much too pretty to have been a combat weapon. I put the rifle in a military stock for my own enjoyment as an exercise in what might have been done although the presentation rifle concept is, of course, quite unlikely.

It is well known that captured weapons were used by some German units toward the end of the war. In my opinion, they would have used anything that would shoot, regardless of the caliber, when things got desperate. Someone here has mentioned seeing photos of German soldiers carrying M1 Carbines.

I do enjoy shooting it - the additional weight of the military stock lessens the recoil a bit. I also put an 11-ounce recoil reducer in the butt-stock, which helps even more. I may start using it in our club's by-monthly NRA/CMP matches without the scope.

Regards,
2

[Promo]

You might call this stippled, over here it would be called engraved. However, all I wanted to say that was one thing you'd never found on a military sniper rifle.

[theholeinthedonut]

I like "Hechenshutze Spezielle", it realy sounds Yiddish! So the Mauthausen theory is good to go!

[JGaynor]

I like "Hechenshutze Spezielle", it realy sounds Yiddish! So the Mauthausen theory is good to go!

Interesting location in your profile Hole! Luxembourger?

Regards,
Jim